Readers often share negative situations they have with airlines and ask for advice. My take on these situations usually falls into one of three categories:
- The customer is right and airline is off base
- In an ideal world the customer would be right, but airlines have a lot of power and are unforgiving, so the airline is right because they say they are, and the rules support that
- The airline is right and the customer has unrealistic expectations
Well, reader @alitheplanegeek shares with me a situation that unfolded on a JetBlue flight yesterday, where my reaction can simply be summed up as… ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
I’m very confused, and I’m curious if anyone has any theories as to what exactly we should make of “Felipe” at JetBlue. Is he a helpful employee going above and beyond, or someone trying to scam a customer?
The Felipe JetBlue situation
To set the scene:
- The reader was supposed to fly from San Francisco to New York in JetBlue Mint yesterday on flight 616, scheduled to depart at 4PM
- The flight was delayed, and he received notices that the flight was pushed to 6PM, and then to 8PM, both of which he was ultimately okay with
At 11:40AM he received an email from someone named “Felipe” at an AOL email address, with the subject line “F616 delayed,” and with the following content:
if you can please call Jetblue San Francisco at XXX.XXX.XXXX. Your flight is 6 hours delayed. We have a flight that leaves at 2:05 pm. Please call
Thank you
From there:
- Felipe told him on the phone that the flight would depart at 11:30PM, which didn’t work for him, so he just asked Felipe to cancel the flight, as he booked another ticket on United
- Felipe didn’t answer any of his subsequent calls or emails
- At this point he started to get suspicious, as the email had been sent from a personal email address, and Google still showed the flight departing at 8PM
- He called JetBlue reservations, and they confirmed that his ticket was being refunded and agreed to waive the change fees given the delay (it appears the fees hadn’t been waived prior to this point), but also noted that all communication is done through official company channels, and said they had no record of him having talked to Felipe
- He feels like JetBlue is brushing him off for a situation that one would assume the airline would want to investigate
The reader also notes that he takes some responsibility for the situation:
However, I also should take some responsibility. US airlines aren’t known for customer service, so receiving a personal email addressed to me should’ve rang alarm bells.
But he’s also confused about why this happened:
There’s one thing I don’t understand what were his intentions? Why would he try and get me out of the flight? Maybe to have someone on standby to go on the flight? Maybe just to screw over Jet Blue? I can’t say.
My take on this situation
I really have no clue what to make of this situation. On the surface I’d like to give Felipe the benefit of the doubt:
- He was trying to be proactive in helping a customer rebook when a flight was delayed, even if he went through channels he wasn’t supposed to
- He didn’t answer subsequent calls because he was busy/working gates, and couldn’t pick up his phone
But those are about the only potential excuses I could even come up for with him. It doesn’t appear the flight was ever delayed until 11:30PM, it would appear he didn’t properly document the record, and he also didn’t use the appropriate forms of communication.
So clearly this guy wasn’t acting properly, but what I can’t figure out is what his motive would have been for all of this? If Felipe wasn’t who he says he is (as JetBlue seems to be suggesting), what’s his motive to get someone off a flight?
Was he working in an official capacity (maybe the flight was oversold in Mint?), or what other capacity could he be working in? Was he trying to get a friend on the flight, or get someone else a Mint upgrade? I believe the airline has pretty strict policies with Mint, so unlike other airlines it’s not “employee class.”
This is a true mystery to me, and I’m curious if we can crowd-source some theories here as to what could explain this. I’ll also try to get an explanation from JetBlue, even though it seems they haven’t been cooperative up until this point.
My brother Felipe has worked for Jet Blue for over 10 years. His work ethic is impeccable. As part of their service they notify all first class passengers of any delays in a more personal manner. It saddens me that some people think it's ok to judge his character and slander his name. The full story isn't being reported and it's not my place to set the record straight. Hopefully JetBlue will step up and clear up the manner.
while trying to figure out here, JetBlue could investigate and solve this mystery in a minute.
I wonder if the person was one of those frequent flyers - jetblue calls them “mosaic” , American Airlines has advantage members elite etc.
Felipe was probably just trying to be a step ahead and get the customer to its destination faster as the previous flight probably had plenty of room .
Who wants to be on a 6 hour delayed trip ? I don’t. .
As for the email - probably doesn’t realize his personal email is attached to work email.
