Etihad’s big announcement about the most luxurious travel product in commercial aviation has been all the rage. I’d love to fly it, but the truth is I’m not going to. It’s way too pricey for me and at this point there’s no reasonable way to access it with miles.
I’m not going to tell you ‘get this and that credit card and you’ll be 3% of the way there.’
No, it’s just out of reach of most of us. Sure you could manufacture $1 million of spend on a 2% cash back card.. but even then there are things most of us would do with that $20,000 other than fly a single 7 hour flight from London to Abu Dhabi.
But Lucky who writes the One Mile at a Time blog wants to make a play for it.
He posted a Kickstarter project to fund him to travel on the new Etihad 3-room First Class Residence onboard their A380.
Lucky flies all over the world, sampling airline products, and writing about them. His blog is successful enough that it – combined with booking awards (he’s my competition) – has become his career. Nonetheless, he doesn’t have a corporate parent to fund his trips and he’s not going to shell out the $20,000 one-way to try out the Residence.
So he asked his readers, if they’d like him to fly and review a product that they wouldn’t otherwise get to see up front, could they chip in to cover the cost?
Frankly it’s worth $5 or even $25 to me to read his take on the product, so I should probably be willing to support the effort. He won’t do it unless the people who value it will help cover the cost, and I respect that. The way kickstarter works, supporters are only charged for their pledge if the goal for funding is reached. If it’s not, there’s no payment due.
Not everyone thinks so, however. An American spokesperson, Leslie Scott, kind of lost it over Ben’s effort.
Edited to add these additional tweets criticizing everyone who contributed:
Bear in mind that buying tickets on Etihad is something that American is supposed to be promoting since American and Etihad are partners, after all.
So…
- Is it now American Airlines’ policy to publicly condemn their Executive Platinum flyers on social media?
- Is it now American Airlines’ policy to denigrate the importance of purchasing tickets on their partner airlines?
Of course up until about a month ago this American spokesperson had been with Delta for 6 years. So that’s probably just how they do it over there.
Perhaps more importantly: what do you think of this effort? Is it spectacularly awesome, or spectacularly wasteful? (Or both?)
(HT: @jeanne23)
Update: it appears that Ms. Scott has apologized, and her boss tweeted “Tweets from our personal accounts are our own. #heartintherightplace”
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I think its incredibly self-entitled of Lucky to ask his readers to pay for the trip for him. Lucky is a professional blogger which is to say he runs a business. When businesses need money to produce a product they seek investors who in turn demand a piece of the business for their money. Lucky is simply asking for donations so he can produce the same product he always does (i.e. blog postings). If Lucky’s business is not successful enough to fund the trip itself and Lucky isn’t willing to make the investment himself why should we pay him and get nothing in return.
Now I know some of you will say we get a blog posting in return, but really how long will it take Lucky to write the post. Does it make sense to give someone over $20,000 for something that will take him and hour or two to write?
Hey, gotta give Lucky props for being creative, and if nothing else, at least he created buzz for his blog. Plus now it looks like he’s trying to somehow raffle off a free companion ticket, so it would be akin to a raffle or something, so in addition to contributing to a once in a lifetime opportunity for Lucky, someone else who kicks in a few bucks might get lucky as well! 😀
Why put jobs in jeopardy? WTF!!!!
>>>>>>>Is it now American Airlines’ policy to publicly condemn their Executive Platinum flyers on social media?
Ok, so this post is reasonable except for the fact that you miss a rather specific point (at least by my interpretation). Leslie Scott’s twitter handle is her’s, not Americans. She specifically states as much: “@Leslie_PScott
Living in the Chicago burbs. Spokesperson for @AmericanAir. Amateur #avgeek. Love sports, travel and cooking. My tweets are my own views.”
So your comment asking about American Airlines’ policy seems off base.
@Trevor here’s the thing, it’s one thing for an employee to say their tweets don’t represent their employer. It’s another thing when the person self-identifies on twitter as company spokesperson.
Wow what a spiteful response from you, Gary. How would you feel if your post prompted some professional consequences for her? She was obviously not tweeting as the voice of AA there. She was voicing her personal opinion that many people (both in and out of the blogger community) agree with. When people like you Fox News-ify everything and make such a huge deal out of someone’s of the cuff remarks, you hinder people’s desire to express themselves. Would you want someone reporting yor every word to your employer and clients? I doubt it.
Very harsh and very unfair. Frankly I’ve grown to expect more out of you.
@Trevor: Your point about the personal twitter is taken, but since she advertises in her bio that she is the spokesperson for American Airlines–well, we now know clearly that the spokesperson feels disdain for one of their ex-plats.
I know for my own twitter, I can technically say whatever I want, but I know if I bad mouthed our customers, that would have real, immediate consequences for me at work.
Outside of what I think about using Kickstarter for a first class flight, I think this post is unacceptable since this is coming from her personal account, not AA’s. That being said, I hope you intend to subsidize her in the event there is any professional outfall from this. I think a line was crossed here.
All Gary is doing here is quoting a tweet from an AA Spokesperson. If their job is in jeopardy, which seems highly unlikely, it’s her own doing and no one else’s.
I’m getting the sense that miles and travel blogging has reached its apex and is about to implode.
Really shitty, mean, and petty response. Someone thinks that you guys are incredibly entitled and self centered and suggests charity donations and you blast her? Pathetic.
When you broadcast your personal opinions, in writing, to the world for anyone to see, using your own name, you’d probably better be prepared for any consequences of your statements at work — ESPECIALLY if you’re a spokesperson for the company!
With regard to Lucky’s kickstarter campaign, I think he should take you, Gary! Then we can get 2 reviews/opinions for the price of one!
Baloney that Lucky makes money with his “business” to support his lifestyle. His parents have been bankrolling his hobby for years. Anyone who buys that he is making enough through his blog to fund his worldwide travel is an absolute fool.
Spectacularly wasteful is relative. To some, buying a nice car or eating an expensive meal is wasteful since the money would do more good being donated to charity. I suppose we could *all* exisist upon the bare minimum in life and donate a lot to others. In fact, there may even be a religion or three based upon that notion, eh? But no matter what you do, someone else is going to think it’s unnecessary or extravagant if they themselves don’t value it.
I don’t think an AA spokeswoman should have sent this tweet, even from her personal account. That said, I agree with her 100%. If I were Lucky, I’d pay for it myself or (better) ask the airline to comp me it for publicity purposes. IMO, Lucky’s readers undoubtedly have something better to do with their money but, of course, that’s for them to decide.
@ Gary — Half of me says “very unprofessional,” and the other half says “good for her”. It may be time for someone more seasoned, like you and/or Randy, to discuss philanthropy with Ben. When you gain so much from something, it is very important to give back, not just keep taking and taking, and taking… The outrage is wholly justified.
I’d say it’s one thing if an AA pilot came out and said that, but it is different when it is a spokesperson. She should be aware that anything she says might be mistaken as her company’s own opinion, much like a reporter.
BTW, I think it is pretty naive on her part to say on her personal profile that she is a spokesperson.
It’s HER WORDS broadcast on twitter and some of you are criticizing Gary for sharing them? WTF?
I agree with Gary. She shouldn’t list in her bio that she is a spokesperson for American, then tweet something like this. She should be fired.
Have to agree with Gary. A person who is in a high profile position as a “spokeswoman” should think twice before making “personal” comments about one of her company’s customers. I run a company and I certainly wouldn’t like if one of my employees went on social media bad mouthing one of my customers.
@John F- If that is the case then this is even worse. If Lucky’s business is not strong enough to even support himself then he shouldn’t be asking others for handouts. Then again if he is already receiving handout then we shouldn’t be surprised that he wants more.
The fact of the matter is we have a 24 year old kid who has no idea how to run a business. While Lucky certainly has passion for travel, its pretty clear that the lines between his business and his life are badly blurred. It is clear that he is personally benefitting under the guise of running a business. In the end it is really unsustainable. Without change I think we can all expect to see the blog fail.
A valid response and I think well fitting, good on you Gary.
People who complain about Lucky starting his fund are well entitled to do so – though they should refrain from personal insults. If people want to support the fund to read the report that’s each person’s individual choice, if you don’t want to then great also. I think Lucky has taken a good stance on the whole thing and I wish him the best.
As to whether this Leslie woman gets reprimanded, that’s all on her. If you state you’re a media director for an airline you need to be more aware of what you are posting and how it will be received – many people have lost their jobs for less.
I think Leslie is clearly young and foolish and might need to consider a different career.
Ben is using kickstarter for precisely the reason(s) it exists — people don’t have to contribute nor read his blog. I don’t understand the furor. It’s perplexing.
This woman’s tweets were really stupid. Hope she pays for it.
I love Gary’s Blog and think his ethical standards far above others. But this seemed like an unusually personal attack – there can be absolutely no ambiguity that Ms. Scott was posting this in her personal capacity. And yes it was a strong opinion but in absolutely no way was she ‘throwing partner airline under the bus’. That was an uncalled for inflammatory headline that like gets her called in by her superiors at AA – really uncalled for. I would read her post as “hey if you have money to donate – give it to a more worthy cause”; in NO WAY did I read this as saying the other airline product is unworthy if someone has the discretionary cash to spend.
@John F – What makes you think Lucky doesn’t make enough blogging to support himself? Do you have any evidence this is the case or is it just idle speculation? I think he’s publicly stated in the past that he makes a decent living at it. Those credit card sign up bonuses can be pretty significant. I’m sure Gary can attest to that. 🙂
Public Relations 101: If you’re a spokesperson for a company you are ALWAYS ‘on the record’….act accordingly. No reason for her to say anything about the blogger’s endeavor–just makes her look petty.
