Comments

1. Interesting analysis. I agree with each of your decisions.

2. I had no idea all that you are involved in. Yet with so many readers and messages you still take the time to help people on a one on one. Whenever i have a question about the best way to accomplish a travel goal you always respond with helpful information. Than You

3. In your shoes I would have done the same thing. Obviously the airline wanted to squash the story, and they benefited, but the reader would have lost out on compensation they were probably due.

   Lots of other storys to write about.

4. “I Do the Best I Can and Generally Don’t Judge Others.”

   @Gary —> This is all ANY of us can do! And, no matter what we do, odds are someone is going to find fault with it! ;^)

   For many years, I worked in the wine industry (basically in *all* facets of it, but mostly either for various California wineries or in retail)…but I *also* wrote about wine for several different magazines, newspapers and even had my own radio show in the Monterey Bay (CA) area. I would NEVER write a feature article about a winery for which I worked, but early on I was confronted with one ethical dilemma: could I even mention a winery that employed me? For example, I was writing an article about the Gold medal-winning wines at the California State Fair…how could I *not* mention that such-and-such a winery won a Gold medal? It was a fact — the wine DID win a Gold medal; it was NOT my opinion (e.g.: “Great wine — 96 points”). To omit any mention of it seemed ludicrous; it was just a list. Nonetheless, I got flak from some readers who knew I worked for that producer. Still seems silly to me, but whatever…

   In the end, you do the best you can, and know in advance you’ll never please everyone — there’s always someone who will disagree.

5. Having run an independent think tank as chief analyst prior to running several publications including two in travel, I come to the table very aware of the ethical dilemmas once might face. At the think tank, the subscribers to our research were also in large part the tech companies whose work we covered. We established a clear Chinese wall and were actually praised in the business press on multiple occasions for our independence.

   In general, I follow what I learnt from my parents and from the Pirkei Avot (“Ethics of Our Fathers”) from the Mishnah. (I am not very religious I should mention at this point but it’s just that what’s in these texts are good business practices and an ethical way of living.)

   Several things stand out here: “If I am only for myself, who am I? (1:14)”, “Say little and do much (1:15).,” and “The world stands on three things: Torah, service, and acts of loving kindness (1:2).”

   It sounds like you hew to these simple precepts as well.

6. I think it’s ok to help a reader like that if it really is true that the story wouldn’t have general travel applicability. If the reader was your only source on the story then I think it is ok to ask your reader what they want.

   To me what’s interesting is that the airline felt comfortable offering to buy your silence on a story. That’s a big risk. I think most journalists would have gone with the story but they at least knew they had a chance treating you as a consumer advocate and not a journalist. I dont see an ethics issue at all, but would think that might be something you would contemplate in deciding what it is you want to be.

   Maybe having an award booking service and being a journalist blurs the lines a bit and you thought of your reader more like a client than like a source.

7. Did you sign a non-disclosure agreement with that airline not to write the story? You have to write about it now. PLEASE, Gary. We want to know. And don’t me in the comments case I miss it. I won’t be able to sleep tonight without knowing what was good (or bad) enough for an airline to comp two, first-class tickets to ANYWHERE in the world.

8. Gary, I appreciate all that you do.
   And congratulations on the new chapter in your life–being a dad.

9. @Larry – the reader was not a client, did not pay me for anything before or since. The story would have reflected badly on the airline, but wouldn’t have given readers a sense of what to expect from the airline, one of those stories likely to go viral but doesn’t really inform what folks are going to experience. So I weighted the interest of the reader against the interest of readers generally and in this case decided helping the one reader made sense – but as I say I could be wrong.

10. I am a professor of legal ethics. I agree completely with the decision you made concerning the wronged client. You treated him as a client, not the way a journalist would treat a source. I applaud that.

11. It would be interesting to learn the ‘commission’ amounts a blog gets from an affiliate link. My understanding is that they can exceed $150 if used and approved for a credit card. Perhaps it varies by card. I was recently stunned to find all of the collusion in the online mattress sales where it is very typical for the link to produce commissions as high as $150 which significantly clouded my trust in those sites.

    Nobody thinks you should work for free and nobody would still be around if your information and insights were not helpful and often the key to saving time or money.

12. @Michael I Krauss – to be clear he was a reader who shared his experience with an airline and NOT a client, would that change your analysis?