No scam here.
I wonder if "Felipe" tried the same thing with any of the other passengers.
Some of the stuff on this site is downright bizarre and seems completely made up. The passenger who got scammed here is probably someone who also replies to Emails offering lottery winnings.
@AC I guess you haven't heard how hard it is to fill employment openings in the Bay Area. I seriously doubt he will be fired even if he was acting unethical.
Given they have no union, jetBlue will now fire Felipe. Because they are really a terrible employer.
Sleep well "Lucky!"
@Lucky
my wife had something similar with a Delta flight. It's a known scam, and the FBI has an open investigation into these kinds of things. contact your local FBI office and report it please
@Matt, Its nice that you want to protect "Felipe" from being accountable for his mistakes but accountability effects positive change. If its an innocent mistake then the punishment shouldn't be that harsh. How do you know "Felipe" wasn't trying to pull a fast one on a paying customer to accommodate a friend? He apparently lied about the flight being delayed until 11:30pm so who knows what his motives were? I think most likely Jetbule will...
@Matt, Its nice that you want to protect "Felipe" from being accountable for his mistakes but accountability effects positive change. If its an innocent mistake then the punishment shouldn't be that harsh. How do you know "Felipe" wasn't trying to pull a fast one on a paying customer to accommodate a friend? He apparently lied about the flight being delayed until 11:30pm so who knows what his motives were? I think most likely Jetbule will easily suss out the agenda and discipline Felipe accordingly. However the fact that you searched him in your company database and posted publicly confirming his identity could more likely be seen as a breach of company policy and could result in you being written up or fired.
For those bemoaning how topics on Flyertalk always go off the rails with inane commentary I guess you haven't noticed yet one of the main offenders Guwonder also posts here.
Interesting, search for Felipe Jetblue does produce a result on linkedin and the guy is in Bay Area
Rather funny that you replace the phone number with XXX in your quote of the text message but leave it showing in the screen capture!
As to your comment about Jet Blue giving the passenger the brush off perhaps they have all the info they need for their internal investigation. They aren’t going to reveal what action they might take against their employee. What does your correspdadnt want from them?
As to some of your...
Rather funny that you replace the phone number with XXX in your quote of the text message but leave it showing in the screen capture!
As to your comment about Jet Blue giving the passenger the brush off perhaps they have all the info they need for their internal investigation. They aren’t going to reveal what action they might take against their employee. What does your correspdadnt want from them?
As to some of your posts it’s simple as far as I’m concerned - if it looks interesting I’ll start reading and soon stop and if of no relevance I won’t.
example I thought this thread might be interesting but I wasn’t in the one about Aeroflot plane paint scheme. Credit card posts hold no interest either.
My main complaint is I think you use too many similar pictures in your trip reports!
@Lucky You are awesome! I absolutely love your classy and quick witted responses to people who feel so entitled to direct YOUR site content are. Personally I enjoy stories like this. I do what normal people do and scan through the headlines and pick what I want to read more of and then read it. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to criticize your choice in publications, who does that? Lol! I’ve always thought you...
@Lucky You are awesome! I absolutely love your classy and quick witted responses to people who feel so entitled to direct YOUR site content are. Personally I enjoy stories like this. I do what normal people do and scan through the headlines and pick what I want to read more of and then read it. It wouldn’t even cross my mind to criticize your choice in publications, who does that? Lol! I’ve always thought you should paywall your site however then you wouldn’t have the pleasure to read all these nonsense comments on what you should write, you would just know what people want to read based on subscriptions going up or down. Oh well! I’m for paywall to keep the trolls in their place.
@Lucky As the owner of my own business who recognizes what actions are necessary to make my business profitable, I respect and admire your headline writing skills given your revenue model.
That's a scam.
Readers, there are not many, if any readers in the world that enjoy every section of a newspaper.
The funnies, obituaries, travel section, financial section, sports, and classifieds appeal to people differently, not to mention the coupons and flyers stuffed into the center of the local rag.
Most folks read what interests them and flip through the portions that don’t appeal to them, without writing to the Editor complaining about the portions of...
Readers, there are not many, if any readers in the world that enjoy every section of a newspaper.
The funnies, obituaries, travel section, financial section, sports, and classifieds appeal to people differently, not to mention the coupons and flyers stuffed into the center of the local rag.
