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Fltplan.com Notice

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Mark Dickens

Well Known Member
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So, I got this today from the geniuses at Fltplan.com:

Hello FltPlan.com user.

Our records indicate that it has been more than 120 days since you last logged into your account on FltPlan.com with the Username listed above. In order to keep your data from being removed from our website, please log into your account listed above. Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months are deleted, along with all associated information. By logging into your account today you will keep the account active. If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it using the 'Retrieve Username/Password' link on the login page.

FltPlan.com

Sincerely,
Ron Nelson

Let's see I've been one of their users for well over a decade, maybe two, I don't remember. Covid has definitely affected my trips this year as you might expect. One can only wonder which genius thought this was a good idea. Not specifically RV related but many people here use Fltplan.com. On top of this, as a paying Garmin Pilot customer, they are essentially saying that they're going to cut off one of the app features unilaterally.

Garmin, please call your minions over at Fltplan.com and tell them to quit this *******ery.

And yes, I logged in to make them happy.

Rant off
 
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So, I got this today from the geniuses at Fltplan.com:

Hello FltPlan.com user.

Our records indicate that it has been more than 120 days since you last logged into your account on FltPlan.com with the Username listed above. In order to keep your data from being removed from our website, please log into your account listed above. Accounts that are inactive for more than 6 months are deleted, along with all associated information. By logging into your account today you will keep the account active. If you have forgotten your password, you can reset it using the 'Retrieve Username/Password' link on the login page.

FltPlan.com

Sincerely,
Ron Nelson

Let's see I've been one of their users for well over a decade, maybe two, I don't remember. Covid has definitely affected my trips this year as you might expect. One can only wonder which genius thought this was a good idea. Not specifically RV related but many people here use Fltplan.com. On top of this, as a paying Garmin Pilot customer, they are essentially saying that they're going to cut off one of the app features unilaterally.

Garmin, please call your minions over at Fltplan.com and tell them to quit this *******ery.

And yes, I logged in to make them happy.

Rant off

And the asterisks so helpfully added by vBulletin stand for j*a*c*k*a*s*s, in case you're wondering

All you have to do is log-in then log-off every 3 months and you'll never get another email like that. I have it in my calendar to remind me every 2 months. It's one of the only good free things from Garmin so I don't want to lose it.
 
Other than worrying about a link in an email, unless it was addressed to you by name (never click on a link if you can go directly to the site yourself), this seems perfectly legit and reasonable. They are maintaining a free service that not only costs them in bandwidth but also in storing user data. Wanting to remove unused accounts makes a lot of sense. And it is in no way 'unilateral'. Unless you fail to read your email for weeks at a time, you are in no danger of losing your account. In fact, most times a system like this is able to restore an account that was removed erroneously. On the other hand, can you say you will deactivate your account, say, in the event of your sudden death? This doesn't even cover the people who create an account to test the service and never delete it if they decide not to continue, or the ones who can't remember their login on a different computer, so they create a 'temporary' account and then forget (or don't bother) to remove it later.

Now, if you were paying, then I'd expect your subscription to last until you stop paying. But this is a free service and doesn't have that mechanism. So, rather than being annoyed that they want to know who is still using their free service, you should probably give them some kind of appreciation. As an actor buddy of mine used to say, "Don't applaud, throw money!"
 
Other than worrying about a link in an email, unless it was addressed to you by name (never click on a link if you can go directly to the site yourself), this seems perfectly legit and reasonable. They are maintaining a free service that not only costs them in bandwidth but also in storing user data. Wanting to remove unused accounts makes a lot of sense. And it is in no way 'unilateral'. Unless you fail to read your email for weeks at a time, you are in no danger of losing your account. In fact, most times a system like this is able to restore an account that was removed erroneously. On the other hand, can you say you will deactivate your account, say, in the event of your sudden death? This doesn't even cover the people who create an account to test the service and never delete it if they decide not to continue, or the ones who can't remember their login on a different computer, so they create a 'temporary' account and then forget (or don't bother) to remove it later.

Now, if you were paying, then I'd expect your subscription to last until you stop paying. But this is a free service and doesn't have that mechanism. So, rather than being annoyed that they want to know who is still using their free service, you should probably give them some kind of appreciation. As an actor buddy of mine used to say, "Don't applaud, throw money!"

First, I'd point out again that I am a paying Garmin Pilot user. Fltplan is a feature of that software, so that point is null and void. Secondly, maintaining someone's information costs almost nothing so where the upside on reclaiming a little disk space while you destroy customer information, like aircraft performance profiles, for example? Third, who the heck is "Ron Nelson"? CEO? CIO? Janitor? Programmer? If you write a letter to a customer you ought to have the courtesy not only of telling people who you are and your role, you ought to allow replies. This was probably a system generated email written by some low level IT person and not reviewed by anyone responsible for customer care. Just poor management. Sorry for the rant, but when I see abject stupidity like this, my blood pressure goes up.

Oh, and in case I sound like I'm bashing IT people, I've been a programmer since 1978 and in IT for most of my career.
 
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This seems like a whole bunch of angst over something almost inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Nothing better to worry about right now? Really?
 
I agree with you. I must have been having a bad day myself, to even comment on it. I'm done with this discussion, and think the mods should lock it because it's not really a useful or RV-related topic.
 
As a reminder, you can always go back and either delete your own post, or modify it.

Been there, dun that!
 
I agree with the OP

I also was irritated by the fltplan.com notice. It creates no added expense for them to keep the account open. So, their reason for the notice is to generated more logins/activity which translates into a documented reason to justify current or higher staff budgets when presenting at the management staff meetings

That is not what I'd call customer service. Additionally, fltplan.com is trying to attract the big iron customers and isn't real keen to have us little GA pilots as the main customers. That becomes apparent when using fltplan.com

Interesting, as without small GA users, Garmin Pilot would have never began to ravel Foreflight in the market as they do now.

Garmin Pilot should address this problem with the folks who pushed the merging of the two products (Garmin Pilot and flt.plan.com) together. Pay attention to the user comment provided by the OP, they're your customers.

Most folks would just let it pass as I did for a few months until I read the OP.
 
Patrick is right, not RV related specifically. One motivation for posting was to give a heads up on the notice, which I've never received before, but I let my frustration bleed into a rant for what I consider a dumb business practice. Mods, please lock it, delete it, whatever...
 
Security

Patrick is right, not RV related specifically. One motivation for posting was to give a heads up on the notice, which I've never received before, but I let my frustration bleed into a rant for what I consider a dumb business practice. Mods, please lock it, delete it, whatever...
A lot of corporate security policies require disabling "disused" accounts. Hopefully you will get several reminders before that happens, and they should preserve your data for a while.

If you really want to rage, look up escheatment. :)
 
So, I got this today from the geniuses at Fltplan.com

Brilliant. P*ss off the suppliers of the best bang-for-the-buck app we have for flying right now.

Let's see I've been one of their users for well over a decade, maybe two, I don't remember. Covid has definitely affected my trips this year as you might expect. One can only wonder which genius thought this was a good idea. Not specifically RV related but many people here use Fltplan.com. On top of this, as a paying Garmin Pilot customer, they are essentially saying that they're going to cut off one of the app features unilaterally.

This isn't new at all. I've received a similar notice before, multiple times. Oddly enough, I haven't received it lately as i've been logging in more than I usually do to plan flights that may or may not happen just for the practise.

And the asterisks so helpfully added by vBulletin stand for ******s, in case you're wondering
The asterisks are because the owner of the site wants it kept civilized here. Circumvent it by spelling out "bad" words, and you risk getting banned.
 
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