She was previously a spox for Delta?….now it all makes sense.
As for the Kickstarter campaign–for those who value the view into a rare experience, a few bucks is worth the interesting read. For those who don’t get it–don’t contribute. As for me, I’m going to contribute just to spite all the haters–rock on Lucky!
Let a teacher call one of her students an idiot over twitter and she would be out of a job.
and, LOL, the comments here are hysterical. I’m so glad everyone who is against this seems to know Ben and his business acumen so well.
Whether one agrees with her or not is irrelevant. The point is how unprofessional she is. She has definitely crossed the line.
I agree with Gary here. Lucky can ask for it and it is up to each individual whether they want to fund it.
Why throw out the charity comparison? People have certainly paid more for a bit of entertainment. Further, making a $5 kickstarter donation should not exactly effect how much one gives to charity in a given month.
I agree with you Gary. Leslie Scott could have omitted the “idiot” part of her tweet or better yet, simply not said anything. Since she did say she was the spokesperson at @AmericanAir, it links her to her employer.
I think what Lucky is doing is awesome. Most if not all his blog readers have gained something from his analyses throughout the years that if everyone chipped in $20 or even $10 (which is the cost of a movie ticket) then i think Lucky will succeed.
I wish though that he made an analysis on how it is next to impossible to accumulate 2.3 million Etihad Guest miles (cost of a one-way Residence ticket AUH-LHR) for a US based flyer, even for above average business travelers since Etihad miles expire within 2 years regardless of activity. Just thinking about it, I’d be more interested in reading about an Etihad frequent flyer who actually achieves this (better yet if that person is US-based!)
I am an instinctive idiot, when I saw the tweet which says she is AA spokesperson, it automatically registers a certain reaction. She could have used many other title but she chose to put that out & comment on an travel related incident. Her blast deserved to me blasted.
Kudos to Lucky for the creative idea, he is the typical 20 something with the idea we need for new invention. Nobody forces (or vote to make) you to support him, so not at all an entitlement issue.
Love Luckys idea. I too will send him($5) Bitter tweet. But perhaps lucky could promote some form of Charity ( miles donation for a kids wish) that his fans could donate to too.? And Gary I will need your service for award F booking on new US/ OW prog. Was expert with aeroplan ( non YQ) and Dividend miles with AnA s help. But OW over my head. Cheers ThaiDai.
I don’t see how Lucky’s request is in any way off base. No one has to donate money to him. There’s no coercion. Thinking, rational adults will weigh how much it means to them to read a review of this product and whether it’s enough to justify an expense of X dollars. If it isn’t, they will to spend their money elsewhere.
Arguing that people should be donating to charity is besides the point. The people who donate are doing so not because they have disposable cash and no idea what to do with it, but because they want to see this happen. If Lucky takes his Kickstarter down, we will not see 10,000$ suddenly siphoned into Doctors without Borders
In the early days of Lucky’s “career” he admitted on FlyerTalk that he was funded through his parents. He traveled the globe, staying in 5 star hotels, on his parents dime. The justification was that he then used the miles to book his parents tickets. So this all started with parental funding.
Now we are supposed to believe that he makes enough money from his blog and “consulting business” to do what he does? Do you know how much money he would need to pull in to support this lifestyle? There is no way it is happening. And I bet if pushed Gary would admit that he believes that this is the case. You simply can’t make enough money doing this to support yourself and fly the globe everyday. If so Gary wouldn’t have a day job.
I would not expect Lucky to admit this. Of course he’s going to say that he makes enough from his business to support himself. Telling everyone that his rich parents fund his lifestyle would be embarrassing. People would ask why he doesn’t get a real job and why he continues to live a life of privilege based on his parents funding. If I were him I would say the same thing.
Once lucky shows us a corporate tax return I’ll believe his business is legit. Right now it’s simply not credible.
She’s tweeted that she has apologized to Ben for her original comments.
Spokesperson Leslie does have a point. American economy class already treats its passengers (like Price William) royally while a few other airlines are known to give economy class passengers the royal screw.
But if Lucky can raise the cash, by all means he should fly like a Columbian drug dealer or a third world dictator.
A lot of mixed thoughts here…
1) I don’t see how Lucky asking for funding to do a big project is really any different than a traditional print medium, where you have to pay if you want to see the story. If you want to see the big article in Travel & Leisure on whatever destination, you pay the $5. It’s backwards – he’s asking for the money up front – but not really substantially different in concept.
2) Identifying yourself as affiliated with a company and then saying something to the whole world that they probably wouldn’t support is possibly not the best idea.
3) That said, going after people on the Internet knowing that it will possibly cost them their job (please don’t act like you don’t have pull with AA) is kind of mean, especially when you have no personal skin in the game, and I hope you don’t get pleasure or a feeling of power out of it because I really respect you.
4) Karma is real, we all make mistakes, and as someone who blogs, tweets, speaks, etc. as much as you do, you must be pretty confident that you’ll never have a slip of the tongue or moment of emotion in order to be in a position to throw stones.
So, mixed feelings, but if you’re looking for feedback on the blog, I’d be much happier with less of this petty stuff and ripping on Elliott and more travel writing!
C’mon guys. Anyone reading this or any other blog is no doubt part of the miles, pts and travel extravaganza. We all must acknowledge how lucky we are to have the wherewithal to benefit from all of the opportunities we are presented with. Ultimately, this is hardly more than a big puzzle – each person using their own special gifts and talents to make the best of what is there. Take it down a notch – don’t take things so personally. Get on with the game and enjoy it!
Completely agree with Seth’s post #1. Lucky is a buffoon, in my opinion. Some of his posts are helpful. But, his blog has way too much junk/noise.
I’m not going lie, I don’t disagree with Leslie’s opinion. While I am a fan of Lucky’s blog and Boarding Area in general, I found it a little distasteful. But it is his blog and he can do as he pleases, and readers can contribute if they wish. No big deal. It doesn’t hurt me one way or another, and I’m not going to rant about it.
That said,I found Leslie’s rant quite unprofessional, given her position. I work in a highly regulated and scrutinized industry, and I never even thought about using my personal social media accounts to disparage anyone in or associated with my industry. As an insider, I feel that I’m held to a higher standard.
On to more important things, anyone knows Leslie’s number.;)
I actually think Lucky is being very realistic and mature about all of this. He knows it’s totally a silly thing to do and a lark. And, I’m sure he’s aware that there are big world events (Nigerian girls, S. Korea ferry) that merit a ton of attention too. I just think he’s pretty realistic about it all. Unlike, at times, TPG, who constantly promotes his philanthropy.
http://recode.net/2014/04/03/mozilla-co-founder-brendan-eich-resigns-as-ceo-and-also-from-foundation-board/
C’mon Gary, this is a cheap effort for you to publicize Lucky’s effort. The woman on Twitter didn’t “throw partner airline under the bus” in any way, what leap of logic are you using here to get to that conclusion? And the title of your blog post is incredibly misleading. Reading that post makes it sound like AA took a company position that Lucky shouldn’t be doing this, when that’s simply not the case.
Please stop trying to create a controversy where none exists, it’s beneath you.
Was this just a rant by the AA employee to get twitter followers? I wonder what AA thinks of these comments?
CEO forced to resign for making a donation for his cause just because some people disagree. complaining your customer publicly like that seems a bit excessive.
C’mon Gary, this is a cheap effort for you to publicize Lucky’s effort. The woman on Twitter didn’t “throw partner airline under the bus” in any way, what leap of logic are you using here to get to that conclusion? And the title of your blog post is incredibly misleading. Reading that post makes it sound like AA took a company position that Lucky shouldn’t be doing this, when that’s simply not the case.
Please stop trying to create a controversy where none exists, it’s beneath you.
If Coins manages to reach his goal, his readers will enjoy reading about his trip.
A couple of years ago, one of the bloggers said that he paid his quarterly income taxes with a credit card. If I recall correctly, the quarterly payment was $10,000. That works out to $40,000 annually. If you do the rough math and say the 40k is 20% of his income, that works out to $200,000 per year. Probably more. I think it’s fair to say that not many readers here (expect for successful bloggers), make that kind of dough. That said, while I think it’s nervy of Lucky to ask for the money, if people are willing to fork over $10 and $50 to him, well, No Harm No Foul.
I think it would be awesome if he raises the cash for the trip. It better be a fantastic trip report, though. Complete with a few hours of video!
The hubris and privledge to ask readers who he makes money off to support give him their money so he can fly has to be a joke because no one could be that clueless and disrespectful to people he counts on for support.
I think whether you like it or not, she represents AA, and should act accordingly. When the spokesperson, nonetheless, publicly denigrates a customer publicly, I don’t care if it’s her view or not, I would remove this “spokesperson” immediately. Completely unacceptable. But she’s from DL, so that’s probably how they treat their elites anyway.
Hardly ‘blasted’ him – it is wasteful. Promoting flying on partners – sure. Taking donations that might otherwise go to another cause, just to fly a dude for a really expensive mileage run? That might be the definition of waste.
If I were her, I would remove her affiliation with AA in her twitter bio – but really, there’s no scandal here, and she wasn’t even that rude.
1. This Kickstarter campaign is absurd. It’s bad enough that he spends his time flying around the world for kicks and taking up award seats that other people may need, but now he wants us to pay for it? No thanks.
2. Leslie’s entitled to her opinion, especially if it comes from her personal account. Frankly, there wasn’t anything in her tweets that’s offensive or that the majority of people would even disagree with.