Most folks read what interests them and flip through the portions that don’t appeal to them, without writing to the Editor complaining about the portions of the paper that doesn’t interest them. Toss the paper in the recycle bin when finished and move on.
Ben simply asked a question asking for readers’ opinions regarding the situation. I didn’t perceive the question as an evaluation of the blog.
Deano Z
@glenn t
I have a confession, and the non-US readers aren't going to like it. The credit card stuff is my primary reason for reading these blogs. FF program stuff is second, and trip reports are third. Why the love for the credit card posts? Free travel all over the world in business class, full stop. I purchase very few revenue tickets (maybe two or three a year, if that) so for me it's all...
@glenn t
I have a confession, and the non-US readers aren't going to like it. The credit card stuff is my primary reason for reading these blogs. FF program stuff is second, and trip reports are third. Why the love for the credit card posts? Free travel all over the world in business class, full stop. I purchase very few revenue tickets (maybe two or three a year, if that) so for me it's all about the free travel for doing things I would be doing anyway.
I do find Ben to be more honest with his headlines, I don't see too much click-baity stuff. Gary OTOH does write click baity headlines, denies it's click bait, and then admits he likes writing headlines like that.
Re haters: I liked the story
Totally a scam
Probably for cc to rebook or...
Maybe to rob his house?
Ben,
In reference to Marco's question... please don't move to vlogs. I skim things quite quickly, and sometimes have to re-read things more than once if there's some nuance in there. I can get through text quite quickly, but can't stand video for this type of communication. Further, I have a confession to make: Usually I skip to "the bottom line", take a look at your summary, and then go read the detailed parts I...
Ben,
In reference to Marco's question... please don't move to vlogs. I skim things quite quickly, and sometimes have to re-read things more than once if there's some nuance in there. I can get through text quite quickly, but can't stand video for this type of communication. Further, I have a confession to make: Usually I skip to "the bottom line", take a look at your summary, and then go read the detailed parts I care about if I think it's worth my time. I can't skim through video like that.
@Shawn has poked the bear, and the responses have flowed! His opinion is pretty factual really, and should be respected. I to am a non-US reader and find the credit card stuff (sometimes 6 out of 9 articles) totally irrelevant and roll over it. It is of passing interest to the bulk of his readers, so I accept that it is there and will continue to be ad infinitum.
The Filipe story is a...
@Shawn has poked the bear, and the responses have flowed! His opinion is pretty factual really, and should be respected. I to am a non-US reader and find the credit card stuff (sometimes 6 out of 9 articles) totally irrelevant and roll over it. It is of passing interest to the bulk of his readers, so I accept that it is there and will continue to be ad infinitum.
The Filipe story is a curious one, and I read it and most of the comments, which really shed no light on the saga.
As many point out, you can just pick the stories via the headlines you want to read, and ignore the rest. I for one have a s***load of other email to plough through each day, and being selective is the only way to do it.
I look forward to seeing OMAAT pop up in my daily email, whether I spend just one minute or 30 minutes there.
Ben
Thanks for this post, regardless of what the haterz say. I've never seen something like this before, so your question (and reason for posting) are quite straight forward. No need to wait for "more information."
This reads as scam to me for two reasons. First, "F616" just isn't a reference internal airline people would use. They'd either spell out the name or use the IATA designator "B6". No matter what, as a subject line,...
Ben
Thanks for this post, regardless of what the haterz say. I've never seen something like this before, so your question (and reason for posting) are quite straight forward. No need to wait for "more information."
This reads as scam to me for two reasons. First, "F616" just isn't a reference internal airline people would use. They'd either spell out the name or use the IATA designator "B6". No matter what, as a subject line, "F616 delayed" is just off.
Second, there's no way in this day and age that a sanctioned airline communication would direct a passenger to call an unpublished station number for routine customer service issues. The instruction would be to call the central reservation number.
@Lucky, the timeline described above seems strange. What type of "notices that the flight was pushed to 6PM, and then to 8PM, both of which he was ultimately okay with" did the reader/passenger receive? Per above, the flight was supposed to depart at 4:00pm and the reader received an odd message at 11:40am saying the flight was delayed by 6 hours. So he received (two) official communications from JetBlue *before* 11:40a saying the flight departure...
