Guys, missiles might be striking airports in the Middle East as the Gulf carriers face an existential crisis, but will someone please think of the travel influencers?!
In this post:
Qatar Airways crew angers influencer over filming request
A points and travel influencer named Ed Soto took to Instagram to share his frustration with Qatar Airways, after crews on three of four flights asked him to stop filming them. I’ll just let his caption speak for itself, because it’s quite something:
@qatarairways You Staff needs to do A LOT better.
I’ve taken 4 Flights in @qatarairways in the Past 2 Weeks, and let’s say that apart from @kevinhart4real doing the Security Video (it’s good because of @kevinhart4real ). I Do not understand how they can be named “BEST” in anything.
This employee gave the same attitude to my wife, and she is the kindest person you’ll meet, let’s say I didn’t like it either.
As content creators it’s important to understand that people and some employees want their privacy, HOWEVER.
1. For travelers recording content, for some it’s part of the experience, regardless of whether it’s a creator or not.
2. This happened on 3/4 flight with @qatarairways if you are Staff, you can kindly ask AFTER they are done recording that you don’t want to be in a video, we can always edit to eliminate faces out of respect.
3. Someone paying Business/First Class, it’s a whole experience, if someone enters a plane and you start complaining about something, you are not only lowering the experience, you are ruining someone’s excitement for a trip, holiday, or flight.
4. This was a 9 hour flight, and came at total disrespect of the employee, gave me an attitude and started complaining.
As a creator we record in different places consistently, specially on Business/First class flights.
Same way we can be cordial, employees should still give the same respect to passangers.
For my fellow travellers. What are your thoughts?
The video that goes along with this caption shows the man walking onto the plane filming, as his wife films a video walking in behind him. And yeah, despite his claim that he can always blur faces out of respect, he chooses not to do that, despite the crew’s clear desire for that.
His responses to some of the comments on the post are quite something as well. Someone writes:
They are their for your safety and service. Not for your entertainment. Maybe seek permission first?
And he responds:
no one is asking for them to do anything, just let passengers enter in peace without disturbing, just like I wasnt disturbing anyone.
Furthermore, there’s a passenger behind you should be taking care off instead of wasting your time and mine.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t expect anything more from Qatar airways.
They might have some good seats, but service is worse than a lot of US airlines.
I’ll gladly share my take on this Qatar Airways situation
Ed asks his fellow travelers what their thoughts are, so let me chime in. I think I’m pretty qualified to do so, given that I’m also someone who meticulously documents flights, so you’d think on some level, we have similar experiences.
For me it’s pretty simple — it’s not okay to film other people onboard flights without permission. Period. Virtually every airline has a policy of not filming others without permission, and I’m not sure why that’s so hard to understand. In the limited situations where I do have crew members in pictures, it’s after I explicitly ask them if it’s okay to take photos, and ask them if they’re okay being in them.
The rule isn’t “oh, film all you want, and then afterwards faces can be blurred upon request.” I’m just looking through some of Ed’s past content, and I can’t find that he has ever blurred out faces (though maybe I’m missing something?).
And of course the irony here is that he’s claiming he’s perfectly willing to blur out faces if crews request that, but then proceeds to make a post with the full faces of the crew members who asked him to not film.
Also, just general tip, but if you want to fly under the radar a bit, essentially boarding with a convoy of cameras (the person in the front filming, and then the person behind filming the person in front) might not be the best way to do so.
So yeah, I’m going to side with Qatar Airways and the crew here. Within an aircraft, you shouldn’t film other people without their permission, and it’s not a case of “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” Also, it’s lovely that your wife is “the kindest person you’ll meet,” but that doesn’t mean the rules don’t apply to her. But maybe I’ll try that the next time I’m pulled over — “officer, but I’m the nicest person you’ll ever meet, does the speed limit really apply to me?”
There’s just so much here to unpack. I’m also amused how this happened on three of four flights. So on the first flight they told him not to film, and then he did it again. And then on the second flight they asked him not to film, so he did it again. Oy.
Let me of course emphasize that I’m talking specifically about airline policies here, and not about laws of particular countries, which can vary. For example, in the United States, you legally have permission to film in airports, in the sense that you won’t face any legal repercussions for doing so. But that’s different than an individual airline policy, which could get you kicked off a flight for filming employees in gate areas, onboard flights, etc.
Bottom line
A content creator isn’t happy after Qatar Airways crews on multiple flights ask him not to film them. Virtually every airline has a policy of not recording crew members or other passengers without permission, but I guess this guy either isn’t aware of that, or just doesn’t think it applies to him.
I’d almost buy his defense of essentially saying “oh, I can blur out the faces later,” but then he… proceeds to not blur out the faces later, despite the crews clearly not wanting to be recorded.
Where do you stand on this? Do you side with the content creator or Qatar Airways?
Herr Aljoscha Wendholt has serious competition for 2026's 'Most Virulent Airborne Pest'.
And @Miles for the winning comment!
I’m surprised they let him keep flying.
This guy’s taken 4 flights in the past two weeks while the ME is in-chaos, and is griping about this? Tone deaf. Wish we weren’t giving any attention to it.
You need to stop publishing things about influenzas.
The guy trying to film is clearly a complete bellend who seems to think its his right to film all flight. No, they dont have to wait til he is done filming and then ask to have their faces removed cos then its already been filmed. What they can do is shut entitled knobs down before they film.
Going to make a broad statement here and I feel that I will have no problem standing by it.
“Influencers” are always wrong. Always idiots. Always entitled petulant children (sorry kids for the comparison) and always just annoying.
People that are influenced by the “influencers” are by definition one step lower on the ladder.
So easy to shut these idiots up. Why would anyone give someone like this moron the time of day ?
After I saw his face, it’s kinda making sense of his behavior.
"My wife is the kindest person you'll meet."
Doubt it.
"3 out of 4 flights in 2 weeks..." and he still didn't learn. Braindead idiot.
Our little Josh Cahill
"They are their (sic) for your safety and service. Not for your entertainment." A good point but it wold have been more impactful if the writer had used "there".
You do pick ‘em Ben …. :-)
Filming should be banned inside the aircraft, unless the person recording obtains an explicit approval from every single person (passenger and crew) who might be captured in the video.
And I thought Cahill was going to man up and double down on his a**hole.
Entitled influencers.
David G Travels here - as someone who films onboard flights all the time, I agree with your take here. Not even mentioning the high stress employees for gulf airlines are having to deal with right now.
Something that I often question with these 'influencers' is that are they often deliberately gaslighting?
I mean lets take this case - some one I have never heard of and probably most people reading this article wouldn't have either.
They make money from interaction with their socials - lots of people reading this here (or on other blogs) might be curious and go to the account to view or even comment - playing right into...
Something that I often question with these 'influencers' is that are they often deliberately gaslighting?
I mean lets take this case - some one I have never heard of and probably most people reading this article wouldn't have either.
They make money from interaction with their socials - lots of people reading this here (or on other blogs) might be curious and go to the account to view or even comment - playing right into the hands of the creator.
What's that old saying? There is no such thing as bad publicity.
He must be fun at parties.
He's lucky they didn't hand him over to the police during his Doha transit, because filming someone without permission is a criminal act there.
Its common decency that if someone you are interacting with asks you (reasonably) not to do something, you don't do it. Not just on airplanes.
It’s common respect and no one should be subjected to that - it a NO so follow that request or we will take steps to advance this … oh hi Josh sorry I didn’t see you there