3. The fact that he’s an Executive Platinum is irrelevant. Does one’s status with an airline (or in life generally) change whether their actions are fundamentally right or wrong? Besides, he’s only Executive Platinum because of mileage runs and cheap mistake fares. That’s not the kind of customer airlines should really value.
4. Denigrating the importance of purchasing partner tickets? That’s a bit of a stretch here.
5. I agree with Cam. I expected more from you. I read your blog because you generally offer insightful commentary on aviation rather than just flogging credit cards constantly like the other guys. This is the kind of post I’d expect to find on TPG or milevalue.
@Seth “When businesses need money to produce a product they seek investors who in turn demand a piece of the business for their money…” That’s not how kickstarter works at all.
First of all, I don’t have any problem with Ben starting a campaign to raise money to fly that product. The idea either clearly did not come from Ben to begin with, or it did and he just is hiding behind nameless readers to justify it. I belief the former. And, backlash over the campaign seems misplaced. It’s not like a lot of people who are donating to Ben’s campaign would otherwise be donating to more worth causes. Some might, but probably not many.
As to the American Airlines spokesperson, I have no problem with her doing that either, but I am not her employer. I’ll leave that up to AA. If she thinks the campaign is stupid (Which Ben readily admits himself) then that is her opinion. She does get into trouble identifying herself as an AA spokesperson, and the easiest way to avoid any trouble would be to delete that identifier from her profile.
@dhammer53 — Multiply by 10. Don’t be fooled by the “I can’t afford it” comments. Gary’s comment that “it’s way too pricey for me” is at least genuine.
@Joe- I don’t think Lucky is being realistic about it at all. He goes on and on about how its a crazy idea and expresses discomfort about it, but in the end he is asking his readers to pony up for 100% of the ticket. If he really felt all that bad about it, he wouldn’t be asking. By going on and on about his discomfort he is trying to rationalize things in his own mind by telling himself that his readers are aware of the situation and are making the decision to donate on their own. He is basically trying to washi his hands of any role in the ridiculous scheme.
I agree that TPG is very distasteful about his philanthropy, but at least he does something (though how much he really cares is questionable given how he seeks to make miles off his donations). As far as we can tell Lucky does absolutely nothing but profit off his blog. Like it or not he is a semi-public figure. He should use his clout to do some good rather than just profit off of it.
I’d like to add another point about how it is even more distasteful for Lucky to ask for 100% of the cost of the ticket. Like all bloggers Lucky often spends his own money (or his parents) on flights for the purpose of writing posts. If this flight is too rich for his blood, he should still at least pay what he believe it is worth. Asking his readers to pay the entire way makes this even more distasteful.
Who cares what the lady said, I find the request by the blogger to be completely stupid as she said. What will be the review: “I sat in a 3 room First Class product and it was amazing”.
$20,000 can go along way towards FAR more important causes.
How to get yourself fired from American Airlines by Leslie Scott…
Seems that many (most?) commenters here haven’t actually read Lucky’s post, where he specifically says that this idea is “totally ridiculous and there are so many better ways you can spend your money”; he even bolds that to make it clear. If people think it’s a bad idea, don’t donate.
I also want to point out that most major companies (including my own employer) have social media policies which clarify who can post what as it relates to work. My own firm makes clear that I am not permitted to disparage our customers on social media even if using my personal account. And I’m not anywhere near our social media team; this policy applies to *all* employees. This woman made a spectacularly stupid decision to publicly disparage a customer using a social media account that calls out her own professional affiliation (even with the flimsy disclaimer). I simply don’t see how anyone can defend her behaviour, and I believe she deserves disciplinary action, possibly up to termination. Imagine a fast food employee in uniform, on a smoke break, talking loudly and in range of other people about how stupid one of their recent customers is. Anyone who expects him not to be severely disciplined is delusional. Same applies to this woman.
I doubt Etihad wants Lucky flying their product anyway. Not even close to throwing them under the bus by AA. You’re fabricating news cuz lucky’s your boy. This was a really useless post and poorly written.
@John F. – “You simply can’t make enough money doing this to support yourself and fly the globe everyday.”
And how would you know that? How do you know that Lucky can’t support himself financially doing what he does?
Lucky is contributed so much to our hobby and is always available to answer questions, whether it be via “ask lucky” on his blog or twitter. I pay for my subscription to the economist and I see no problem in paying for a post, a post that will be extremely expense to produce.
In regards to Ms. Scott, she might have just committed career suicide and personally, I will be boycotting AA until she is removed from her position.
I won’t be contributing to Ben’s KickStarter campaign but I think it’s a creative idea on his part. Contributing is obviously strictly voluntary. I can’t see why using this method of raising money to provide a review of the service is any more offensive that a magazine for which you pay a subscription that uses the income to fund articles (less so, I think, because an individual’s decision to fund this particular article is more tightly tied to the decision to contribute.
Indeed, if large amount of money that’s proposed to be spent on this trip is offensive doesn’t that mean that the very EXISTENCE of these high-end first class products is offensive? I’m not sure that’s a line that a representative of American Airlines wants to be pushing.
Finally, those who are on Gary’s case — you’re being silly. This AA representative publicly published her intemperate comments on Twitter. Not only are they fair game for Gary’s commentary but it’s quite reasonable to expect that she was intending to provoke a public debate.
People, donate your money to better cause. Not to this stupid idea. I like Ben but this is just a waste. There are many better projects or donations to help in this World
@ seth — Come on, you know Lucky’s parents are not funding his travel. Maybe when he was 14, but certainly not now…
@John-Paul- Read my post above at #51. What Lucky is doing by saying it is crazy is rationalizing. He is shifting responsibility for the whole scheme to his readers.
You’re right, you don’t have to donate if you don’t like it. But it doesn’t mean we can’t express our distaste at the idea. Lucky is a public figure and as such is open to criticism for his public actions.
@Gene- I never said they were funding it. I said if they were, it makes things worse. Your assertion that they aren’t funding his business has no more proof than the assertion that they are.
for one, I do think it is creative of Lucky to set this up. while i don’t agree it is a valid ask, people have a clear choice to vote with their wallets.
as far as Gary ‘publicizing’ this, i am quite sure AA already knew. in this day in age of being able to blast our opinions to the world, it is even more important to not do so.
if she just worked for AA in a back of the house position i might feel differently, but she still should not have done it. being a spokesperson especially she should not have done it at all. maybe if she left off the idiot part it could be taken as just some random persons opinion, however, calling out any customer/business/etc is not right in any regard, no matter how much you dislike that person or their ideals.
I don’t see the difference in this if 2,000 people pay for a movie ticket and those that pay for this. Entertainment and educational.
Blast is too strong of a word, for her twitter post. It is a none story, You might end up getting her fired. 95% her fault 1-5% your fault.
I am hoping you don’t consider yourself a journalist.
She shouldn’t have said she is the AA spokesperson on her personal twitter account – blurs the line between what is personal and what is work, particularly when your job is a spokesperson. That being said, she can have opinions and if she personally feels money going towards Lucky’s kickstarter campaign (brilliant and ridiculous, btw) could be better spent elsewhere, then she shouldn’t be criticized for that as being an AA employee’s statement.
What a skewed post. This is a perfect example of the arrogance that you and Ben share. I’m guessing you are simply jealous you won’t be doing the Residence.
I find it HILARIOUS that people would have the audacity to suggest they know more about what ‘other’ people should do with their money.
I find it equally HILARIOUS that people who follow travel blogs and go to great ends to gain status and accrue miles , etc. (some would argue also a frivolous endeavor when there are starving children in this world) would think they have the moral high ground.
Lucky was totally upfront about his intentions and people who donate derive value from it. End of story. Sheesh.
Welcome back @Tyler!
@ seth — ok, true.
Wow… some passionate posts. I think you guys gotta take a step back and not take yourselves so seriously. I was under the impression that Lucky’s kickstarter campaign was a joke, a creative way to to illustrate the decadence of the product. I don’t think anyone really thinks he will be successful in his fundraising.
This is the first thing that has come from American Airlines’ corporate communications team in years that is the unqualified truth. Good for you, Leslie Scott.
I think Leslie Scott had better start looking for a new job, ideally not in PR. She seems to have no skills in that area. I say this as a retired PR person.
I agree with Leslie Scott. Good tweet!
I guess she did not have a good night of sleep. She could be fired for having “fat fingers”!!! Funny that people don’t realize that “venting” on the internet is not something you can just apologize. It will be all over and people will not forget. If I were her I would be updating my resume 🙂 Oh, she used to work for Delta? Got it!!!!
“I find it equally HILARIOUS that people who follow travel blogs and go to great ends to gain status and accrue miles , etc. (some would argue also a frivolous endeavor when there are starving children in this world) would think they have the moral high ground.”
Just so. Irony abounds. I’m also struck by the lack of civility in quite a number of posts. Those writing them must be doing so for their own pleasure as the sneering and even hateful tone in a number of them make them, shall we say, less than persuasive.
Publicly calling someone an ‘idiot’ is rude in my book. Lord help us all! Lots of ways to help others, but also enjoy life. Some people seem to take this game way to seriously IMHO. BTW I’m in for $10.
Wow! All of the people who have commented that Ben “Lucky” does not have a real business and travels the world on his parents dime don’t have a clue how much real bloggers with heavy traffic can make. Use your brains or maybe just use the new internet thing to do some research. Think about it for a second. With the exception of Gary almost every single travel blogger has quit their jobs and done it full time. TPG was working on Wall Street and quit (and he doesn’t appear to be living frugal life style now) You can make a very high income with a large audience just on ad revenue. Add on top of that credit card sign ups and there is serious money. Add on top of that the consulting/ff booking business that most of them are so busy with they hire help and you have a level of income were you should be glad it falls under business tax laws and not personal income.