@Lucky, the timeline described above seems strange. What type of "notices that the flight was pushed to 6PM, and then to 8PM, both of which he was ultimately okay with" did the reader/passenger receive? Per above, the flight was supposed to depart at 4:00pm and the reader received an odd message at 11:40am saying the flight was delayed by 6 hours. So he received (two) official communications from JetBlue *before* 11:40a saying the flight departure was being pushed back (twice)? I'd have been super suspicious calling a non-800 number for an airline/employee.
I am an employee of Jetblue and just searched for Felipe in our company directory and there is in fact one who works at SFO.
I feel like this is a case of him accidentally using his personal email by mistake instead of his company email.
That being said, since you posted this article I’m pretty sure he will be fired or written up for this mistake... Perhaps taking this down would be a good idea.
Shawn & Ron, very simple DON’T read an article, no one is forcing you to click on it, or better yet start your own blog.
Keep on doing what you’re doing Ben ! A little variety never hurts
When are you moving to vlogs of your flights. Written reports are good but the world is moving away from these. Sad but true.
It's a bit silly to attack someone who has a differing view than many who post here regularly.
That said, I'm just thankful the comments don't take swipes at Felipe's culture......yet.
Hi Ben - I think the site is doing great. I've stuck around here even when I've stopped reading other similar blogs because the content is great.
Hi Shawn - If you don't like the content, here are a few things you could do:
1) not click on those posts or read them
2) go back and read the posts from the past in the time period of OMAAT you seem nostalgic to...
Hi Ben - I think the site is doing great. I've stuck around here even when I've stopped reading other similar blogs because the content is great.
Hi Shawn - If you don't like the content, here are a few things you could do:
1) not click on those posts or read them
2) go back and read the posts from the past in the time period of OMAAT you seem nostalgic to relive
3) stop reading the blog altogether and go read a site you enjoy more
4) start a blog that does what you want OMAAT to do
Best of luck!
Did a little digging and the Jetblue baggage office at SFO has the number 650-821-2587 and if you look up the number in the email it does tie to San Francisco airport so this could be legit
I'm old school in that I read our local newspaper (LA Times) in print every day. And I read several other papers online. And you know what? There are some stories in there that I'm not interested in! To make the analogy closer to OMAAT, let's say I like sports (I do) and I'm specifically reading the sports section. Guess what? I still find stories I'm not interested in.
Despite this it would never...
I'm old school in that I read our local newspaper (LA Times) in print every day. And I read several other papers online. And you know what? There are some stories in there that I'm not interested in! To make the analogy closer to OMAAT, let's say I like sports (I do) and I'm specifically reading the sports section. Guess what? I still find stories I'm not interested in.
Despite this it would never occur to me to write to the LA Times or any other news source to complain about a story that I didn't want to see.
As to this story, I nearly passed on it, but did end up reading it and I was surprised to find myself so interested in it that I read the comments to see what people thought was behind this. (And I ended up getting sidetracked by the complainers.)
Hi Ben,
To get back to the topic, working in this field and with similar software systems I have some theories to solve your mystery:
1) The delay to 11:30pm was erroneous, but could have been triggered from an aircraft swap (maybe associated with the maintenance delay) so it could have momentarily been posted internally.
2) The agent could have accidentally used his personal email on his iPhone and not toggled over to...
Hi Ben,
To get back to the topic, working in this field and with similar software systems I have some theories to solve your mystery:
1) The delay to 11:30pm was erroneous, but could have been triggered from an aircraft swap (maybe associated with the maintenance delay) so it could have momentarily been posted internally.
2) The agent could have accidentally used his personal email on his iPhone and not toggled over to his work one - I've seen many people do that before.
3) I've flown B6 many times and do believe they are proactive - they once called me to tell me that my suite door was broken
4) B6 is unique in that they don't oversell cabins nor aircraft.
I actually appreciate this article. When there are irregular operations, it is important to know what to do. Reader mistake stories help us all learn. I’ve learned so much from people’s experiences with separate ticketing, trying to transit airports, etc. this blog along with VFW and Frequent Miler have saved me thousands of dollars because I now know how to negotiate airlines much better and not take their word for many of their arbitrary rules and behaviors.
Ben, since you asked...
