Post
by tethork » Sat Dec 05, 2009 10:26 pm
Bottom line here is that FSAirlines feels it needs to charge for it's services to continue. With this decision, they have placed themselves in competition as a pay-to-play service with other pay-to-play services. Comparing FSAirlines to others such as VAFs in price and features is more than fair imo.
I started using FSAirlines only a few weeks ago, when I decided to join a newly created VA. I really like the folks in this VA, and have enjoyed my time flying with them.
Everyone in the VA has expressed concern / dislike of the Premium Account option, and so we have begun looking at other options.
FSAirlines has done a commendable job of creating a community, and service that is enjoyable to use and be a part of. However, with the move to a pay-to-play service, they will be held to a higher standard. For me and my fellow VA members, FSAirlines is not worth spending money on. With a limit then of only 4 flights per week, we are left with the choice of moving elsewhere or watching the VA die due to the inability to be active.
Why do we feel it's not worth the money? For me, the number one reason is future potential. I don't see many posts from the Devs, and when I do, they are typically negative in tone. Requests for change, adjustments, fixes, or additions are met with reasons for why they are to much work, or not fitting in with the vision of the Devs. More often than not, it's a "deal with it" attitude, which is a direct quote. I can respect the FSAirlines Devs defense of their own vision of what they want FSAirlines to be, and become; but as a pay-to-play service, the devs vision becomes much less relevant. Add to that the bugs, and poor detection the client software displays, FSAirlines has little to warrant paying a subscription to use it.
Smart marketing strategy for any company / service is to hype the features it has, and most importantly, the plans it has for the near future in adding new features. Given that the only future plans announced is the redesigned webpage set to launch on Jan 1, what incentive is there for us to start paying for a service that has been free all along?
Another big issue I see with FSAirlines is its lack of documentation. There is enough information scattered around the forums and wiki to use the service, but locating the systems penalties, ranks, route make-ups etc, is a huge task. When people ask in the forums they are typically given a terse "go to the wiki or use the forum search". I spent several days reading virtually all the posts in the forums digging for numbers / information on the system and then wrote the stuff up in a FAQ of sorts for my VA. Unfortunately, so much is not covered, and what is, is from posts a couple years old. No way to know if they are even still accurate. How can you charge money when the customers don't have ready access to a manual beyond what is needed to sign up, download a client and fly a flight?
Please do not take this as saying FSAirlines "sucks balls". It's not that at all. Merely one persons take (and the others in my VA) on why FSAirlines is a decent service as it is, and a very poor one as a pay-to-play. Even if there were no alternatives, I would not pay to use FSAirlines in it's current state.
As someone who has used this service for free up to now, and have enjoyed what is offered, I state my thanks. I write this critical post, in the hopes that it will give the Devs a differing point of view from their own on these upcoming changes. I sincerely hope that FSAirlines move to pay-to-play is successful, and grows to be a thriving community for those that feel FSAirlines meets their personal expectations for a pay service.
Thank you for taking the time to read my opinion,
Steven Letcher
