Which one of you is Steve Hui?

[espiritu360]

Anyone know about this website iflyflat(dot)com(dot)au ((apologies, less than 10 posts can't post link))? Seems like he's doing exactly what you guys do. But for quite the premium.. hmm..

 

[Intra]

He's posted afew times here.... Meh...

 

[casanovawa]

Read some posts on here that people seem to not like the site/him etc... But again, plenty of things are free (or there abouts) but people are still willing to pay money (and a premium) for it (bottled water anyone).. So if he can make a buck out of offering a service that people might be able to get much more cheaply but people find it too hard i don't begrudge him... There are also plenty of people not on here also that would like to try J or F class who don't know the tricks or can't be @ssed doing the leg work...

Probably just as long as any risks or issues are made clear...

 

[Mwenenzi]

He is advertising his site here:- Comparison of Points vs. Retail price for flying Business class SYD - LHR, SYD - JFK Was a poor attempt of explaining the detail. Mixed taxes with carrier imposed fees & real taxes

 

[espiritu360]

I think you've summed it up pretty well, there are the people who can be bothered and the ones who can't. I guess he is tapping into that latter market.

Read some posts on here that people seem to not like the site/him etc... But again, plenty of things are free (or there abouts) but people are still willing to pay money (and a premium) for it (bottled water anyone).. So if he can make a buck out of offering a service that people might be able to get much more cheaply but people find it too hard i don't begrudge him... There are also plenty of people not on here also that would like to try J or F class who don't know the tricks or can't be @ssed doing the leg work...

Probably just as long as any risks or issues are made clear...

 

[espiritu360]

Wow.. this was very recent. For a guy who is charging people for premium advice, he sure tripped on his own words a few times.

He is advertising his site here:- *link* Was a poor attempt of explaining the detail. Mixed taxes with carrier imposed fees & real taxes

 

[MEL_Traveller]

haha! i just read his website... 'he' uncovered the secrets to flying cheaper... but why only just now? the rest of us discovered them years years ago.

 

[Robert K]

i don't see a diff between him and the ausbt guys.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

i don't see a diff between him and the ausbt guys.

ausbt has nice pictures to go with their press releases

 

[smeacs]

Read some posts on here that people seem to not like the site/him etc... But again, plenty of things are free (or there abouts) but people are still willing to pay money (and a premium) for it (bottled water anyone).. So if he can make a buck out of offering a service that people might be able to get much more cheaply but people find it too hard i don't begrudge him... There are also plenty of people not on here also that would like to try J or F class who don't know the tricks or can't be @ssed doing the leg work...

Probably just as long as any risks or issues are made clear...

hey I worked in a bottled water factory once, they paid well....

 

[drewbles]

ausbt has nice pictures to go with their press releases

And doesn't blatantly spam here either

 

[iFLYflat]

Hey guys, great you are talking about me.

I'm Steve Hui and nice to meet you too.
Before you kill me here, this is what I am about.

I'm a big fan of what this forum is, and the wealth of knowledge and community sharing and helping from you guys.
Put simply, what I do with iFLYflat is to help people to be smarter with their points. Not everyone can spend hours on this forum or on flyertalk or milepoint reading all the pages of comments and tips, nor do they have an interest to do so.

What I really love is about finding great arbitrage ways to fly flat at low cost. This is my passion, and l love to try out all the premium classes around the world - but not everyone knows how to do it.

Practically the reason I started iFLYflat was after continuously trying to help my friends to switch to better credit card deals, and to prompt them all the time to take up the good US Airways Dividend miles offers, and AAdvantage and the like. But they couldn’t be bothered, and didn’t see the value and then kept asking me how I managed to always fly first class.

They wanted a sure thing and didn’t want to pay for points over a few tranches to build up enough points to book. They’ll say - “I’m not putting down money if I might not get my flights. You said it can be done for $3.5k, what if there are no flights. Can I get my money back?”

How frustrating to explain to them again how it works. It’s all about risk vs. reward.
I was trying to help them, when they couldn’t be bothered to learn about it. Wtf! I wasn’t getting paid for this – this was more annoying than my real paid job. (I’m sure you all have the same experience with your family and friends).

Also I came across many corporate friends who did not care for points, and some would either not bother to collect them when they fly or stay at hotels, others would use their 100,000 points to redeem for an ipad or gift vouchers, rather than save them for a business flight.

How annoying that people were basically throwing their points and ‘money’ away.

So I developed this business to maximise their points for them, and to book their flights and created a process, what I called the ‘fasttrack program’ to arrange discounted points to help them fly for cheaper – by doing it all for them. A fully managed service.