13. Just keep doing your blog the way you have been.

14. Agree with your approach and actions. Many of us should consider ethics in our work situations, even though many don’t. Keep up the good work! Thanks for all you do, and yes, spend that personal time with those who need and deserve it!

15. @Gary — I wasn’t suggesting he was a client but more just speculating that the reason you kind of treated him like one (pro bono) instead of as a source is that you wear two hats.

    All I am saying here is not that you did anything wrong just that it’s interesting to talk about why. I mean if the NYT called a public company for comment on a story where the company had treated someone poorly, I do not think the company would think there was much chance of offering to make it right to suppress the story, no matter how close the representative was to the reporter.

    I’m just kind of noting that what your story says to me is that you’re not a pure journalist but also still a miles and points enthusiast like your readers. Maybe in part because you also help customers book trips. I don’t see anything wrong with that, but think it’s good periodically for you and Lucky and others to make these posts so that readers have the info.

16. Your blog, your rules. You’re transpaner enough, to suit me anyway.

17. @Larry absolutely I am not a pure journalist.

18. Keep up the great work and thanks for all of your opinion and independent analysis.

19. @mark j — Gary is probably contractually prohibited from telling you how much he makes from credit card applications. Anecdotally, we know that it’s approximately $150 per application. And that’s “the problem,” of course. Abiding by all the other ethics rules is pretty meaningless if you’re going to make that kind of money from credit card applications. That said, I’d probably do the same thing. It’s hard to walk away from that kind of money. Few people live their lives as a perpetual charity. It’s good to make a buck sometimes, especially when it’s so easy to do so.

20. @Michael I Krauss: Has anyone ever questioned whether the entire idea of having an “ethics department” –or staff, might be , in itself, unethical?

    In the end it’s just people making decisions about what they consider ethical, which is what we do every day. Having a bunch of people vote on ethics decisions seems , at least questionable, but I know it’s done every day.
    I’m sure these ethics boards have brought us things like organ donor registries, but also they have brought us decisions that a certain age is a cutoff point for being on some registries, That’s a decision that a minute of life for one person is more important than for another.
    I have no solution, only questions.

21. You’re doing OK Gary .

22. Two comments….
    1. Thanks for your blog
    2. Re: the reader and free first class tickets, it appears that the reader attempted to receive satisfaction from the normal course, that being customer service. You on the other hand dealt with your contact at public relations/marketing. It’s apparent that customer service did not satisfy your reader, which is why the reader contacted you. What’s of interest is why customer service didn’t respond to the reader beforehand? It seems likely that your intervention with marketing helped matters for the reader behind the scenes, thus the free first class tickets anywhere. In essence, you were paid to not interfere, acting as the reader’s advocate, and then the reader got his/her “more than” fair due. This is definitely a story your readership needs to know about. Full disclosure… I am not a professor in ethics, but I do consider myself an ethical individual.

23. This is the most interesting, organic and revealing post you’ve ever written. Thank you for sharing it.

24. The most shocking part of this post is that you used to believe in free markets!

    Seriously though, I never considered any ethical issues in blogging. It’s obvious to me when you or other blogs are shilling something, and it’s also obvious when you are thoughtfully analyzing an issue. If others aren’t astute enough to tell the difference, then it’s their problem.

25. @wr2 used to?

26. Thank you to everyone with kind words, I really appreciate it

27. Gee, how did I miss the smiling picture at the beginning of the post?
    That’s a nice guy if I’ve ever seen one.

28. Don’t change. Stay true to yourself and your readers. Thanks for your continued advice and wisdom. And that quirky park too!

29. Re: the 2 F tickets for your reader if problem was handled as a customer service issue – Somehow or other that sounds a bit like extortion, though that may be too strong a word. I also wonder whether or not they required you to sign an NDA, which may not have been enforceable given the fact that you were not the injured party. I do wonder if there was some middle ground and the whole situation where you let the airline handle it as a customer service issue and then you told the story of the public relations versus customer service, could name the airline. I think they should be called out on the whole thing. It certainly sounds to me that the breach by the airline was dramatic or they would not have offered 2 free 1st class tickets anywhere in the world.

30. I read your blog at least once a day and have archived many articles. I appreciate how you do your job and commend you for it.

