The One Nerve-Racking Aspect Of Writing Airline Trip Reports

I don't do it for the photos. That's your job.

I know a couple who does this:

The first person runs to the plane and takes photos.
The second person pretends to have misplaced his boarding pass, and takes 30 seconds trying to find it, holding up the queue.

That will give you an additional 30 seconds to take photos.

Have you tried waiting until the end and being the last to deplane? I've had a few "laggers" that said they wanted to take a few pictures without all the people in it after landing.

Hi Ben- I can see where you are coming from I usually travel business 2-3 times a year (lesuire travel) I always try to get some photos for friends and family to see but have been told by some cabin crew I am not able to take photos of the cabin with other passengers on board- I also now try to race to be the first to board! I was once very embarrassed when removed from a flight prior to departure (I won't say which airline or location) and subjected to a search and ion scan of belongings when I asked why I was told "your behaviour is suspicious" the flight was delayed 25 mins for this search!!! I can see why you have to be careful, what are your thoughts Ben? Do you think a fellow passenger reported me as suspicious?

What if you're in C on a plane with F?

" since I want to fly under the radar and get the real experience"

What do you think the odds of this are if your airline has a social media team that's on the ball? It's not like your name's "John Smith".

(I'm thinking of Anthony Bourdain's comments on how New York restaurants could identify New York Times reviewers...)

😉

Snapping on-board photos is a tricky art. But I almost feel as if I get more stares when I take photos in the airline lounges.

If you're traveling with someone, do you have them line up 2nd and go down the jetway really slow, while you sprint ahead, thus gaining you a few extra seconds since your companion is delaying everyone else?

Totally feel your pain! I'm totally "that guy" lining up way too early for all of my TPG flight reviews. Usually jog down the jetway, hurdling the pre-boards. Only time I've ever had an issue is with American Airlines - where the purser tried to throw me off of the flight for taking photos of the empty cabin.

Ahhh, the things we do for our readers 🙂

Etihad onboard chef told us he's not allowed to take photos with passengers in uniform. Is that true?
Not that we asked him for a photo. LOL. We actually asked if he could help us take a photo, not to take a photo with us.

I usually just get up in the middle of the flight and ask everyone to duck

This is a bit of a "White whine", no? Trip reports (i.e. blog posts) are part of your job, they contribute towards paying your mortgage. You're basically complaining about your job on your blog?

@Mangoceviche
I have several pics of the chef posing with us, as well as the nanny. he liked being photographed.

I'm sooo with you on this. I too would normally wait to get on the plane if I didn't want to get as many photos and as much video as I could before everyone else boards. I don't quite run, but I'm usually one of the first on. It gets tricky when I want to do something that takes extra time. For example: I like to get most of my seat shots (video) during the boarding process while there's natural or brighter cabin lighting. This can be problematic when adding time to put a lie-flat seat into bed mode or if a window-seat neighbor wants to get past me.

I flew with my wife and kid the other day in economy and was kind of relieved to not have to take a bunch of pictures...but then there's getting settled with a 1 year old.

"It’s a labor of love, though I enjoy it, despite how time consuming it is."

Aka your job which you presumably are making a very nice 6 figure salary from???

I don't rush onboard...I like boarding last.

I do stay behind after the flight, tidy up the cabin (make the pillows nice and fold the seatbelts) and take my pictures then. No stress, no rush.

I tend to just board whenever and make my trip reports. I admit its nice to have a clean photo, but one or two people in it also works for me.

I wouldn't have a problem with being "that woman", personally. It gets the job done, no?

Then again, standing in a queue is second nature in the UK.

Based on the comments here, taking photos on airplanes and writing trip reports is more of a cottage industry that I apparently realized. I feel like I'm in the minority for not doing these things!