You have a lot of great contacts in the industry. Perhaps you can do an occasional one on one interview with some of them. I’d start with someone at Delta who can explain why they think SkyMiles presents a good value to those seeking free travel. Interviews with carriers outside the US would be valuable too.
Keep up the good work.
@Shawn - Your replies contributed Nothing to the blog and are dribble/drivel.
You are pedantic. How many more times can you come back to restate your point?
One thing I have suggested in the past is instead of saying “I used x amt of points to book such and such” maybe go through the process of how you search and look them up. I think many readers would get value out of that. I realize bloggers have an invested interest not to fully empower their readers but even a cursory review would be helpful to those who don’t peruse FlyerTalk.
@ Shawn -- Goodness gracious... "I realize bloggers have an invested interest not to fully empower their readers."
Really?
Ben, what John G. says in regards to Mailchimp is patently false. Don't let yourself get bullied, man! I wonder what the interns at competing sites are doing on this fine Sunday (surely they can't all be out testing shower heights, can they?). Just sayin'.
I enjoyed the content posted.
Sorry....drivel (darn autocorrect)
@John G - if you look closely , seems most of the revenue is derived from Affiliates and seems this site uses Thirsty Affiliates as their WP Affiliate Manager, if they relied on Adsense only they would starve
Google killed their Affiliate program in 2013
All that being said , my point being your idea of "bad content" may be what I like and again if you do not like it , do...
@John G - if you look closely , seems most of the revenue is derived from Affiliates and seems this site uses Thirsty Affiliates as their WP Affiliate Manager, if they relied on Adsense only they would starve
Google killed their Affiliate program in 2013
All that being said , my point being your idea of "bad content" may be what I like and again if you do not like it , do not read it . Seems this post was a hit , judging by the comments and interaction it received and is a weird travel story that is beyond the normal "Get a 25% bonus on Avianca Lifemiles if you transfer from Amex Green in the next 24 hours"
Human interest stories always do well and why you will see them all the time on local and national news , people need and want a break from the standard fare.
I guess what is the point of this post? To gossip? I’m sorry but most who read this understand traveling and most I would venture to assume are well educated.
If you need to read this to know you shouldn’t engage with someone with an aol email (who still uses aol anyways), the you have bigger issues than this and would argue how the hell do you get through life.
This post contributed Nothing to the blog and is dribble.
@mogreen - Troll or hater? LMAO. I don’t consider myself either but thanks for trying. I agree with John G. If you can’t give constructive feedback his base will never grow.
@Ben - maybe it has to do with the recycled content. Credit card pushes. I don’t know. While I am shocked by the assessment you’ve published more trip reports in the past 4 months, I believe you as you would have the stats....
@mogreen - Troll or hater? LMAO. I don’t consider myself either but thanks for trying. I agree with John G. If you can’t give constructive feedback his base will never grow.
@Ben - maybe it has to do with the recycled content. Credit card pushes. I don’t know. While I am shocked by the assessment you’ve published more trip reports in the past 4 months, I believe you as you would have the stats. Could it be because you publish one for every 15 articles or something so it gets lost in the reposts, credit card pushes etc?
@ Shawn -- I publish a lot more in general than I used to, as there are an average of about 10 posts per day. Maybe that changes the perception, but like I said, there are more trip reports right now than ever before.
And the intent of some of the refreshes I do of content isn't to recycle it. As I'm sure you can appreciate, we've seen all kinds of changes to credit cards...
@ Shawn -- I publish a lot more in general than I used to, as there are an average of about 10 posts per day. Maybe that changes the perception, but like I said, there are more trip reports right now than ever before.
And the intent of some of the refreshes I do of content isn't to recycle it. As I'm sure you can appreciate, we've seen all kinds of changes to credit cards lately. We run a very lean operation, and I want to make sure our credit card reviews are up to date as well. I spend a significant amount of time making updates to these because I want them to be accurate, which is what readers rely on. I also think that content is easy enough to skip for those who don't find it interesting, because I also know a lot of people do find it interesting.
But like I said, I'd genuinely welcome feedback on what you *would* like to see more of, so I can put effort into it.
@MoGreen and others:
Yes, I understand I could simply change the channel or skip over the article. But I like Ben and I have gotten a lot of value over 70% of his post and while yes the same content is elsewhere- he isn’t as commercialized as the others.