Just search for the blogger “Mr Money Mustache” and how he was making $4000/month JUST FROM CHASE!!
Quit hatin Start your own blog. I don’t think these bloggers are writing posts about how the Ink sign up just increase because it gets them excited (well it probably does get them excited because they are going to make so much money)
I was about to write something, but Victor expressed my sentiments exactly. Lucky doesn’t have a gun to anyone’s head, demanding money. He is not being duplicitous. If you don’t want to (or are offended at the thought of) funding him, then don’t. It’s that simple. Move on.
With Lucky’s post yesterday and now this post, it makes me sad to be part of this community.
American Airlines, the non-profit charity organization.
He jumped the shark with that promo, and its judgement doesn’t reflect well on the community.
Looks like she will soon be taking some time off to “spend more time with my family”. If American doesn’t fire her immediately, then we know exactly how they feel about their flyers – idiots.
The, gee whiz, gosh, this is such a silly idea he is putting out is so disingenuous and is a great way to attract the sheeple he seems to attract to fund this selfish endeavor.
Kickstarter was NOT set up for funding a lifestyle.
I have cut way back on reading a lot of the BA blogs. I will now not bother with OMAAT. Yeah, I know, don’t let the door hit me in the ass.
I won’t.
My respect for a number of bloggers has gone way down.
@Rob – AA may not be charitable, but they have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of free travel to charities – and that’s just a few that I know of. Don’t get me wrong: AA is not-so-good airline with not-so-good management. But I’ll guess that they have done far more for charity than any of these bloggers…
I’d like to hear Leslie’s opinion on people paying $30k to fly MIA-NRT via AA in F. So wasteful.
What about mileage runners?
We are all entitled to our opinions, including how we judge others. We also bear the responsibility for expressing them.
@Other Joe, while I try to do what I can charitably I am sure that a major corporation like American Airlines has done far more than I have as an individual.
She’s updated her twitter profile to just say “airline spokesperson” now 🙂
Very unprofessional to call anyone an idiot. I’ll be surprised if she keeps her job. Calling customers names isn’t good at all. So did come from Delta though. …..
I have to agree with the “American spokesperson’s” comments. Virtually what amounts to a studio apartment on a commercial airline is totally wasteful and is embarrassing. WTF…the carbon footprint alone is crazy.
Do you think American Airlines will fire Lauren Scott with no notice, just like the no notice changes to their Awards program, or have they learned her lesson and will not give her 2 weeks notice on her termination of employment with them?
If she thinks this way about Lucky with how much contempt do you think she feels for other frequent fliers who try and redeem award tickets with her airline?
All I can say is, I have always been an avid reader of Lucky’s stuff…until now. What an entitled little piece of shit.
Looking forward to the follow-on effort, “Kickstarter: Help Lucky Afford The Prostitute For The Second Seat In His Villa So He Can Finally Break The Seal And Become A Man”.
Sorry for how vile I sound, but this is truly one of the most disgustingly selfish asks I have ever seen.
Leslie Scott that is, not Lauren Scott
Who’s the idiot? Any effective PR flak should realize that she’s not doing her job properly when she becomes the story. PR 101. It’s irrelevant that she used her “personal” Twitter account, particularly since she’s branded it with the AA name.
As for Lucky, I am amazed by the ire this post has provoked. Lucky’s Kickstarter project is much more reasonable that a lot of other Kickstarter nonsense, and it’s not like he’s doing it to be greedy. He’s a travel blogger and travel geek extraordinaire who now lives full-time in hotels. For anyone who has followed his blog (many commenters appear not to have done so), you’ll realize that he wants to try out the Etihad residence out of curiosity — because it’s there. More power to him.
@Jim, He’s at 36% of his fundraising goal with the entire month of May to get there.
Care to make a side bet on whether he makes it?
I read Lucky for entertainment, and he entertains me a great deal. Now that I know about his project, sure, I’ll throw a few bucks at it. This American Airline spokesperson is entitled to her opinion, but it’s an ignorant opinion. All of our money should NOT go to charity. Some of our money should go to supporting the creators who provide entertaining writing, good music, and so on. Creators are just as deserving of our cash as anyone else,and I would argue that they are more deserving than many so-called charities just standing around with a handout saying “gimme.” C’mon, who doesn’t want to see how much champagne and what brand he gets served on this flight? This “spokesperson” is irrationally angry that Lucky has a nice following of people who enjoy his exploits. What’s her problem? One might almost suspect that she’s envious. I don’t think anybody should be fired for being an a**hat on their own time, but I think she clearly is one. Why not find something real to be angry and bitter about?
Very unprofessional profanity from a rep and on a matter that should not be of consequence to her. Was this communication in her official capacity?
@peachfront- I posted this on Lucky’s blog but it bear repeating.
To those of you out there who say that contributing $5, $10, $20 is the least you can do for Lucky after all he has provided you, you fail to consider that you already provide Lucky with payment for the info on this blog. Sure you don’t pay out of pocket with money, but everytime you access this blog you are generating traffic to this website. Without the number of daily visitors to this website Lucky would not have the ad revenue that he does, he would not have the affiliate links he posts, he would not be a member of the BoardingArea network, and he would not appear in search engine results near the top. We don’t pay Lucky in money but we do pay in driving traffic to this website.
You owe Lucky absolutely nothing. Without the readership, this blog would not be a viable business venture. Think about it. Lucky is able to live a very comfortable lifestyle flying around the world in first class and staying in 5 star hotels and all he does is write a few blog posts per day. I’m not saying that running a blog is not time consuming, but its not exact rocket science. We all enjoy reading this blog, but Lucky is compensated more than generously by all of his readers because if he did not have any readers he would not be able to write this blog or live the lifestyle he does.
The lady is way off base and needs to get off her high horse. Who is she to care how I spend my disposable income? I don’t view this as a plea for charity from Lucky. This is more like a call for investors. The chance to read about the experience is worth a couple bucks to me.
Whether I agree with the Kickstarter campaign or the content of the tweets from Leslie Scott, good for her boss for saying that tweets from personal accounts are their own. Probably a very grey line (esp if you have the company you work for on your twitter profile), but like the right of folks to be able to speak their mind none the less.
@Taha- This is nothing like an investment. Investors get an ownership interest in the business they invest in. They get a cut of the business’s profits. People who contribute to Lucky get absolutely nothing. The money they contribute will be used to write a trip report that is a few pages long that can be accessed by anyone. Pure and simple, those who are giving money to Lucky are simply funding a 24 year old kid’s hobby. There is absolutely no profit motive in making this trip. A blog post about the trip once it is taken will generate little to no extra revenue to the blog.
Lucky should be able to do whatever he wants. If you don’t like it, don’t read his blog and don’t contribute to the kickstarter. No one has a gun to their head.
If the roles were reversed, many of you would attempt to get a free $20k ticket as well.
As for the AA spokesperson, she should indeed be terminated. What a fool.
The page-view counters for BoardingArea blogs must be overloaded! Brilliant PR stunt! Methinks someone at the House of Miles must be ROTFLMAO…
Wow. A lot of noise and a lot of nonsense as usual.
I read Ben’s post this afternoon and I can’t see a big problem in it. It’s not like he asks the readers to pay for his car or whatever, this is a 8h flight on a nonsense route. It’s purely for the product. I don’t think it is worth it though. The ultra high price is designed to keep away the ‘riff raff’ like SQ tried it. However SQ wasn’t really successful with it (probably still too cheap) and at one point the Suites were nothing special anymore and now you can book those with miles as well.
Regarding the woman and her Tweet, if you identify yourself as the spokesperson for company x on your personal Twitter profile and then lash out in a field related to your work and even insult a current customer of your company… then your are just dumb. No matter which company, I would remove this person from her post or at least take severe internal action. As a spokesperson you are ALWAYS on the record so watch your mouth.
The charity aspect is the most laughable argument in this whole discussion. First of all, nobody is required to donate money to anyone and free to do with personal finances whatever comes to mind. This morning I bought a car magazine because I wanted to read the article/review about a specific new model. I read it and then left the magazine on the train. It cost 10$ btw. Do I have to feel bad now because I could have donated the money to the Good People of the World Foundation? Get real folks! Otherwise draw placards and picket in front of Louis Vuitton and Tiffany because there will most likely be people who could donate three grand but they decided to buy a handbag or a ring with the money they earned.
The blogging space will implode, no value in it anymore. No more noobs and no more seats on flights. So, how about you give money to a “good’ cause..
Bring John Home
http://www.gofundme.com/8l2igs
Everybody loses with the Twitter feed, the blog reaction, and so-o-o-o many of the responses. Not our best moment, and we can all learn from this moment.
So is a blogger saying something bad about a credit card of a bank (or the bank) he has affiliate links with throwing a partner under the bus? Bloggers say the bank affiliation don’t affect what they say, but now what she says should be controlled by her position?
I would never give to this endeavor, and see them offering the product at all as a bit distastful. But Lucky has the right to be on Kickstarter, people have the right to donate, and everybody else should have the right to say what they think of it without retaliation.
People may know her position (a great minority of the people), or be able to research (check FB etc.) and find it, but that doesn’t take away her right to speak her mind.
If Lucky wants to put this out there, and people fund it then good for him! I will be giving my $5 cause I feel that a review of the product would be worth that in entertainment for me and I think he went about it in a perfect way. Does that mean I will not give to charity this month? No, of course not. I will make my regular contributions and put the $5 in the “entertainment” section of my budget. People should really be less uptight.
methinks @Leslie_PScott should be let go from her position. At a minimum, she should be removed from a customer-facing role. There is no such thing as a private social media account in her job. Apologies after the fact are pointless, especially since it wasn’t just one tweet it was multiple tweets.
