I started blogging one weekend day in May 2002 on a lark. I had several friends with blogs back then, and I thought I’d try my hand at it. Only I didn’t have anything useful to contribute solely on politics and current events, which were the only blogs I knew about at the time. So I decided to write about travel and miles and points along with an eclectic amalgamation of offbeat news.
My Original Blog
My interest in stories like poop falling from the sky stems from my ‘quirky’ sense of humor, and dates back to the beginning — although my very first post was about credit card mileage-earning.
In the beginning I’d get 30 visits a day. The very first link to this site came from legal blog The Volokh Conspiracy. Within a year I was getting 500 a day, although there were exciting spikes along the way — Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit would link to me regularly, especially for my coverage of the TSA and the early bumper stickers I created to Impeach Norm Mineta as Secretary of Transportation (the TSA had been part of DOT before it was moved to the newly-created Department of Homeland Security, by the way I still find the use of ‘Homeland’ to be creepy). The tagline for the stickers was “Liberty & Security Not Bureaucracy.”
I don’t think I was getting 2000 visits a day regularly until I was about 4 years in. One thing that helped me jump to even that level were links from my boss’s blog and an opportunity to guest blog for him.
When I look back at my posts even from those first few years I’m not super proud of them. It took me a long time to find my ‘voice’.
But it was fun. I’m not naturally a great writer, but I still love the creative outlet and opportunity to express myself. I got to interact with and even to know many people who share my interests. In 2005 I even declared what I wanted for Christmas and a reader sent it to me.
Back then blogs interacted with each other more than they do today. Blogging was a conversational medium. You linked to someone’s post and shared why you agreed or disagreed with them. That’s how traffic was built. That formative experience for me has a lot to do with why I credit where I find things, and why I try to send traffic to blogs (by including them in lists of links) when I feel like they deserve greater attention.
This Blog is 100% Me, But it’s Only Part of What I Do
Long time readers know that I never went full time with blogging. As some of the other sites became full-fledged businesses, even selling out to corporations, this has remained one of the many things that I do. I still have a job, it’s where I get my health insurance, and I travel for work. I also write this blog; have an award booking service; help put together the Freddie Awards; consult with financial institutions on the travel and loyalty industries; and even serve as an expert witness in federal criminal trials.
I keep extremely busy, but it’s doing all of the different things that I love. Meanwhile I continue to build this blog. Everything I know or believe about the theory of the firm? I do the opposite.
Fortunately since it’s just one of the things that I do, and everything here is in my own voice, I write on my own terms. You don’t have to like this blog, or like every post, and I respect your opinion. But I speak my mind, I stake out positions, I don’t stay milquetoast desperate to avoid controversy and pushing some readers away.
How This Blog Makes Money
Now that the blog has a sizable readership it’s able to make money. No matter what you do it’s almost impossible to make money with a small audience, and you don’t have to go to great lengths to make money with a large one.
This blog started without any ads at all. GoogleAds didn’t even exist when I began. After a month or so Glenn Reynolds paid to take down the ad placed there by my first site host, Blogspot. After 7 months Randy Petersen offered to host my blog. But it wasn’t until 2004 that I had an ad up. “BlogAds” were selling on my site for $40 per week, and I told Randy he could keep it all to defer hosting costs and the technical help his team had given me to get things set up.
After more than five years of blogging I was making $250 a month from the site. It wasn’t long after that I was making $750 a month. I’m very fortunate to have done well since then, but it began simply as a labor of love and stayed that way for years. And in doing well I’m better able to remain ‘independent’ in my coverage of airlines and hotels, since I don’t rely on them for access or income.
On this site I make money from banner ads (paid advertising) and from affiliate links (if you are approved for some though certainly not all of the credit cards I write about, plus the occasional Amazon or other product).
I have financial relationships with banks that issue credit cards and there are financial firms that I’ve worked with as clients seeking my advice and help in understanding the economics of loyalty programs as they develop their investment strategies. Readers also become clients of my award booking service.
I make money through several ventures outside of this blog, so I don’t need to do anything I’m not comfortable with to earn a living. Instead I just keep spouting off (as some of you would say) and if people are interested they’ll keep reading it, and fortunately people have and that’s the main reason I’m compensated for the work I do here.
Ethics and Earning Income From the Blog
Recently One Mile at a Time wrote about their ethics policy and it was an interesting discussion. Lucky went into detail about how he stays independent. Much of it agree with, some of it I don’t, so I thought I’d share my own perspective.
Like Lucky I always disclose in a post where there’s any sort of potential benefit to me, such as if getting approved for a credit card or buying a product I wrote about generates revenue. Most of my posts don’t have any such potential, but the more content you read the more ads are displayed so there’s incremental revenue there.
Here are One Mile at a Time’s policies:
- Don’t accept any free travel from airlines or hotels even “invitations on delivery flights, or pre-opening stays at hotels that aren’t otherwise open to the public”
- Don’t accept any other in-kind “gifts” that could present a conflict of interest like elite status or even tickets. He says “I also don’t accept free dinners from airline people (or take their marketing teams out to dinner.”
- Don’t accept payments from airlines or hotels in exchange for coverage
- Don’t advertise the site in other media
- Don’t let airlines or hotels know in advance they’re coming
Like Lucky I don’t advertise in other media, and all of my coverage elsewhere on television, in print, and online is organic and earned however I don’t see that as an ethical issue. It’s just my approach.