31. I absolutely agree with the ethics decisions you’ve made regarding this blog, Gary; reading about them was quite interesting. I started as a reader of View from the Wing. I subsequently have used your services for award booking–and was beyond delighted with what you were able to accomplish for my husband and me. I also have signed up for a publicized credit card offer, and it’s fine with me that you received a decent commission.

32. To me it’s all about complete disclosure. There will always be a percentage that view things from the negative … and those that just don’t care.. but I think the majority will be able to make informed (through your disclosure) assessment as to your viewpoint given what you’ve disclosed.

    As to the case you presented it. For me, you can’t have it both ways.. you’re either an information source or an advocate.

    To a degree, how I might see it, regardless of the fact that you may not have gained or lost something personally or professionally, the passenger/reader did.. and did so ostensibly due to your involvement… and that fine.. but to me that’s advocacy and not information.. of I view this same event through the lens of information sources, I might say that it appears like the carrier effectively “bought” your silence.. again, that’s if I were to view it from you being an information source only.

    Maybe you could be both — but I think should come with the disclosure that from time-to-time you may intervene/advocate for a reader and that as a condition of the intervention, you may be required to not write about the event.

    So…. coming full circle for me, I think it’s all about fair and full disclosure about what you do, don’t do and any potential for conflict — even if that conflict may be “appearance of..” and not objective in nature.

33. I’ve always enjoyed your blog and have learned a lot over the years. And you have been helpful, prompt and courteous answering the emails I have sent you. Thanks for all you do.

34. Gary,

    Thanks for what you produce for the benefit and knowledge building of your readers.
    IMHO, you are honest and very even handed in your writings.

    I am not a travel neophyte, and have obtained much useful information from you. And we like hearing about your fatherly and family adventures.

    You have, without any doubt, made many people better travelers and more considerate individuals, with your writings, and with some of videos of odd human behaviors.

    Keep up the good work.

    I read every post, as at 67, I still look forward to learning something new.

    Tom

35. @Michael it’s the only time I was ever presented with that either-or choice: help the reader who raised the issue, or share the story with other readers.

    The management team in question is no longer there, three years have passed, I imagine no one there even knows about it any longer (although I cannot say for sure). Nonetheless I haven’t written it because I try to honor my word.

36. @ZippyPam – I never signed anything, no.

37. Gary,

    I read your blog because your information is very useful and real. In this day of instant information (correct or fiction) you help sift through the noise to provide needed information. Fatherhood is an amazing experience with a new discovery each day. Enjoy.

38. @Gary: In future, ishall take all my customer service issues to you, rather than the airline or hotel.

39. From the wronged traveller’s point of view I think you did right by him. However there is an overriding issue here…the behavior of the airline. It’s not just the original incident that’s the crux of the matter but how the airline would comp him big if this stayed quiet but wouldn’t do jack for him if this had gone through regular channels or if this went public. That’s just plain wrong and not writing about that allows the bad behavior to continue without the glare of the public eye exposing them. At that point you become part of the problem because your decision did not result in a change of behavior at the airline with regards to interacting with wronged customers.

    So while you did right by the passenger, you essentially did wrong by the rest of us as the airline now knows it can continue with its bad behavior. So ultimately, I think you made a bad call.

    I would feel differently if you had gotten a private assurance from the airline that the bad customer relations experience which drove your reader to you in the first place would be addressed in future customer interactions. However you make no mention of such an internal change of heart at the airline so I assume they’re still as customer hostile now as they were then.

40. Agree with all those who approve but really, Gary, if you’re happy, we’re happy. Seriously, you would not be as successful as you are if people questioned your ethics.

41. This is a great, thought-provoking post. I didn’t see the OMAAT post but I’m sure it was very good, too. In addition to conveying information and entertaining the audience, provoking thought in your readers and letting them know what you are thinking also were likely factors in your decision to start blogging and to continue the hard work that entails.

    Ethics can be hard. Life is an ethical dilemma in many, many ways. Although many fail to recognize it, participation in loyalty rewards programs is a conflict of interest where an employer pays the costs but the employee receives the benefits. The conflict is generally ignored. Companies that require employees to complete annual conflict of interest forms do not require them to disclose their participation in such programs or the benefits they receive as a direct result of travelling on the company dime. When Delta went revenue based, it predicted that move alone would increase revenue. I assume that unexplained prediction was based on the belief that if employees were rewarded more for spending more, on the whole they would in fact spend more of other people’s money.