I’m just finishing up a conference where, in order to receive the obligatory conference T-shirt, one had to carry two 40-pound water bottles 50 feet, to highlight the many parts of the world that don’t have easy access to potable water. For each person that made the walk, the conference organizer donated $5 to chaitywater.com.
The organizer probably would have donated the money anyway, but that they chose to highlight this effort really puts Lucky’s proposal in proper perspective.
It strikes me that this is the best possible publicity Ben could have gotten. The sanctimony has shifted me from “probably won’t kick in” to “considering kicking in”.
BTW, Kickstarter isn’t about charity. I kicked in to Gabriel Leigh’s Frequent Flyer documentary project simply because I enjoy his work. I might kick into Ben’s project for the same reason.
This comment from Lucky’s blog is the most logical and level-headed argument as to why you shouldn’t contribute to Lucky unless you realize that all you are doing is helping to support a well-off 24 year old travel luxuriously.
“346.May 8th, 2014 at 9:47 am
Rachel said,
People are free to do as they wish with their money, but IMO, this just doesn’t smell right.
The fact is you are now running a business. You do trip reports, you try different products, you go on every A380, not simply to entertain us, but because ultimately it brings you revenue, and allows you to live your lifestyle as you do.
Therefore, paying for this trip should be another business decision. If it will drive more traffic to the site, and greater revenue to you, then it is worth it. If you’ve made the business decision that it is not worth paying for, it just seems unsavory to ask your readers to pay for it.
My $.02; obviously others are free to feel differently.”
Go ahead and support Lucky if you like. But I prefer to give money to people who actually need it.
Out of curiosity, did she delete any tweets? Seems like the one that was criticizing the customers is gone.
P.S. I don’t wish her ill (certainly, not losing a job) but she should be reminded to be more careful on social media.
There are millions of charities out there that are more important to me than putting a blogger on a luxurious flight. If a person has money to donate, please send to helping a person in need, to preserve the environment, to help fund research to beat a deadly disease. I’m with Leslie as a matter of principle, though she could have done it better. I think both sides are wrong – Ben for showing no class, Leslie for not separating her personal and work identities.
Do Leslie Scott’s views represent those of American Airlines? Seems odd to use such foul language about an issue that doesn’t even affect her directly.
Lucky is not doing anything unethnical or illegal. Personally I won’t give any money to support it, but I don’t have problems with others who do ‘make a donation’ to this project. There are a lot of crowd-funding projects out there people just donate to for no reason (e.g. Please donate to help me get an IVF so we can have our baby) and no one seem to blast them or the people who asked for the money. How is that different?
I wish I could just “like” or respond to some of the posts above.
I don’t follow the guy’s blog for other reasons, but it seems to me that if people really want to give him money to do something like this, that’s up to them. You don’t like it, don’t contribute. Lucky can ask whatever the hell he wants; no one is obligated to give a damn.
As for the AA spokesperson, seriously, once you associate yourself publicly with your employer, you don’t get to say “these are just my personal views.” It was a really poor move on her part. Seconding, thirding or fifthing whoever said Public Relations 101.
Amusing that she assumes that anyone donating to the Kickstarter campaign does NOT contribute to charity as well.
Also, Lucky was clear that the campaign was not his idea but came from readers eager to see what the Residence is like. If it had been his idea and if he were pushing hard for it (possibly using a method collecting funds regardless if he hit enough to actually fly it). And no matter what kind of business person Lucky is he’s certainly not dumb enough to do something that will, in the long term, damage his business.
“Of course up until about a month ago this American spokesperson had been with Delta for 6 years. So that’s probably just how they do it over there.”
Oh for crying out loud. Never miss a chance to bash Delta. Even when it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic and completely unsubstantiated.
First, the level of ego of this Ben guy to think he is worthy of his readers to ask for $25,000 from them to read an article about how luxurious a flight of his was…I’m blown away.
As for this article, it is amazing how you have this little camp here to gang up on and BULLY Leslie because she shared a valid opinion. Responding to her tweets and opening up discussion and debate is fine, but to twist it into it being an attack on an individual person because he HAPPENS to be a frequent flyer, is a desperate stretch and distraction. This guy having status on AA (who may hold status on more than one airline) does not mean that she’s attacking a passenger, or her company’s partner airline, etc.
It’s a cowardly attack by someone who still can’t handle their own misguided ego.
I would be amazed if any of these cowards would be so brazen by speaking to or addressing Leslie like this in person. For those who know her, she is a doll and is nowhere near deserved of an ARTICLE on this place to call her out for Ben and his waste of fundraising. Must be easy to hide behind your computers, huh?
Using the internet like this for public shaming and bullying is a disease, and I’m embarrassed to see it in the aviation media world.
If Ben wanted to do the RIGHT thing, he would have said “You’re right, this money can go to something much better,” and put it into a charity or given the ticket to an underprivileged person who maybe has never even flown on a plane before.
(On a smaller level, it’s also misuse of Kickstarter, which is intended for entrepreneurs to start new companies or projects, not to fund a guy’s plane ticket for something that will certainly not bring 3% of that in ad revenue traffic for it.)
I don’t really care about the review but if people want to spend their money in this way, it’s a free country. I think paying athletes insane amounts of money is stupid. Everyone should donate the money they spend on game tickets to a worthy cause instead and whatever it is Leslie chooses to spend her money on should be donated as well. Geesh!
Agree with Arcanum on all counts, especially the uber-entitled nature of this Kickstarter campaign and you’re attacking this woman reflecting very poorly on you rather than her, Gary.
“Arcanum said,
1. This Kickstarter campaign is absurd. It’s bad enough that he spends his time flying around the world for kicks and taking up award seats that other people may need, but now he wants us to pay for it? No thanks.
2. Leslie’s entitled to her opinion, especially if it comes from her personal account. Frankly, there wasn’t anything in her tweets that’s offensive or that the majority of people would even disagree with.
3. The fact that he’s an Executive Platinum is irrelevant. Does one’s status with an airline (or in life generally) change whether their actions are fundamentally right or wrong? Besides, he’s only Executive Platinum because of mileage runs and cheap mistake fares. That’s not the kind of customer airlines should really value.
4. Denigrating the importance of purchasing partner tickets? That’s a bit of a stretch here.
5. I agree with Cam. I expected more from you. I read your blog because you generally offer insightful commentary on aviation rather than just flogging credit cards constantly like the other guys.”
@June (comment 87): That’s a very libertarian point of view. It’s also the correct one. 🙂
The problem is that for many people the desire to control the actions of others is simply overwhelming. For them, it is intolerable when another person uses their liberty and property in a way that’s not “right.” Cue Ms. Scott’s outrage that other people are “giving him [Ben] money!!!”
@Steve: “It’s bad enough that he spends his time flying around the world for kicks and taking up award seats that other people may need”
So, who’s entitled here, Steve? Ben accumulates the miles and spends them at his own discretion. Why does this upset you? Why is that “bad enough?” Indeed, why is that “bad” at all? Because it limits awards for people who really “need” them? Who decides who really “needs” the awards? People like you, Steve?
I’d like Leslie to explain how Ben’s quest is any different than Kickstarting a Veronica Mars movie.
if we are going to judge how people spend their money based on the most loftiest of alternatives, then we are setting the bar so high no one can meet it.
how much money does she spends getting her nails done? I think kids dying of aids in Africa could use that money better than her. How much does she spend on her car? she can always ride the bus and use the money to help out the malaria effort in Brazil.
I also have to wonder if any of the folks who are incensed over Ben’s project have ever bought a ticket to a professional sports event. How can you justify funding the lavish lifestyles of athletes and owners when there are so many worthy charities?
@Seth: “People who contribute to Lucky get absolutely nothing. The money they contribute will be used to write a trip report that is a few pages long that can be accessed by anyone.”
Good job summing up the Tragedy of the Commons.
@Seth (Comment 27): “It is clear that [Ben] is personally benefitting under the guise of running a business.”
Quelle horreur! Thank heavens no one else does that kind of thing! I for one hope never to personally benefit from my business!
@andyandy- Way to miss the point. Of course the point of a business is personal profit. The difference between business and what Lucky is doing is that he is asking others to simply hand him money for his personal benefit rather than building a business that generates revenue that he can pay himself with. As stated above, Lucky has already determined that spending money on this ticket is a ridiculous business expense and has decided it is not worth him spending his own money on. At the same time he feels it is ok to ask you to bankroll him for nothing in return. That is the definition of personal benefit with absolutely no business connection.
Why sensationalize this even more? “Blasts”? “Kind of lost it?” Really?!? She called him an idiot, not a BFD in twitter-land, and which he kind of is in light of this whole ridiculously selfish kickstarter movement. There’s no doubt in my mind that Lucky can afford this trip based on the large revenue you so-called “professional” bloggers makes from CC referrals. Begging for money as a publicity stunt is just ridiculous. Why you chose to get involved and side with the “idoit” vs. the person who actually works for a living (and possibly risk someone’s job), is not only disappointing, but frankly makes you look even more out of touch with reality than before. Really disappointed by this, Gary 🙁
@Seth: No, I don’t miss your point. I just think it’s wrong.
1. “The difference between business and what Lucky is doing…” There are many different business models. One of which is fee for service. Ben has made a very simple proposition: Fund the flight and I will review it. Ergo, if the review has value to you, fund it. If not, don’t.