How I see it.
DIY = this forum and others like it, are excellent.
Want someone else to sort it all out and get it done = www.iflyflat.com.au

I don't know what's wrong with that?

Happy to answer any questions.

Cheers
Steve

 

[iFLYflat]

Case in point - another forum discussion.

[h=2]How much do you tell your family and friends about travel deals/FF sweetspot etc?[/h]

 

[zainman]

And doesn't blatantly spam here either

iflyflat has 28 posts and is a 'junior member'.. Lol I wouldn't call that spamming.. Unless he also has another ID?

 

[im.daniel]

Honestly don't know why there is so much disdain here, but kudos to the guy if he can make a buck from it. All the best mate.

 

[titfilou]

Honestly don't know why there is so much disdain here, but kudos to the guy if he can make a buck from it. All the best mate.

I could not agree more. Setting up a business I make it work is not all that easy when you have people trying to crush you, especially people that have never used the service.

I actually like the concept. I would be more interested in using this service if there was not a monthly fee attached. Perhaps an option with a flat fee per booking would be more suitable.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I could not agree more. Setting up a business I make it work is not all that easy when you have people trying to crush you, especially people that have never used the service.

I actually like the concept. I would be more interested in using this service if there was not a monthly fee attached. Perhaps an option with a flat fee per booking would be more suitable.

there is nothing wrong with people 'trying to crush' an idea... whatever it is you are selling it should be robust enough to cover any criticism. The points raised by those asking the questions should be easily answered by the owner of the business.

the potential risk with USDM and LM however is that a little knowledge is a big thing. If you get someone else to book for you, what happens when there is a schedule change not notified by USDM or LM? by the time you find out, alternative award seats may be long gone.

if you book everything yourself, part of the process should be to book, call (or otherwise) to confirm that ticket numbers have been pushed to the respective carriers, and finally, set up a monitoring regime for resources such as airlineroute.

With schedule changes... if you snooze you lose.

 

[iFLYflat]

Thanks guys for the understanding.

Two years ago I made the decision to take the jump to leave my corporate role because I didn't feel what I did was actually helping the end user.
With iFLYflat - I am directly helping my members to fly better and to be smarter with their points. And this feels great, and they feel great.

titfilou - I have been asked many times to consider offering a single transaction model to help people out who might want only book once - so I'll consider adding that over the next few mths.
One of the reasons for the membership model, is that I understand my member's travel and business needs, so I can form an medium to long term partnership to maximise their points and their flight experiences.

MEL_Traveller - We do everything to check, confirm the issuance of the tickets, and book the seats across the respective carriers.
And then check on the the lead-up to departure to ensure everything is on-track.
If there are any changes to schedules - these are picked-up and we work with the member to select the best option available at the time and confirm again.
The member is fully aware of how the ticket is structured with points and any risks or changes involved. They go into this informed and with their eyes open.

While schedule changes isn't my fault - we get this fixed for them. Just like a travel agent would if you booked any retail tickets - its an essential part of the service.
It would be a bit crazy if we would just leave it to them to sort out.
There would be no point to spend so much time finding and talking to new customers, persuade them to join and trust me, and then let them hang?


iFLYflat is my full-time business, I run it with a professional approach with a corporate structure, defined processes and clear goals & values.
I'm 100% committed to helping more people to be smarter with their points, so that they can enjoy better travel. It is designed to be my long-term business, and I have no plans to return to my corporate career.

Very happy to hear constructive feedback.
Building a brand new business is tough work! - but it is an amazing journey. I love meeting so many great people with so many ideas out there.

thanks for reading, cheers
Steve

 

[amaroo]

Can't see a problem with iFLYflat and given the mods haven't cut him out - they and AFF don't either.

I know plenty of high wealth individuals/families that employ people to do or sorts of everyday things......a service like this would be perfect for them!

Good Luck with your venture iFLYflat...

 

[drewbles]

Can't see a problem with iFLYflat and given the mods haven't cut him out - they and AFF don't either.

I know plenty of high wealth individuals/families that employ people to do or sorts of everyday things......a service like this would be perfect for them!

Good Luck with your venture iFLYflat...

I have no issue with people being enterprising and indeed commend people for it. I appreciate the effort and work involved in starting your own business, but IMHO AFF has a very strict "no commercial advertising or spruiking" rule which was my objection (I make no secret of my line of work but will not openly disclose my employer on here due to these rules). Obviously I'm misreading because as you say, none of the posts have been removed or edited by moderators.