    Because ethics can be so hard yet so important, some professions, e.g. legal and medical, have developed Canons of Ethics to guide the conduct of their practitioners. These cannons are supplemented by detailed and expansive ethical considerations and ethical decisions. Many states require recurrent training in ethics to retain a license.

    Perhaps there should be a blogger’s Cannon of Ethics. Maybe there’s one for journalism. The problem bloggers have with ethics in part stems from the fact that they must make ethical decisions with little or no outside guidance.

    This post primarily addresses economic ethical issues. Another ethical issue concerns the content of comments. This issue has been discussed on VFTW before, and I believe the practice is not to censor comments. That is probably the easiest answer though not necessarily the most ethical one. Of course there is also an economic component of that decision, too. There are times when others need to be judged irrespective of potential adverse financial effects.

    It is obvious that Gary makes money from his blog, but he doesn’t seem to push credit cards as hard as others. In general, it might be a service to readers for travel bloggers who get rebates from credit card companies to periodically warn of the dangers of overindulging. And misleading headlines can be annoying if not unethical.

    I’ve been reading this blog for several years and find it to be extremely informative and helpful. As the saying goes, Gary’s probably forgotten more loyalty stuff than I’ll ever be able to cram between my ears on that topic.

42. I always post the best credit card offer I know about on my website. Often that is a better offer than the one that earns a commission. This may be why most credit card issuers no longer pay me a commission. I treat any blogs that do not have the policy with great caution.

    I vaguely remember that contracts with those who offer commissions now include a clauses that prohibit a blogger from mentioning better offers than those that earn commissions, and a clause that requires that a blogger summit his text about a card for approval before publishing it. Is this correct? If so, I have noticed that several times you have not posted the best offer while describing the commissionable one, but do allow someone like me to post the better offer in comments. Perhaps this is a reasonable solution to the problem. Some of the other blogs just completely block my comments. Do you get in trouble for the comments?

43. @WR2: ” It’s obvious to me when you or other blogs are shilling something,”

    What about the ‘article that was never written?’ Hiding dirt is an ethical decision too and you, the reader, don’t see it.

44. It’s hard to work alone, no one to bounce things off. We met many years ago thru Randy and I have been reading you for years. I feel you are a good person, but every once in a while stuff happens. Keep on trucking and don’t worry about the winners.

45. Hi Gary… I recently discovered your fine blog; even though I’m an old Delta Flying Colonel (anyone recall that era?); and just Silver Elite these days.

    Notably I too write a daily blog (on the stock market and economics; with geopolitics to a degree); which is subscriber based. I was enthralled by your transparent comments about ‘Ethics’, as they are fine, and dovetail a bit with my own.

    What’s interesting there is that since starting my Service (it’s emailed rather than on my website these days; to avoid user names & passwords like we used years ago) I have never accepted any advertising; and relied on subscription revenue. That probably is a mistake (I should allow links or some other source of income); since now that there are 3 financial TV channels and tons of free info (and largely worth just that price) online, it’s hard to differentiate myself (and my performance) from others. In the days when I started financial TV (morphed into CNBC) we were the only game in town in a number of major cities (starting in LA, Chicago and San Francisco, then Ft Lauderdale & NYC).

    In any event I was inspired to write this note; and commend you as, like myself, you put your heart & soul into your passion; and yes it has to be a commitment to passion to persevere; especially in my case with no advertising or indirect compensation. (I just flew back -great flight- F from PVR-ATL-MCO and still find Delta the best-run airline in the Country. I too have one ‘old’ story that isn’t fair by them; but I won’t share it, as it’s new management since, and not the saga you refer to I’m sure 🙂 .

    All the best and congrats on the family!

46. I enjoy your blog and other contributions, like you as a player in the space and as a person, but I also disagree and give criticism where I think it’s due or when I find that the business of doing what you do does stack your position in being more favorable to an industry/firm than to consumers on average. I think you do an overall good job, but I also think people need to not be captives of what they cover.

47. I’m curious (and was a little confused at first) to see so many bloggers lately rushing to clarify/explain their ethical principles in the era of trump and his cronies.

    However, while it might seem irrelevant nowadays to give any emphasis to ethics and moral principles, perhaps the most logical conclusion is that you (and others) are trying to reinforce the message that you are not like trump, republicans, and the hypocritical religious right, and that moral principles and ethical behavior should still matter.