2. “Lucky is … asking others to simply hand him money for his personal benefit rather than building a business that generates revenue that he can pay himself with.” I’m not sure these words mean what you think they mean. Under the fee for service model, Ben’s business is generating the revenue with which he will pay the proposed business expense.
3. “[H]e feels it is ok to ask you to bankroll him for nothing in return.” See point #1. If you value the review, you do not get “nothing.” You get the review. The fact that others will also be able to see it is irrelevant to the question of whether you have received value.
In short, you appear to be operating under the premise that Ben is restricted to a business model in which his reviews are solely funded by ancillary income derived from the blog on which he posts them. If that is your “point”, it is a wrong one.
I wasn’t going to contribute to Lucky’s kickstarter (I don’t have anything feeling for or against the idea, I’m just lazy to find my kickstarter login), but after this outburst I just gave him some money to he can fly it, as my personal F- you to all the haters
Little Ben screwed up and Dad (you) had to write a teachers note.
Some of us are fully aware of just how profitable the credit card blog business . You do have corporate parents. They are : Chase, BofA, Citibank and Barclays.
Ben has always been creative and innovative. If it works for him, good for him. If not he could always marry into a big oil family so he could just buy Ethiad first-class tickets and not worry about the cost.
Maybe I missed this… Ben buys the ticket and gets a tax deduction. Based on what I wrote earlier, if he gets a 2-% deduction on a $25,000 ticket, he’s pocketing a cool $5 grand, not to mention that he’s 25,000 points richer.
That’s 20%, not 2%.
I used to object when established brands/businesses used Kickstarter to fund projects, but as time passes it seems to be the norm. As long as there isn’t any pressure from the party I don’t see a huge issue in it.
People have given money to much crazier things… If someone wants to pay $50 for a trip report and a postcard from Ben so be it. It also speaks volumes that currently 9 people are paying to $500 to have dinner with him. Had the pleasure of sitting next to him a couple weeks ago for dinner, but I’m not too sure about forking over that kind of cash (sorry Ben).
As for Leslie, she probably should have stayed away from the name calling but I wouldn’t crucify her for a couple tweets on a personal account… and hey, it led to a $500 donation to a charity.
Hope he gets funded and I can read an interesting trip report. If not, the publicity still can’t be beat. Good luck to him.
-opinions are my own 😉
I agree with Leslie, and I’m part of that AA customer base. She’s not alienating me one bit.
I donated 20 bucks to an Olympic athlete so she could go to Sochi. I forget the website, similar to Kickstarter though. I helped her “live her dream”.
So, Lucky wants some $$ to help him book the Residence. Go Lucky! If you don’t want to support him, don’t. If you do, then go for it. I can’t for the life of me see the “moral” outrage of supporting someone in this fashion. The Internet makes this kind of thing possible, and I say go for it.
I’m heading over to Lucky’s site and donating $5. 🙂
@dhammer53: That was something I was wondering about as well. Lucky’s a professional travel blogger. When he pays for hotels or flights (or buys points/miles that he uses for hotels or flights), are these considered tax deductible business expenses? If so, then in a sense the American taxpayer is subsidizing his lifestyle.
Perhaps Gary can tell us how this works.
Also I disagree with this post, you’re needlessly putting someone’s job in jeopardy, which is probably as absurd as starting a kickstarter for a 7-hour $25k flight.
dhammer53, if this runs as business expense and related tax deduction I’m sure the money he get’s through this fundraising would have to be booked as income in the accounts. At least in the all of the places I have done business at so far. It can’t be counted as investment since no shares are issued and the purpose of the fundraising is to immediately use it in order to settle project related expenses. But overall I would just do a healthy guess on two things: 1. IF the funding event stalls at like 19k I’m close to certain that Ben would inject 6k on his own just to make it happen. – 2. There are additional expenses involved including positioning and the events he pledged for the big contributors.
I find it quiet funny that some folks here seem to know the income and finances of the bloggers so well. Are you assuming they make millions with this? Pffff
@ dhammer53, Arcanum, & others — FYI, any funds raised on Kickstarter are fully taxable (something that many project creators seem not to realize until it’s tax season). So, roughly speaking, it’s going to be a wash for Ben’s company.
Furthermore, he mentioned that he’s not going to hog points/miles earned from paying for this ticket; moreover, Ben is going to use his own funds/miles to pay for his companion’s trip to AUH and from LHR.
I don’t think crowd sourcing this is a good idea. What would be is if AA would comp one of the airline bloggers a free trip in the suites to check it out and report back. Then again most of us aren’t the target demographic I’m guessing 🙂
Love your blog, but agree with CW’s post which I’ve re-quoted below. This was an unnecessary post.
“C’mon Gary, this is a cheap effort for you to publicize Lucky’s effort. The woman on Twitter didn’t “throw partner airline under the bus” in any way, what leap of logic are you using here to get to that conclusion? And the title of your blog post is incredibly misleading. Reading that post makes it sound like AA took a company position that Lucky shouldn’t be doing this, when that’s simply not the case.
Please stop trying to create a controversy where none exists, it’s beneath you”
@seth You must have never tried to make money from clicks or worked on a site that did. I’m not gonna sit on my duff and say I’m excused from giving a creator a tip, a purchase, or a donation because I gave him some clicks worth a fraction of a cent! Especially someone who has made me laugh as often as Lucky.
@andyandy “Tragedy of the commons.” Exactly!
I think the readers doth protest too much, and most likely envy, jealousy masked as outrage, sense of decency, morality, call it whatever you like. I could list things each and every ‘disappointed’, ‘disgusted’, ‘outraged’ commenter here and on Lucky’s blog have done that doesn’t quite fit into the little box they are constructing to view and judge the kick starter campaign. In fact I’m willing to bet a few wish they had come up with it and had lucky promote their effort!
If people want to pass such judgement in such tones I want to see them eat less so more food is available to the hungry, in fact whip yourself everytime you throw out food that a starving fellow citizen could’ve otherwise eaten. Next stop eating produce shipped thousands of miles because your demand is making that food unaffordable for the local community where it is grown. Next stop driving your personal vehicle and let’s all use public transportation because it will also benefit the less fortunate and the money we save in having to defend fossil fuel global supply chain, pollution and other externalities of oil consumption we can then use to develop clean water for all and access to basic education and healthcare.
Maybe I’m going overboard with the above, how about the outraged reduce their thermostat in winter by 3 degrees and increase it by 3 in summer and the savings then donated to charities?
I almost forgot, Apple, Google, Disney, Berkshire, GS and all those profitable American companies surely don’t need profits above 10% and any amounts exceeding that should rather be donated rather used in marketing campaigns, R&D, dividends or retained by the companies in addition, those donations shouldn’t be tax deductible.
Point is, just because I buy a $600 phone or spend $k on a week vacation doesn’t mean Jim taking money from my charities or accelerating the coming end of days! I’m waiting for the outrages to next suggest newspapers stop spending on investigative reports or any sort of reviews, because they too source your eyeballs and ‘investment’ (subscriptions and purchase) to deliver content and still report profits and don’t donate all of their revenues.
/rant over
This is such BS from you Gary, you scumbag
Anyone complaining what other people are doing with their money is an idiot. Plain and simple. And that AA woman is an idiot. Every employee is an ambassador for their company. Saying her view are not AAs does not give her an excuse to be petty.
@Sebastian, You said ‘Are you assuming they make millions with this? Pffff’
I say that the few successful bloggers are making a living. Good for them. 😀
The information that bloggers such as Gary provide is useful. And the repetition from multiple bloggers is what I/we need to get the information in our thick skulls. 😀 I’ve read that it takes 3 times for anyone to fully comprend what’s been said.
Sorry, but Leslie needs to find a new job. Her tweets were WAY over the line. She called out not only Lucky, but then on top of it, the people who donated to the campaign, too. I was on the fence about donating, but her audacious tweets encouraged me to throw Lucky some $. If anybody knows anything about Lucky, they know how incredibly generous he is with his time, and how willing to help and helpful he has been to so many over the years. His reviews of products are simply incomparable, and well worth some of my $ out of my entertainment budget.
Leslie’s tweets make me wonder how she feels about people flying in AA’s first class. Are we “over the top” for enjoying a good meal, bed, and slippers? I think she should apply with United, where the company policy is that elite’s are over-entitled. She’d fit right in. She should be let go or reprimanded for her over the top actions.
She is a PR for an airline so whatever she does in her personal life directly affect her role as a PR. I would not have a problem if she worked in finance, supply chain or any other role at AA but PR? She made a really bad judgment on using social media to vent. She looks young and young people were not educated the same way older people were. They still think they can vent their frustrations or do whatever they want and nobody will care. She has to learn that once online it is forever. This will follow her entire career and even if she apologizes it will be posted on internet forever. It is funny how people today vent whatever frustration they have on social media without thinking on the consequences but then when they see the big mistake they made they find it is easy to apologize. BS!!!! She is only apologizing because she knows her job is on the line for her comments. She still thinks the Kickstarter idea is idiot.
This controversy is pretty silly and is all about perspective. It has nothing to do with charity at all. Lucky laid it out pretty well in his post equating this to going to the movies. When I go to the movies I don’t weigh the movie ticket with a donation to my favorite charity. This is about paying for entertainment plain and simple. If I am entertained by reviews I should be ok with contributing to the his blog providing me with that review. Another way to look at this would be a consumer reports subscription. If you pay for that subscription you are paying a business to review a product on your behalf. You may elect to purchase a product or service based on that information.