Without going into specifics, I might know a thing or two about media and reader engagement. His bread and butter is likely from Adsense- Google’s affiliate...
@MoGreen and others:
Yes, I understand I could simply change the channel or skip over the article. But I like Ben and I have gotten a lot of value over 70% of his post and while yes the same content is elsewhere- he isn’t as commercialized as the others.
Without going into specifics, I might know a thing or two about media and reader engagement. His bread and butter is likely from Adsense- Google’s affiliate ad program. More so than the credit card referral revenue.
Bad content leads to disengagement and “unsubscribes” on newsletters. Just the other week he was on twitter complaining that mail chimp (which is one of the more liberal mailing services) banned him. Likely because of a large number of unsubscribes (and idiots checking off I didn’t subscribe to this vs. I’m no longer interested).
So my feedback should be well taken. It’s not malicious, I want to see him succeed. And I know a thing or two about it.
@ John G -- Appreciate and welcome your thoughts, though perhaps you'll be interested to hear that Adsense isn't our "bread and butter" here at OMAAT, and also that we didn't have any issues at all with people unsubscribing from newsletters. Tiffany can perhaps chime in more on that, but we have reason to believe it was a different kind of issue unrelated to reader engagement.
TV show I do not like , will just change channel
Blog post I do not like , let me comment to writer this is not the content that I personally enjoy and you have disappointed me
Keep up the good work @Lucky and ignore the trolls and haters
People can disagree with me. That’s what makes this country great. But anyone who doesn’t see this blog has taken a turn after Bens marriage etc is kidding themselves.
Look I get it and actually commend Ben for taking more time to spend with his family. I do. But this blog seems to have become a site for recycled content, gossip stuff etc with the occasional trip report thrown in.
I’m just trying...
People can disagree with me. That’s what makes this country great. But anyone who doesn’t see this blog has taken a turn after Bens marriage etc is kidding themselves.
Look I get it and actually commend Ben for taking more time to spend with his family. I do. But this blog seems to have become a site for recycled content, gossip stuff etc with the occasional trip report thrown in.
I’m just trying to provide some constructive criticism. Anyone not a moron understands with Ben being the author he can write what he wants. But I can also read what I want and find myself going to other sites more and more.
I no longer rate this blog as second to maybe only FlyerTalk. It’s a notch or maybe two above TPG.
@ Shawn -- Funny you mention "the occasional trip report thrown in." In the past four months I've actually published more trip reports than at any other point in this blog's 12 year history.
But I'd welcome recommendations on what other kind of content you'd like to see. I can't do trip reports at a faster pace than I've been doing in the past four months, so tell me what you'd like to see, and I'll do what I can. :)
I can understand not everyone is interested in the same topics - and shall refrain from generalising my opinion in future posts.
Several comments state that quite a few of you are interested in these types of posts - thank you for sharing that point of view as well! Maybe a more constructive feedback from my side would be that by possibly waiting until the story has developed and more information is available (a...
I can understand not everyone is interested in the same topics - and shall refrain from generalising my opinion in future posts.
Several comments state that quite a few of you are interested in these types of posts - thank you for sharing that point of view as well! Maybe a more constructive feedback from my side would be that by possibly waiting until the story has developed and more information is available (a question of time) a post like this one could be more beneficial to a larger group of people, at the same time nowadays I understand being first ("breaking news") is more important than having the full picture.
If Ben wasn't so nice, he'd tell you complainers to stick your complaints where the sun don't shine, if you know what I mean.
He is indeed a nice man, so we're left with me doing it for him:
Shove your tired, insecure, pretentious-but-in-a-poverty-stricken-kinda-way where the sun surely never shines. It might reduce your overall verbal(written output, too, judging by the quality of said output. It's a free site. Feel free to leave!
...If Ben wasn't so nice, he'd tell you complainers to stick your complaints where the sun don't shine, if you know what I mean.
He is indeed a nice man, so we're left with me doing it for him:
Shove your tired, insecure, pretentious-but-in-a-poverty-stricken-kinda-way where the sun surely never shines. It might reduce your overall verbal(written output, too, judging by the quality of said output. It's a free site. Feel free to leave!
Thanks for article, Ben. Always good to know what kind of scams are going around.