48. I remember my first time meeting you at the House of Miles some 19 years ago?
    We were both younger
    Made the mistake of thinking you were just another Flyertalker
    I was a huge fan of Randy as I am today even though he isn’t as outspoken
    as he was back in the day
    The greatest compliment I can give you is you took much of what he brought to the table and ran with the ball in the other direction better than I ever imagined
    Your topics even the offbeat ones are usually informative and entertaining
    I’m glad you have developed a thick skin as I’ve seen some really rude comments occasionally from mean spirited people
    Thank you for all you have contributed and glad to see you have been
    rewarded for the content you generously provide year round
    Keep up the great body of work
    Cheers

49. @Gary Steiger no that is not correct, I do not submit my posts for approval in advance and I write about offers that do not offer me referral credit. I am not always on top of every offer, and when you’ve shared offers you’re aware of in the comments I’ve always approved them!

50. @Doug Swalen “I would feel differently if you had gotten a private assurance from the airline that the bad customer relations experience which drove your reader to you in the first place would be addressed in future customer interactions.”

    It was truly a unique kind of screw up, as I said not something any other customer would be likely to face. And different management is largely in charge now in any case.

51. @Dwonderment – that would have been April 2003!

52. @Matt Clancy – I think the explanation I offered, that Ben wrote a post and it prompted me to share my own thoughts, really does capture it

53. @GUWonder I cannot imagine any travel brand thinks of me as their captive, in fact I cannot think of a single one at least of the larger ones we’re all familiar with that likes me very much. Although the funny thing is that each thinks I’m harder on them than their competitors.

54. Thanks for the clarification on conflicts. It’s always good to know where someone is coming from.

55. “I do not submit my posts for approval in advance and I write about offers that do not offer me referral credit.”

    Interesting. So I mis-remembered an offered contract from Amex. Is there any prohibition of your posting better offers than the one commissionable?

    “I am not always on top of every offer, and when you’ve shared offers you’re aware of in the comments I’ve always approved them!’

    Understood. I occasionally miss a better offer, too.

56. @Matt Clancy – I don’t think this wave has anything to do with Trump, Republicans, or politics.

    I think it started with TPG’s “Winning or Losing” article and the takedown of their “Out to Lunch” article – two articles on Marriott Rewards/Bonvoy, the later one (“Winning or Losing”) being exceedingly positive, the prior one (“Out to Lunch”) being very critical. That, and other evidence of a friendly TPG-Marriott relationship (Oscars, the freakin’ FIRING of the “Out to Lunch” author, other way-too-pro-Marriott articles, etc.), led to a slew of negative comments on “Winning or Losing,” and soon after, to Gary’s very popular “No, TPG, Marriott Devaluations Aren’t Good for Members.” That one pretty much opened the floodgates – bloggers everywhere are taking swipes at TPG now, and righfully so. Thank you, Gary.

    Lucky is seemingly the one who started the “trend” of posting “code of ethics” articles (at least this wave of them; I haven’t been reading these blogs for all that long). In the face of the TPG controversy, I like these “here’s why you should(n’t?) trust me” statements – especially when they spurn conversations with/among readers. These articles are also where some of the aforementioned “swipes” are found (this one has one, as does GSTP’s).

57. I really like your blog and respect your insights. I regard VFTW as one of the few reliable sources of accurate information out there in the blogosphere. I hope you keep it up for a long time!

58. I recently started following you Gary on FB, and have to say, I’m impressed. I like the authentic bloggers, and while your approach is a bit different from Lucky, this type of honest article really gets me hooked.

    Congrats on following your passion, and for being what seems to be a good guy overall. Good luck with the kiddo, as I’ve got two kids (5&3) and value the mix of content you bring on travel. Keep up the good work.

59. Hi I think you do an awesome job. Keep up the good work. Keep the credit card offerings come and also do some mystery “shop” on a flight. Fly somewhere sand rate the service, food, gate agents , cleanliness of cabin, presentation of food, flight service, luggage arrival, the whole 9 yards. Happy to help in this. Keeps them on their toes.

