Wed Apr 29, 2020 8:46 pm
#1765272
@GBLEW Ian I'm somewhat miffed at this announcement, for a number of reasons.
I accept I'm a bit of a sad anorak as I have purchased (mostly on subscription), and indeed still have, every single copy of Flyer mag since issue no1, published long before Seager Publishing acquired the title. I shall definitely miss having a hard copy. I also accept that I am a techno-phobe & techno-numpty dinosaur (I do not do online banking, contactless cards, Facebook, Twitter ...) and the idea of reading a magazine on a 5inch smartphone or 8inch tablet does not exactly thrill me. That aside:
Just two days ago I renewed by phone call my subscription, in advance, at £35.95 wef the August issue; I may have misunderstood but I came away from that conversation believing I was told that in addition a 'free digital copy' would be part of that renewal. In addition, not instead of. That seems now not to be the case.
The email from Ed earlier today does not make it clear that subscribers will not get a hard copy in future; indeed I can see no mention of that at all! It only refers to not “clogging up distribution channels” so from that I inferred that subscription copies mailed direct would continue, and only retail copies in WH Smith etc would be affected. From earlier postings on this thread it appears I am not alone in that inference.
Now it seems the only benefit to me of subscribing is the free landing fees, for destinations which are, quite reasonably, spread geographically across the country. Frankly I have found I rarely use them, partly because I fly a Champ which has many attributes, but regular / frequent long-distance touring in UK weather is not exactly one of them. Most of the other 'benefits' listed I can do without eg virtual meet-ups, exclusive discounts etc.
“Access to the club's members only zone on the website”. Is that code for: the Forum will become members only? In the context of today's misleading email, I suspect it may well be so. Especially as the Club offer of “invites to real meet-ups when we're all flying again” is already covered by the 'sticky' thread on the forum “fly and meet up – tell us where you're going!”. I hope I'm wrong. Going members-only worked really well on the LAA Forum. Not.
That'll do for now, from me. A bit of a rant, for sure, and I may be in a minority of one – but as you can gather, I ain't 'appy!
Rich
I accept I'm a bit of a sad anorak as I have purchased (mostly on subscription), and indeed still have, every single copy of Flyer mag since issue no1, published long before Seager Publishing acquired the title. I shall definitely miss having a hard copy. I also accept that I am a techno-phobe & techno-numpty dinosaur (I do not do online banking, contactless cards, Facebook, Twitter ...) and the idea of reading a magazine on a 5inch smartphone or 8inch tablet does not exactly thrill me. That aside:
Just two days ago I renewed by phone call my subscription, in advance, at £35.95 wef the August issue; I may have misunderstood but I came away from that conversation believing I was told that in addition a 'free digital copy' would be part of that renewal. In addition, not instead of. That seems now not to be the case.
The email from Ed earlier today does not make it clear that subscribers will not get a hard copy in future; indeed I can see no mention of that at all! It only refers to not “clogging up distribution channels” so from that I inferred that subscription copies mailed direct would continue, and only retail copies in WH Smith etc would be affected. From earlier postings on this thread it appears I am not alone in that inference.
Now it seems the only benefit to me of subscribing is the free landing fees, for destinations which are, quite reasonably, spread geographically across the country. Frankly I have found I rarely use them, partly because I fly a Champ which has many attributes, but regular / frequent long-distance touring in UK weather is not exactly one of them. Most of the other 'benefits' listed I can do without eg virtual meet-ups, exclusive discounts etc.
“Access to the club's members only zone on the website”. Is that code for: the Forum will become members only? In the context of today's misleading email, I suspect it may well be so. Especially as the Club offer of “invites to real meet-ups when we're all flying again” is already covered by the 'sticky' thread on the forum “fly and meet up – tell us where you're going!”. I hope I'm wrong. Going members-only worked really well on the LAA Forum. Not.
That'll do for now, from me. A bit of a rant, for sure, and I may be in a minority of one – but as you can gather, I ain't 'appy!
Rich