Lucky,
Keep up the good work! You by far have the best blog out there. I appreciate both posts like this and the reviews. Please don't go the way of TPG and get in bed with bonvoy/every compony...then I'll have nothing left to read besides FT. (As an aside, anyone see on his instagram all of the companies sending him engagement gifts?!?) Shill shill shill!
To Shawn and those saying they wish the site were the same as the "old days," I'm curious what point in time in the blog's 12 year history you'd like me to return to? I always welcome constructive feedback, so I appreciate your thoughts.
A couple of thoughts from my end.
First of all, I have no expectation that everyone will find everything published here to be interesting. We get nearly 10 million pageviews...
To Shawn and those saying they wish the site were the same as the "old days," I'm curious what point in time in the blog's 12 year history you'd like me to return to? I always welcome constructive feedback, so I appreciate your thoughts.
A couple of thoughts from my end.
First of all, I have no expectation that everyone will find everything published here to be interesting. We get nearly 10 million pageviews per month, so there's no way everything will appeal to everyone. Quite to the contrary, my expectation is that people scan headlines and decide what interests them most. Don't get me wrong, I'd love if everyone read everything, but that simply isn't realistic.
Next, this genuinely wasn't intended to be TMZ-style. I'd actually argue I used to post a lot more TMZ-style stuff in the past, which I go out of my way not to do nowadays. Personally I'd consider TMZ-style content to be posting videos of passengers acting like idiots on planes, etc. I used to do that all the time, but rarely do it anymore.
Why? Because I think more often than not it's profiting off of other peoples' mental issues, etc. I don't want to do that.
I wrote this post because I'm genuinely curious what happened here. Admittedly it's a niche topic, but I'd like to think I have an explanation for most things that happen in the travel industry. This is something I don't have an explanation for.
So I appreciate the feedback, and I promise I'll keep it in mind. Hopefully you can see my perspective as well. :)
Lucky, please ignore the haters and write about anything you want. As @kq747 indicated it is YOUR blog.
Not everyone who reads this is a sophisticated traveler and this post may save someone else from fraud. You provided valuable information to the traveling public on what is probably a fraud scheme and you provided it for free.
Thanks for what you so.
@JRMW is correct. This is a scam attempting to get his credit card number or have the credit refunded to another account. The reader is certainly naive to have ever responded to a email from a AOL address and assumed that it was JetBlue.
@Shawn and co.: If this piece is such fluff, why would you even read as far as the comments?
The article may not be a masterpiece of contemporary journalism, but OMAAT remains one of the best sites in the industry IYAM.
I don't always share Ben's opinion, but if Ben has an article on a product I am interested in, I WILL confer it. 95+ per cent of the time, it contains just the info I'm looking for.
@Ron Isn't that the point though? I presume everyone looks at the "headline" and decides of they want to read something or not.
I've never understood why people complain in the comments about what Ben chooses to write about on HIS blog. There is no rule that says every visitor must read every post...I certainly don't. Being an Avgeek, I read mostly airline reviews but I also like the CC tips, good redemption ideas, fare...
@Ron Isn't that the point though? I presume everyone looks at the "headline" and decides of they want to read something or not.
I've never understood why people complain in the comments about what Ben chooses to write about on HIS blog. There is no rule that says every visitor must read every post...I certainly don't. Being an Avgeek, I read mostly airline reviews but I also like the CC tips, good redemption ideas, fare sales, and these industry stories. I don't really read hotel reviews as I don't stay in many and am more of an AirBnb person.
As for this story, it sounds like a scam but I cant figure out what the endgame is. And if it is, then I think it's worth bringing people's attention to it. It may not have worked this time around but the next person who gets hit might lose out.
@Lucky You do you, and write about whatever you want!
Decades ago I got a phone call from someone purporting to be a Pol lice Officer in NYC. He reported recovering my stolen car and then the recording, please deposit ten cents to continue. I called the precinct he mentioned and they confirmed that it was totally legit, they did not have enough phone lines and used pay phones!
What is conspicuous is that this person went silent and didn’t reply through that cell phone/email or official channels.
Err on the side of caution. Always.
It doesn’t matter what the person knows or says about my travel details - I won’t acknowledge any communication that isn’t from official channels.