60. The most immoral activity of travel bloggers is their obsession with flying business class. First, most flyers fly economy and folks in business class already know that it will be nice so it’s less important to them to get reviewers’ impressions. Economy, on the other hand, can be OK or downright miserable and there is not nearly as much good information out there for the economy cabin. Second, a transpacific RT flight in business class uses as much fuel as driving a Hummer for a full year. Seriously, it is downright evil environmentally and to do it multiple times a year, well, there’s a special place down there for those folks. This is the unwritten ethical transgressions of travel bloggers.

61. “If I was writing about it there wasn’t much they could do. But if I was just helping a passenger get compensation they’d take care of things. This reader would get two first class tickets anywhere in the world.”

    Sounds like they presented you with a bogus choice. Why would you writing about this experience mean that the airline was unable to help the customer any further? That’s a load of BS. Clearly the airline was only responding to to the fact that they were going to receive some very negative coverage.

62. Great post, and great blog!

63. You are still my favorite travel blog. If I were a travel writer, I would take every comp available. I was probably a pirate in my last life.

64. They fired Richard Kerr for an article they approved and copy edited on their own site? Terrible

65. That’s an interesting ethical dilemma, help your reader or benefit yourself from the story (and probably help others if they had a similar experience); it sounds though like it was not a wide occurrence (e.g. not nearly as common as overlooked PDBs, lol). I think I would’ve made the same choice… Oh and great post!

66. @James Osborne – flying business class doesn’t consume more fuel than flying economy, you simply take up more space in the aircraft. The aircraft burns fuel. Whether you’re contributing to more flights and fuel burn is complicated but if you’re traveling on an award you’re probably not contributing to it at all https://viewfromthewing.com/2018/06/11/travel-better-environment-youre-getting-good-deal-airfare/

67. I believe the speculation above about people being fired is inaccurate

    I also did not intentionally take a swipe at anybody in this post.

68. Gary,
    I have wondered about how you travel enough to accumulate all the miles and your attendance at events. This is very helpful, and I believe you are taking great precautions to be independent with your views. I fly American a lot, and they have failings and it is clear some of your inside sources have an ax to grind with AA. That said, I find your comments to be honest and consistent. Thanks for the post

69. Gary – Just another example of the transparency your followers so appreciate. Travelers are unaware that that virtually every leading consumer travel magazine now accepts complimentary travel for its writers. That is why destinations are reading better and better and everything is starting to smell like a strawberry.

    The real “Fake News” is what the travel industry puts out, much of it on huge sites owned by the same corporation using “Buzz Marketing”. This is a technique where workers in the marketing department use their forty or fifty e-mail aliases to create positive buzz, “consumer reviews”, and online sabotage of the competition. TripAdvisor does not require that one has actually stayed at a hotel to post a review.

    We’re now in our second decade of operating a travel media group that accepts absolutely no advertising of any kind, no promotional funding, and no free travel. As you know, it is amazingly liberating to be able to actually tell consumers the truth about the ways of our industry. Friends in the industry do not understand how we can offer so much ad-free, hype-free content while making money. The answer is we don’t. Our sites cost us money. But each and every morning, we sit down at our computer and read e-mails from all over the country and abroad from people wanting to work with us. As you have discovered Gary, when people ask “what’s your secret” the answer is that, when it comes to travel, people are sick and tired of lies, distortions, and ads blitzes that insult the reader’s intelligence. Take care Gary.

70. Do you think of yourself as a consumer advocate first and foremost when covering developments in the airline and hotel area?

    There are times when your coverage of a covered company or industry includes language that seems you’ve been captured (at least in part) by the companies/industries which you cover by or the apologists for such companies/industries who may provide you with material, access to material, or even confirmation.

    I know you’re not fully captive of any company or industry, and I can see why each company you cover may claim they get it worse than the others, but it doesn’t mean you’ve not been subject to being influenced by the companies/industries you cover. The question is only to which extent beyond zilch, as we are all subject to parties trying to influence opinions and coverage.

71. There ate not that many people like you. Great blog, great job ! Carry on

72. I like that you’re grossing up your donations to offset gifts that you would rather have paid for for the tax benefit. Are you also giving as generously as you did before the blog net of those sorts of donations? If not, you are getting a substitution benefit from the good feeling of giving. Are you picking your own charity? If you are you are furthering your own interest in how to help the world at large. If you wanted to be neutral, you could pick a charity at random based on overall donations to all charities, or you could just give a little more for the private benefit you are getting by giving to the best charity vs. a random charity.

