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!