Lucky, thanks for sharing your strategy. I really should do the same but I always get caught up with airport shopping. It's amusing to read (in the comments) the extent others would go to be first to board! One really must develop a thick face doing trip reports, especially in lounges, business or first, where noses turn up when you are seen taking photographs (mostly from passengers) so I try to do it as quickly and as discreetly as I can. Having a compact and responsive camera helps too.

I got a gigle out of this sentence: "It’s a labor of love, though I enjoy it, despite how time consuming it is"

I enjoy my job, and find it's time consuming, but it's my job, you know - it's supposed to be time consuming - that's what I'm getting paid to do 😉

Likewise, although this is your "blog" and your "hobby", it's also your source of income from what I understand, which makes it your job 🙂

I haven't taken photographs of the interior of planes for my blog, but I do take photographs of hotels. I try to get photos without people in them, and also without arousing the suspicion of any of the staff at the hotel; that's sometimes tough to do, too.

Talking of lounges I once entered the air Mauritius business lounge in Mauritius sat down and ordered some red wine- a gentleman in a suit kept looking at me and said "excuse me this lounge is for business class panagers" I said "sir I am a business class ticket holder" his reply......"your too young and wearing shorts I wish they wouldn't let people like you in here"my reply to that was "sir my cold hard earn cash paid for my ticket.....I suggest you tell your company you want to travel first if you don't like young men wearing shorts in the lounge!" What do you guys think.....is wearing shorts in a lounge in a hot country unacceptable????

May I add these were long baggy shorts well below the knee not a tight pair of hot pants lol

Can we get a video of the jog down the jet bridge? That sounds amusing 😉

@Christopher: if he waits to everyone deplane you will get pictures of a "trashed" cabin instead of a nice one.

With all the traveling I do I am surprised I haven't run into Ben (I have seen some of you other bloggers though). Now I know when and where to find him if he's on the same flight. 🙂

@Lucky please take your time with the trip reports. I come here for your thoroughness and appreciate you being detail-oriented and correct.

Being uncomfortable while acting like a jerk...not sure that makes it any less crummy.

Stalking another passenger and rushing to cut in front is....sigh.

I pay most attention to the food / service photos. Cabin photos you can find on any airline website.

It's the soft product that tends to be less well documented by airlines.

Then its a good thing your RX100 is such a competent and convenient camera!

Sorry not interesting.

Same strategy as you, to be honest.

I usually take my pictures at the end of the flight after all the passengers have left the aircraft. The flight attendants tend to accommodate such picture-taking request at the end of the flight. The only downside to doing this, the cabin might be a bit messy, but it is usually good enough to show what the cabin looks like.

This is basically what I do.

@Brad: I would have responded "well you're right, I don't, but the first class lounge ran out of smoothies...".

Still loved your response, though! What a tool that guy was! He's probably got a fun and exciting life...

" know some other bloggers inform the airlines they’ll be writing a review so they can board a bit early, which I suppose is one solution. That’s not something I want to do, since I want to fly under the radar and get the real experience, and I feel like letting the airline know I’ll be writing a review in advance would take away from that."

From what I remember you have hypothesized that you have received preferential treatment in the past while not indicating to the airline that you were reviewing the product. People have speculated that certain people may have certain indications in their FF profiles. I would be interested to know what percentage of the time do you think you receive preferential treatment.

Yeah, I'm usually "that guy" that's waiting to board at the gate. I try not to be there too early, but I do try to be the first person on the plane quite often. For some products though, you can get away photographing after folks have settled in, like Emirates, since the walls are so high.

Nerve-Racking?? Shouldn't it be wrecking? Or do I just not get the joke?

Who cares if you're first in line? I do this all the time so I can get overhead bins by me. I have medical conditions and cannot chance gate checking (or checked to your final destination) for my carryons which contain medical devices.

So, what's the bottom line?

Please don't do this. Everything else is fine, but not this:

"The first person runs to the plane and takes photos. The second person pretends to have misplaced his boarding pass, and takes 30 seconds trying to find it, holding up the queue. That will give you an additional 30 seconds to take photos."

Not cool.