    I enjoyed your interesting question about the story vs. the compensation. It was selfless of you to give up the story. I hope you offered the choice to the victim. If they preferred the story, you should have gone with that.

73. @Sam Dinkin – my solution is, indeed, imperfect.

74. @GUWonder – I don’t think of myself as anything first and foremost other than… myself. Was it Kierkegaard or Dick Van Patten who said “If you label me, you negate me”?

    I write what I think, and at various times I have on different lenses, I guess I can see how – if I’m explaining why a company might have done something – you’d see that as justifying or sanctioning. I just see it as sharing insight I’m able to offer readers, often context that they won’t get from other blogs in similar space.

75. I’ve been reading your blog since nearly the beginning – it was a link from either the Volokh Conspiracy or Marginal Revolution in 2003 that lead me to you as I was a reader of both at the time. The only issue where it seems there might be a conflict of interest is that it appears that you have more positive coverage of credit cards where you have an affiliate relationship versus others. It may be subconscious bias but your posts certainly read that way. For example, you’ve had several posts over the last year touting the benefits of the Sapphire Preferred over the Reserve, which is surprising unless you’re getting a higher commission on one versus the other.

76. Gary,

    I always love your responses, especially the ones that have the kind of eclecticism shown in your most recent response to me.

    You being you has made me a fan of your blog too. And what you write does keep me interested and engaged. And your blogs success and utility for consumers is why I want to nudge you at times toward a more obviously consumer-friendly stance if only because companies with a lot of clout need a lot more criticism of their anti-consumer ways to even have a slight chance not to get fleeced even worse than already takes place.

77. This is a beautiful thing that you stayed the course and did the transformation blogging business work. And not that you’re a “travel blogging side hustle millionaire,” what are your days like Gary? Do you travel all week and create content on the fly? Or do you blog as a “side hustle millionaire” working from home?

78. … for consumers to even have a slight chance not to get fleeced even worse than already takes place and is on the slate.

79. @GUWonder I think I do plenty of consumer advocacy — whether it’s taking individual reader problems and getting them solved, pushing to get hotel chains to open award space at recalcitrant properties, I’ve been on a Don Quixote quest over devaluations at several programs. But I’m also not Christopher Elliott who never met a cosnumer who did anything wrong or company that acted reasonably. I call ’em as I see ’em, but on the whole if there was one thing I’m about it’s explaining what’s ‘really going on’ so that consumers can make their own informed choices.

80. Thanks, Gary, for what you do. I’m one of your earliest readers, and I believe you have kept the faith with me and other frequent travelers better than most.

81. Gary,
    Keep on doing what you do best! Your columns often hit the mark. If/when they don’t, your readers certainly won’t shy away from telling you! 🙂
    You deep travel experience coupled with the fact that you haven’t left the working world to be a full-time travel blogger enables a well-informed perspective on travel.
    Keep ’em coming!

82. @James Osborne — It is not “immoral” for travel bloggers to focus on luxury travel. It may be “unfortunate,” but common sense explains why it is so. Think about car enthusiasts. Are they more likely to be excited by luxury sports cars or work-a-day Hyundai Elantras? I do think many blogs, including this one, paint an unrealistic picture of how easy or practical it is to fly in international business class. I honestly don’t think anyone could fly up front as often as the bloggers do by applying the principles they mention in their blogs. There are a few tricks that could possibly support such a lifestyle, but those aren’t the tricks that are going to get much attention in the blogs.

83. Thanks for explaining this, and thanks for your ethics. Not to be political but ethics have declined quite a bit in the past two years, from the top Down. It’s been contagious.

