Well this place is about to get a lot more interesting!
For those of you not familiar with Christopher Elliott, he’s a self proclaimed “consumer advocate” with a “rescue complex” that’s “fighting the good fight.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HPbgOSjkE
Now if you ask me, “consumer advocate” seems to translate to him helping people that can’t read.
Did you fail to read the terms & conditions of a promotion and are angry at a travel company and swear you’ll never do business with them again? Then Chris is your guy, as he’ll reach out to the travel provider and make things “right” (and by “make things right” I mean quite the opposite, since he’s basically getting the “victims” a one time exception because of his influence, which does nothing to help the average consumer).
Anyway, over the weekend he posed the question on his site as to whether or not he should join BoardingArea. He set up a poll on his site, and after 24 hours of polling, 54% of people said yes, and therefore he’s joining:
Update: (10 a.m.) After 24 hours, the “ayes” have it with 54 percent of the vote. I’m joining.
What does he see as one of the biggest drawbacks of BoardingArea?
✓ BoardingArea is associated with some of the most rabid pro-mileage rhetoric on the Internet. I’m America’s number-one loyalty program critic. Can you say “culture clash”?
That is true, he is America’s number one loyalty program critic. After all, he thinks frequent flyer programs are scams. Why are they scams? Because even an entry level elite member has to pay if they miss an international flight (which is the case for all passengers, even top tier elite members).
He also believes that hotel minibars should be illegal — now that’s consumer advocacy at work, folks!
I’m excited to see his rhetoric insight brought to Boarding Area — if nothing else, it certainly will mix up the content a bit!
In all honesty, I think this is great. Chris has a big readership, and hopefully some of them can see the error in his ways and begin to really reap the benefits of this hobby, rather than just have “consumer advocacy” pity parties.
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.