I don’t generally accept free travel or other gifts, either, however there are events I want to attend for content reasons that aren’t open to the general public. I don’t need the information flow from official sources as I’ve cultivated many ‘deep’ sources within various airlines and hotel chains). And when I do decide to attend an event I have a pretty clear approach to those: a charitable donation that offsets anything I’ve received.
United ran a preview flight of their first Boeing 777-300ER with their new Polaris business class in it for media. There was no opportunity to buy a ticket on this flight, which is how I’ve gotten onto various inaugurals — buying a ticket like anyone else — so what I do in cases like that is make a charitable donation equal to the value of what I’ve received (even after accounting for any tax benefit).
In order to take the United flight I had to buy a ticket to Chicago and a flight home from San Francisco, and pay for a hotel room. I also donated the cost of a first class ticket between Chicago and San Francisco.
Status comps aren’t something I’m looking for either. I was once offered free Hilton status and I declined.
I don’t seek better treatment from airlines or hotels because of this blog, however I have occasionally let an airline know I’d like to take photos, because I don’t want to run into problems and get arrested. It’s never led to better service (or if it was better than it would have otherwise been, it’s occasionally still be downright awful). There have been a few times where hotels Googled me.
- Oddly at the W Doha my upgrade wasn’t as good as what many Platinums were receiving
- At the Park Hyatt Vendome the marketing manager came out to greet me. On that stay I received the lowest category room they can assign when using a confirmed suite upgrade award. On my other stays confirming suites I’ve always done better! They don’t me if I wanted a better upgrade I’d have to pay for it,
I asked whether a room ‘like the one I had last year’ was available. I was told yes — and that I could have it for an extra 100 euros per night. I declined. While some would consider the room to be worth it, I was perfectly happy with the room I was assigned. I don’t consider a single room, usually, to be a suite but it was more than adequate for my needs.
W Doha
There are a few things that I have taken. If I attend a briefing event I usually skip out on the social stuff, I’m tired and introverted and probably want to do something else it’s not so much the ethics of a nice dinner. However I have no issue taking a sandwich in a conference room to make things a working lunch. Likewise if I’m meeting a hotel executive in one of their hotels it’s not practical for me to be the one to pick up the check, though I’m usually the one who buys under ordinary circumstances.
I agree as well with Lucky that “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with…accepting comped flights or sponsored trips.” For many it’s the best way to develop unique content and bring it to readers.
Fortunately with the different ways I earn income I don’t need to do this to experience things I want to try. And with as busy as I am the last thing I want is to go where someone else wants me to go, and spend time doing things someone else wants. The most valuable resource I have — now that I’m a dad, even more so than before — is my time. I just don’t have the time to go to events or take sponsored trips.
Ethical Conundrums Go Far Beyond What Benefits a Writer Takes for Themselves
It’s important to remember that the people you cover aren’t your friends even if you get to know them and even like them as people. I should put that a little bit differently. There are some people I’ve gotten to know that have run loyalty programs, whom I’ve stayed in touch with when they were no longer in that role and I was no longer covering their work. They can be friends but it’s important to draw a line between liking someone and letting that influence your coverage of them.
It isn’t always an easy line to draw because when you get to know someone you may (justifiably) given them more of a benefit of the doubt.
Maybe that’s not an ethics issue, but it’s certainly something to watch for. Let me offer something that’s more clearly an ethical dilemma that has nothing to do with my own personal benefit.
Instead it’s an example of a coverage choice I had to make, where the benefit in question wasn’t mind but a reader’s. A few years ago a reader brought me a really bad experience with an airline. The airline was 100% at fault, but the customer had gotten nowhere. I was going to write about it, and reached out to the airline for comment. Their Vice President of Communications came back with an interesting offer.
- They wanted to handle this as a customer service issue rather than a public relations issue.
- 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.
I pondered that. I could help the person who reached out to me, or I could write a good story. This wasn’t something that affected safety, and it wasn’t a situation that was even likely to re-occur. So telling the story wouldn’t make others better travelers. It wouldn’t help them travel better. I decided to take the deal. For avoidance of doubt there was no benefit to me, and I gave up something personally — a good story. The reader got made (more than) whole.
I still think I did the right thing but I’m curious to know what y’all think.
I Do the Best I Can and Generally Don’t Judge Others
There are any number of ethical choices we all make on a daily basis. I don’t have a staff to bounce things off of, no editor, I’m just me and I do the best that I can to write content that interests me (the only way I could possibly still be doing this after 17 years) and hopefully engaging content and do it in a way that let’s me sleep well at night.
That doesn’t make me any more ethical than anyone else, and I’m sure readers will find fault with plenty of things I write, but it’s how I generally think about the blog.
Interesting analysis. I agree with each of your decisions.
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
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Gary, I appreciate all that you do.
And congratulations on the new chapter in your life–being a dad.
@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.
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.
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.
@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?
Just keep doing your blog the way you have been.
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!
@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.
Your blog, your rules. You’re transpaner enough, to suit me anyway.
@Larry absolutely I am not a pure journalist.
Keep up the great work and thanks for all of your opinion and independent analysis.
@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.
@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.
You’re doing OK Gary .
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.
This is the most interesting, organic and revealing post you’ve ever written. Thank you for sharing it.
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.
@wr2 used to?
Thank you to everyone with kind words, I really appreciate it
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.
Don’t change. Stay true to yourself and your readers. Thanks for your continued advice and wisdom. And that quirky park too!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
@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.
@ZippyPam – I never signed anything, no.
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.
@Gary: In future, ishall take all my customer service issues to you, rather than the airline or hotel.
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.
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.
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.
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?
@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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
@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!
@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.