84. Gary,
    Even limiting my comments to those bloggers who are, to the best of their knowledge and ability, attempting in good faith to make their columns “ethical,” every one of those bloggers will draw the lines at slightly different locations because their circumstances will be, to some extent and in various ways, different — and because, like much of life, it doesn’t come at us in black and white. It’s nuanced; there are advantages and disadvantages/costs and benefits in multiple dimensions and on multiple planes (no pun intended).
    You honor us — your readers — by taking ethics considerations seriously, thinking about the choices that come to your attention, both the obscure ones and the obvious ones, and endeavoring to make the most responsible choices you can, all things considered.
    Would I make precisely the same choices you’ve made in all cases? That’s most unlikely. Would any other reader? Also very unlikely. Equally unlikely: that any two of your readers would make precisely the same set of choices even if 100% committed to ethicality.
    In many years of reading your blog posts and often acting on their ideas and suggestions, I’ve never felt “used and abused.” I thank you for the useful information you’ve provided, for the opportunities for amazing travel experiences my wife and I’ve had that, in many cases, I think it’s quite unlikely we would have had otherwise. This strikes me as a healthy symbiotic relationship — you enjoy obtaining the content for and writing your blog posts and are able to pursue your travel passion to an extent you could not otherwise have managed; your readers are able to pursue their travel passions to an extent they otherwise could not have managed.
    So I hope you’ll keep up the good work — and that you’ll continue to remain mindful of ethical considerations and choices, and to make conscious and conscientious decisions about those choices.
    P.S. My intention, tomorrow, is to obtain yet another credit card you’ve recommended, using the link in one of your posts. I hope you enjoy the benefits of the points or other compensation you’ll receive as a result; I certainly intend to enjoy the benefits of the points I’ll receive from the sign-on and spend bonuses.

85. I have always trust you. You are fine.

86. I greatly appreciate that Gary is willing to take a position and defend it. I agree that too many other bloggers, including ones I happily follow, avoid controversy. I also appreciate the “deep sources” that provide insights no other blog captures, even if it is at the expense of a wider focus (i.e. VFTW is one writer with inside sources vs a site run by a large staff doing open source research). I hope these things never change.

87. @Gary. I enjoy your blog because in my opinion:
    –You discuss a wide variety of interesting issues;
    –You do your best to be ethical, which is the most any of us fallible human beings can do;
    –You do a lot of original research on travel and companies; and
    –You have an insightful mind and do your homework.
    I may nitpick on a few items you write about; but overall, I think you are doing a wonderful job. Keep up the good work.

88. Gary, thanks so much for sharing this. I value your words quite a bit as a novice blogger. Now I’m considering my own statement of ethics for my site.

89. This is important for readers. We need to know we’re not buying a cat in a bag/being sold a pup. It’s pretty obvious to me, even prior to reading these ethics statements, that the high integrity blogs stand out: this one, Liveandletsfly, OMAAT, Loyalty Lobby, plus many other smaller ones.
    Some others just don’t pass the sniff test, including the one that pronounced the new Marriott program to be the best thing ever just hours after the launch. Dodgy.

90. A blogpost on this subject is usually “I’m better than others and now you’re gonna hear about it”.

    This one was not.

    You could have been a much bigger blog and made a ton more money and also made things easier for yourself by hiring other writers. But you have not for the reasons above

    And that’s why I respect you over any other blogger out there.

91. By you thinking about ethics and then clearly articulating your ethics, you have achieved what most people do not – you have established what I call a “going in position” for your work. That means you already know in advance what you will and will not do. That makes it far easier (and more consistent) than acting upon each situation that comes along independently. Keep up the good work.

92. Gary, this is my favorite travel blog. One thing that really sets you apart in my mind is that you travel so much for your regular employment and not just for the blog or reviews. You end in up in coach without an upgrade at times (like most of the rest of us EXPs), you travel ordinary routes domestically, etc. You are responsive on Twitter (and that really distinguishes you) Thank you for the insightful article.

    P.S. If you want someone to proofread your articles, I would be happy to do so gratis. It is part of what I do everyday.

93. As others have said, Gary, thank you for being (seemingly) genuine.
    You, Summer, and Brett are the cream of the crop. Straight-forward. Relate-able. Candid.
    It’s a loss to the community that Summer got folded into TPG… This post gives me confidence that we can rely on your humor for some time to come.

    Cheers

94. @Gary Leff: You list the current American Airlines offers for its personal and business cards here: https://viewfromthewing.com/2019/04/04/two-new-biggest-offers-for-american-airlines-credit-cards-130000-miles/. You call them “Two New Biggest Offers for American Airlines Credit Cards”. On April 4 I showed you in the comments section that they aren’t, and suggested that you change your write-up. You didn’t. To my memory, this has occurred twice before. So this brings up two questions:

    1. Does your contract with your link provider prohibit you from mentioning offers better than the ones for which they are paying you?

    2. How is your treatment of this issue ethical?

    I discuss how other bloggers have handled this issue on my website in the What’s New section at 4/13/2019 . You might want to take a look. No disaster seems to have fallen on those who mentioned the better offers. They still seem to be earning commissions.