It could be an employee who has a JetBlue provided company iphone and he's added his own gmail to it. Not realising his from account would be the new email and not the company one (I've seen this SO many times with our corporate devices - the non technical people not realising the term default/preference).
Likely pretty innocent given the person actually went ahead and cancelled the flight, albeit without removing the fees (someone looking...
It could be an employee who has a JetBlue provided company iphone and he's added his own gmail to it. Not realising his from account would be the new email and not the company one (I've seen this SO many times with our corporate devices - the non technical people not realising the term default/preference).
Likely pretty innocent given the person actually went ahead and cancelled the flight, albeit without removing the fees (someone looking for the rebook CC wouldn't bother...)
Totally agree with the above. Nobody cares about silly gossip.
I come here to get the latest on what's happening in the loyalty game. I could go to FlyerTalk (which is the root of all information being regurgitated by you, TPG and the like), but this interface is cleaner and saves me the time of reading through a bunch of meaningless comments, as almost every thread on FT goes off the rails/topic.
Yesterday when I...
Totally agree with the above. Nobody cares about silly gossip.
I come here to get the latest on what's happening in the loyalty game. I could go to FlyerTalk (which is the root of all information being regurgitated by you, TPG and the like), but this interface is cleaner and saves me the time of reading through a bunch of meaningless comments, as almost every thread on FT goes off the rails/topic.
Yesterday when I saw the article on how to "parlay" Lyft with Chase, SoFi, Delta, etc- I was excited that truly useful content is now back.
But now...color me disappointed.
News flash to people complaining about a great free travel site that has maintained independence - Lucky cannot be in the air/in hotels 24/7 and publishing related content nonstop...has to be other industry news, occasionally goofy/interesting stories, etc. to fill in the gaps.
Get over it already.
@Shawn and @Elijah -- I've been reading the blog for many years and this kind of article has been a mainstay. And I, along with many others, am happy about that.
Shawn +1
Can only agree - check the site daily but as an international reader I am not interested in the gossip - why not let us know once it's clear that this type of scam is around, once that is factual - but rumours and trash about individuals is not what we come here for (the non-flyers that read this article aren't the ones checking your homepage daily and filling your account). We don't...
Shawn +1
Can only agree - check the site daily but as an international reader I am not interested in the gossip - why not let us know once it's clear that this type of scam is around, once that is factual - but rumours and trash about individuals is not what we come here for (the non-flyers that read this article aren't the ones checking your homepage daily and filling your account). We don't need to know who didn't get accepted into the lounge because of an inappropriate dress, who got a phone call from whom etc - you are not TPG and don't need to turn into him/it.
It’s a credit card scam
Felipe didn’t ask for a cc, because who asks for a cc number to cancel a flight these days?
They always just credit it to your account
He was clearly trying to get the mark to rebook.
Rebooking does often require a credit card
There is no way an airplane employee would use their personal phone for company business
The company won’t allow it (no way...
It’s a credit card scam
Felipe didn’t ask for a cc, because who asks for a cc number to cancel a flight these days?
They always just credit it to your account
He was clearly trying to get the mark to rebook.
Rebooking does often require a credit card
There is no way an airplane employee would use their personal phone for company business
The company won’t allow it (no way to track it)
Neither would the employees
Imagine it
Who wants customers calling you all the time on your personal phone
For instance
When was the last time Lucky gave us his PERSONAL email or phone number
Hehe
@Shawn, do you remember the list of articles that people clicked on the most last year? It's not the reviews, it's stuff like this where Lucky makes the most money. You can expect more of these in the future.
Shawn +1
Same here. This was my site to go daily. More and more it is becoming a site that pushes CC's to americans combined with pulp paper gossip items.
I find myself now scanning the headers and read selectively.
This site is becoming more like TMZ every day. I miss the old site.
K - you are wrong, email address doesn't have his full name (and no way to tell if it is a California resident).
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/privacy-faqs-are-work-email-addresses-88449/
Do you know CCPA is? You can’t just post people’s email addresses, regardless of your suspicion level.
I feel like the most likely thing is this is someone who had access to Ali’s email and knew about the flight and was doing this to hopefully obtain a CC number.
@ Victor -- Something along those lines isn't inconceivable, but he wasn't asked for a credit card or anything when he asked to just have his flight canceled.
Maybe you are right with the standby theory or alternatively desire to upgrade someone