It’s a ingenious and shrewd business move by Ben. It’s a win win situation for him. If his kickstarter succeeds, he gets a free first class ticket. If it doesn’t, all the publicity his blog has received leads to more traffic revenue.
For those arguing that people can do anything with their money, you are technically right but you’re being incredibly shortsighted. Someone buying a Ferrari and/or a Armani suit for yourself is different then a 1%er basically asing people to buy his ticket for him. He can afford it but he’s letting idiots pay it for him who will never get anything out of it. Big whoop, you get a blog post? Do you get to eat the food, taste the wine or sit in the seat? No you don’t. If you want to experience it so badly, I’d tell you to buy it for yourself but that would require the type of self-discipline many of you lack.
What’s the difference if Lucky gets the $ from Kickstarter or pimping affiliate links? If anything, it’s a more honest approach.
As for the AA spokeswoman, she needs to be fired/reassigned. She’s a liability not an asset.
Gary, I think you should reread your post from May 3.
==========================================
I frequently criticize sloppy thinking and misrepresentations as well as bad travel advice.
But I’m not always proud of the way that I do it.
I can do better.
========================================
Kudos Jack. Again, this is beneath what I’ve expected from Gary. It’s not that he’s wrong (or not entitled to his opinion) but it is a hateful departure from what I’ve grown accustomed to from this blog. To me it has nothing to do with Lucky or what he’s doing. I hope to see better here in the future. If not, I’ll take my 3-4 page views a week elsewhere.
There are folks who are criticizing Lucky for doing this, and there are people who support him. I have to admit, its purrrty creative, and the comments I receive from folks overseas is “…only in America..”. As one of the major points/miles blogger, He has contributed greatly to the hobby, and as myself have learned a great deal from him, as well as everyone else…but to dog him for doing this? Let’s just go for the ride and see how far he gets 🙂
I wonder how many people supporting Ms Scott, saying it was her own personal, private view also supported Donald Silver with his own personal and private conversation.
I quite like Lucky’s idea and contributed. Did I contribute money that I would have otherwise donated to charity no. I think it’s somewhat righteous and narcissistic of people to think they know better than I on how I should spend my own money. We all indulge, whether its overpriced coffee, paying for convienience or just making impulse decisions. Supporting lucky in his endeavour is no different.
Just because we might have different views on what we would do with the 20k in the end, doesn’t mean we should judge either Lucky or the people supporting him.
Am I the only one who is completely turned off by @Seth and his constant harping?
I get it. You hate the idea. I disagree with your vitriol. I spend all sorts of money on frivolous things and never once think, “gosh I should give this to charity.”
I also give to charity. But at the end of the day I don’t involve myself in how others spend the money they earn.
Another yappy woman learns about the Streisand Effect. Fire her azz.
@dhammer53 there would be $25k in revenue, and $25k in expense, those should wash.
@Michelle S my guess is you dislike me for other reasons (sharing deals with readers).. 😉
For those who think that Ben should pay for the trip himself ‘as an investment in his business’ there is no way from any reasonable risk-adjusted net present value model that he could possibly grow his blog by the $25k cost of this ticket off of the trip report.
And he IS paying for it through his business model. He’s essentially asking interested readers to prepay for his trip report, in order to justify the expenditure.
There’s not a charity element here really, that’s just confusion.
@Carl P – bloggers do not claim to be the spokesperson for the bank. individuals can speak their mind, but that doesn’t mean all things they can say are well-advised.
@victor . . . Sometimes I’m convinced Seth has Asperger’s.
WOW….a lot of angry people out there. That Leslie person sound like a c@nt to me. I do with my money what I want! Lucky is not forcing anybody to give him money. And yes, I wanna see that report! I hope he gets not 25K, but 50K so he can fly twice! :)-
Leslie is nothing more than a self-righteous beeeeoooooch who makes herself feel good and fuzzy by dictating WHERE people should spend their money. HER causes are important. HER ideas are important. If someone else does something that she doesn’t approve, then that person is an IDIOT. That travel-fellow had every right to create that Kickstarter, unless he broke the rules (which I don’t believe he did). Leslie would make a good politician. She would increase taxes, spend the people’s money on bogus charities — bogus wind, bogus solar, and let’s not forget the World-World Fund that will save the Czechoslovakia jungle slug. She is exactly the opposite of what she “portrays.” YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, AMERICAN!
I agree with Gary. If Leslie gets in trouble that’s entirely her own fault. As for Lucky, I think people are way overthinking this. Let the dude do what he wants, I for one think it’s a fun idea and look forward to reading the review. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that. Bringing charity into this whole discussion is nonsense, people are entitled to spend their money however they want.
I also agree with victor (post 172). Every time I see comments from Seth on other blogs, he’s always hating on or criticizing something. Like the time he high-and-mightily railed into The Points Guy for blogging about flying coach. Guy needs to relax.
Gary’s pitchforking for Leslie sets new levels in hypocrisy and unprofessionalism. Absolutely unbelievably pathetic.
“Is it now American Airlines’ policy to publicly condemn their Executive Platinum flyers on social media?
Is it now American Airlines’ policy to denigrate the importance of purchasing tickets on their partner airlines?”
That is such a giant leap of stupidity that you ought to be ashamed of yourself, that is if you had any shame left.
I did not agree with Gary on his coverage of AA’s devaluation. However, I support him 100% on this as well as I support Lucky on his kick starter.
It’s his blog and he can start a kick starter for whatever he wants.. If you don’t like it, then don’t patronize his blog. If you think his content is worth it, then pay what you want and wait for the review when it happens. Either way, please move on to better things in your life.
In regards to Gary’s post, I am happy he did post the harsh and out of place comments by Leslie (AA employee). Either she advertizes her job in her profile or not is not relevant. She openly dissed someone whom she doesn’t know for something that she has no business meddling in. If we take her logic, every luxury we so much crave, luxury seats on an airplane, high end hotels and restaurants and traveling all over the world and spending money is a shameful act when you could be donating all of that stuff to charity. Charities are a private matter and people give what they want, when they want, how they want and if they want. How about people shut up and mind their own damn business. It’s better to stay silent and be though a fool than open and confirm that.
“Throws partner airline under the bus” is a bit much too.
Why not call it, “BoardingArea Blogger Blasts American Spokesperson, Throws Charities Under Bus”
Yup, it is extremely melodramatic and you can tell he is just looking for some aspect to feign outrage about to try and be self-righteous about being offended. What a gigantic stretch!
Faux outrage ratcheting way up in seriousness and now seemingly cheerleading for heads to roll. Put down the pom poms over your hurt feelings Gary, it’s unbecoming.
I can be quoted as saying “people are stupid” in regards to this situation. Do you want my bosses number Gary? so you can take care of things?
You remind me of a kid on the elementary school playground who, rather than saying “i’m gonna beat you up” or something, said “my dad will sue you”. What a depressing microcosm of the mentality of your society you provide.
Thank you Leslie for not being afraid to know whats right and tell it how it really is!
This is insane!
I donated to Ben because I WANTED to. I’m a grown up who makes her own decisions and I don’t appreciate others telling me what to spend my money on, how I’m an idiot, and all the other venom being spewed by people who have no, absolutely NO right to tell me how to spend my entertainment money.
Ben suggested an idea that is extremely original. Many of us liked it and are willing to support him. It is no one else’s business how I spend the money I earn. End of.
And yes, I give to charity…the ones I want to and not because some self-righteous people are trying to guilt me into it.
As for this woman who tweeted…stupid thing to do. Stupid to call names and I for one was ticked when I read what she had said. None of her business either. I will cut her some slack though and assume that she typed before she thought. We’ve all done it.
Perhaps those who are so incensed by this should put their energies to making the world around THEMSELVES a better place and quit lambasting an idea that they didn’t have the creative balls to suggest.
Creative balls? Are you joking? “Extremely original”? WTF?
Ben is an extremely competent individual with this capability, but you are confusing an absolute chutzpah olympic event for ‘creativity’.
First thing I thought when I saw this product and it’s payment requirements was who is going to have the audacity to try something like this.
It’s many things. It’s not groundbreaking or creative.
Ms. Scott needs to find a job where her personal opinions would not conflict with her professional responsibility. The blogger’s request for money may or may not result in voluntary help with the cost of the ticket. What’s wrong with asking for help on a voluntary basis? I would never fly it and will not send in any $s, but for people for whom getting a review of this product has some meaning; let them chip in. Don’t know why everyone is getting steamed up about a non-issue.
I think the whole kickstarter thing is entirely ridiculous. Anyone who has contributed money is a complete fool and deserves to lose whatever they donated.
I can’t believe he has the audacity to ask for donations for more than the price of some new cars or someones yearly salary just so he can take an 8 hour flight. This is a great example of what is what’s wrong with the world.
I donated the amount that I would receive in entertainment value from reading his review. No different to seeing a movie, you could argue that it’s extravagant to spend all the money on sets etc. just to create a story and that money should go to charity. I’m expecting something in return for my money and I’m almost rather happy with an upfront business model that doesn’t have the potential for bias like credit card affiliate links do.
Gary,
Want to send her over the edge…start your own kickstarter campaign for this:
http://www.virgingalactic.com/booking/
Charlie
Wow – the last time I checked, Lucky lives in the United States of America. Being a citizen of the US, he is entitled to write what he wants, fund whatever kind of project he likes (Kickstarter isn’t a charity site), fly whatever airline he wants, and spend extra to increase his flights carbon footprint. His readers are free to spend their money on whatever they choose.
Someone mentioned “Spectacularly wasteful is relative. To some, buying a nice car or eating an expensive meal is wasteful since the money would do more good being donated to charity. I suppose we could *all* exist upon the bare minimum in life and donate a lot to others.” – Yeah It’s called ObamaCare, no thanks.
