FlyerTalk is an Internet forum

Internet forum

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...

 for discussion of airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 frequent flyer program

Frequent flyer program

A frequent flyer program is a loyalty program offered by many airlines. Typically, airline customers enrolled in the program accumulate frequent flyer miles corresponding to the distance flown on that airline or its partners. There are other ways to accumulate miles...

s, hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

 loyalty program

Loyalty program

Loyalty programs are structured marketing efforts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behavior — behavior which is potentially beneficial to the firm....

s and other issues related to air travel. The site was founded in 1998 by Randy Petersen

Randy Petersen

Randy Petersen is editor and publisher of InsideFlyer magazine, founder of FlyerTalk, an online travel bulletin board and the idea guy behind , and several other frequent flyer/biz travel Web sites...

 and was acquired by Internet Brands

Internet Brands

Internet Brands is a new media company based in El Segundo, California that operates online media, community, and e-commerce sites in vertical markets. The company also develops and licenses internet software and social media applications....

 in 2007.

History

According to Petersen, as editor of InsideFlyer, he saw FlyerTalk as a way to allow the readers to combine their knowledge into a knowledgebase. Since that time, the site has grown to more than 200 forums and over 17,000,000 posts. The site has approximately 20 million page views per month and 27,000 - 52,000 daily unique visitors.
.
On 16 November 2010, Randy Petersen

Randy Petersen

Randy Petersen is editor and publisher of InsideFlyer magazine, founder of FlyerTalk, an online travel bulletin board and the idea guy behind , and several other frequent flyer/biz travel Web sites...

announced that he is leaving FlyerTalk end of this year.

Industry Use

Some of the hotel and airline forum participants include official presences who use the site to learn about the issues important to their customer base. One example of the site's influence is a wager between the Continental Airlines CEO and a site member as to whether 60 or more community members would voluntarily fly (using their own miles and incurring their own out-of-pocket expenses) to a feedback meeting in Houston for the airline; 274 did.
FlyerTalk has been cited as a powerful voice in shaping airlines reward programs, and as a source for novel ways to use frequent flier miles.

Further, certain companies such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts employ individuals known as "lurkers" who monitor the boards to gauge customer service experiences without participating. The company has been known to reprimand customer services representatives for negative reviews found by the lurker. The company is extremely sensitive to negative experiences posted on the website and often will go to great lengths to prevent their disclosure.