Where is the outrage at the unethical behavior of most charities (even the big ones) who end up only giving 8% of their take to the actual cause?
I hope Ben’s project get funded – I would love to read his review. I’m in for $50.
Gary – if there is now way for Ben to ever justify the $25k expense and foreseeably recoup that via any risk adjusted NPV model, then he should NOT undertake this project. All business owners evaluate projects based on capital requirements and return projections. If the math doesn’t add up, the hat in hand is not the solution. I am a big fan of your work and Ben’s. But the “finance” of this deal, while seemingly masked as a humble and creative joke, is fundamentally flawed by any business measure. Lucky doesn’t have to review Etihad’s residence if he can’t afford it; neither should Apple venture into building cars if they can’t afford that investment cost. Am sure an Apple iCar would be cool too, but if the shoe don’t fit ….
I tend to agree with the spokesperson. Lucky is too eager to the attention so always trying to create topics- most about him. He is getting more and more closed to his good friends Justin Rose Lee. Maybe MTV will also have a show for him soon.
@Truth for what it’s worth my take is that it doesn’t make sense for Ben to do *for himself* but if his readers want to cover the cost, then it makes sense to them. It’s sort of like a cancelled TV show with a big fan base, here’s the chance for fans to bring it back by covering the cost if they value it enough. The number and amount of commitments will determine whether it makes sense to do. At a bit out of pocket for Ben it makes sense purely out of his own enjoyment, and his readers benefit. But with a $25k gap it doesn’t make business sense for Ben to do it. Only by others covering part of the cost will the economics work out. That’s my read anyway but Ben and I haven’t discussed it.
Ben is so ready to trade at least faux-modesty and humility for infamy, notoriety, or ‘celebrity’ status a la JRL (in a very crude sense of the word) . This much is clear. Shame because he’s made a good honest living for himself.
“Of course up until about a month ago this American spokesperson had been with Delta for 6 years. So that’s probably just how they do it over there.” A disappointing post since I have always valued your opinion and insight. Not sure why you are so wired about this whole situation. Who are you mad at?
I have a great idea. Let Barack Obama have a “personal” twitter accout that says “Prsonal Account of President of United States.”
Then he can say whatever he wants to say and nobody should blame him because it’s just his personal account right?
I like Lucky Ben. He’s a lucky guy because he’s loving life and that’s very likable.
Other people like Ben too. They even give him stuff like a free Lear Jet ride and offers of their miles and points because when he writes he has an obvious zest for life and aviation and we readers remember when we were younger and shared those passions.
His writing puts a smile on our faces and some few willingly pay a little for that smile.
I like Gary Leff too. His writing doesn’t make me smile the same way but I enjoy it as much.
So when anyone like Leslie says “don’t publicize this idiot” she has slighted me and my virtual friend.
Poor Leslie. She’s not a really dumb bimbo idiot broad. No, she just hasn’t read much of Ben’s blog. If she had she would never have called him an idiot. She would have smiled at his audacity and thought “Good Luck, Lucky!”
Eventually Ben will burn out. He’ll be like the guy in Up in the Air. He’ll have the golden card but want the real stuff of life, not the fluff, and he’ll want to take a wife and settle down and have kids.
When that time comes hopefully he’ll find a sweet girl. Not a witch like Leslie.
Wait, I’m sorry I said that. Actually, Leslie is probably OK too. I just haven’t read her blog.
i am always amused about how bloggers “circle the wagons” for one another…
the good ol’ boys network
I don’t see any problem with Leslie airing her personal opinion.
I wouldn’t give money to him either.
Really puzzled by all this outrage. Donate or not, it’s everyone’s choice. But if I publicly dissed my employer or our clients my ass would be fired.
This is my first (and possibly last) post on your blog, which I have followed with some interest for the past three years.
The headline to this article, “Throws partner airline under the bus” is completely misleading and inaccurate, and your point as to whether it is now American Airlines’ policy to “publicly condemn their Executive Platinum flyers on social media” and “denigrate the importance of purchasing tickets on their partner airlines” is similarly misleading and an astonishing display of an over-inflated sense of ego and self-importance that some system gaming bloggers like yourself have.
Absolutely no class.
How is this much different from me paying for a subscription to the NY Times, and then the Times paying Sam Sifton to go eat at a $500/head restaurant? Really, it’s not.
Leslie Scott just called me gross. Am I offended? Yes, of course. I GAVE money to Lucky because I am confident he will give 110% to writing an honest review of the new product offering. I did not donate money to him and yes every year I donate 5% of my annual salary to charities and this money did not come from that budget!
***By the way, she apologized to Ben for her “harsh words”, but not to the people who gave money to Ben’s kickstarter project (she called us gross, after all.)
If only there were a way to take money away from Lucky’s kickstarter fund. I would pay money to prevent Lucky from reaching his goal.
Leslie Scott’s personal blog post was totally on point and appropriate. It even calls out that posts are her own opinion. That said she probably should not have listed her employer in the profile.
Gary’s inflammatory post is just the latest in a trend of sensationalist headlines that drive towards a not-so-veiled agenda that protects AA, bloggers, credit cards etc.
And of course he had to include a cheap shot at Delta for no reason.
I have to agree – disappointed with you Gary – too much dramatization in your post. 🙁
Wow, based on the comments regarding Leslie there certainly seem to be a lot of misogynists reading this blog. They all seem to be supporting Lucky also.
@As how could this post be part of an agenda to ‘protect AA’?
We don’t want Leslie Scott representing AA anymore. Very unprofessional.
In for $10.
Just to cause heads to explode. 🙂
In for $10 also. Ms Scott is a/the public face of AA no matter what disclaimers she may put and to expect to hide behind this as a defense is complete rubbish.
To repeatedly tweet about this also just shows what an old vindictive cow she is.
I gladly gave $10 to support him having the balls to live his dream. Everyone needs to lighten up. If you don’t like it or support it, don’t fund it. This has nothing to do with charity.
An American Airlines spokesperson is not supposed to use this kind of language, but GOOD GRIEF INDEED! Really?
Taryn,
It is charity! Come on! If Ben wants $20,000 to fly people to help in some poor part of this world….he might have a leg to stand. But this kickstarter thing for a $20,000 airline ticket? Sorry, Ben, hit up your parents or other blogger comrades, but asking your readers or whomever to support your “hobby” just rubs me wrong. I hate when my employer tells me to donate to certain charities, especially when the founder is a multi-billionaire, who is cheap with pay and benefits. Did you ever think that you might be able to get Ethihad to do some kind of sponsorship thing?
It continues to blow my mind that commenters keep referring to these as “personal” tweets, as if there is a distinction and somebody’s privacy was violated. They’re publicly searchable, publicly indexed, historically available.
Gary didn’t pull the quote using some account that gave him special unfair access to Leslie’s private thoughts. Tweets are not personal, tweets by definition are the exact opposite. By tweeting you are creating a digital public record of your sentiment for the entire world, which means you should be proud of it from every angle – personal, professional, social – or just stay off Twitter. Leslie knows that, and that’s why she should be in (some) trouble for being bad at her job, not a bad person.
Most folks here should try Twitter once or twice before they comment on it’s “personal nature” and make other pronouncements about it. It’s not a private social network, it’s a public micro-blogging platform. Saying stupid or unnecessary things in public (like talking about one of your company’s partners in a way that negatively impacts their business) costs lots of people their jobs. This won’t be the first or last time it happens via Twitter.
Wow, where do people get off thinking they should tell others what to do with their money. Sounds like sour grapes to me. I like Lucky’s posts, he’s original and not constantly trying to flog credit cards with shoddy premises used as filler around links like a used car salesman. We all know that if you really want to rack up the miles/points in this game you should start pimping links. As for the AA rep, don’t pop a blood vessel sweetheart.
There’s a very basic bottom line here: there’s absolutely no reason for this product to be reviewed. It has no competition so there is no option to which it can be compared. It stands to reason that it will be a fabulous experience so doesn’t the review write itself in our own heads? Who among us wouldn’t jump at the chance to try this. But there’s the other rub: how many people who read Lucky or fund this project will ever be in a position to afford it anyway, with money or miles? An exceptional few so it makes no sense to spend money on a question for which we already have an answer. I agree with Ms. Scott.
This is the most ridiculous reply thus far.
By this logic we shouldn’t waste US taxpayer money on NASA. Most of us will never get to the moon. We will never be in a position to afford it. We were there in the 60’s and we already have an answer as to what it’s like, having the black-and-white grainy photos as evidence.
Dolt.
Or, maybe gbtrotter is not a dolt but just a shill?
In which case he’s a shill AND a dolt.
@ John T,
I’m sorry, please tell me you didn’t just compare a “fundraiser” for a totally self-indulgent, decadent, serve-me-butler flight to the city he doesn’t even need or want to be in, with a space exploration program, which is, might I remind you, has not only scientific but also very practical applications?
You don’t need NASA, you say? May I suggest googling “NASA Practical Applications” and telling us how it compares with Lucky’s endeavor?
Gee, even I could come up with a dozen better excuses why Lucky has a reason to be on that flight!
“Plus now it looks like he’s trying to somehow raffle off a free companion ticket, so it would be akin to a raffle or something, so in addition to contributing to a once in a lifetime opportunity for Lucky, someone else who kicks in a few bucks might get lucky as well!”
Sure, a once in a lifetime opportunity no doubt if you won the raffle to fly on such a unique product. But just remember you are with Lucky which means you better sleep with one eye open if you catch my drift.