United Passenger Blasts “Influencer” For Incessant Inflight Filming & Talking

It goes without saying that the whole world of “travel influencing” has changed a lot over the years. I mean, I’ve been doing this the old fashioned way for 20 years, and I’m annoyed I’m having to compete with others to document mediocre airport lounge food spreads. 😉 Along those lines, there’s a thread on Reddit that’s getting quite a bit of attention, with some “passionate” takes.

“Sitting next to a baby would’ve been better”

In the United Airlines section of Reddit, a passenger shared a frustrating experience they had on a recent United inaugural flight, featuring the carrier’s all-new cabins. Here’s the post:

I was so excited to sit in the bulkhead premium plus seat of the inaugural London to San Francisco flight with the new seats, I guess travel bloggers were too.

I have always seen the videos reviewing planes and products but never realize how bad it would be to sit next to one of them. This influencer was documenting for The Points Guy, and while I thought it was cool at first, I didn’t realize this meant he would be talking nearly the entire flight. He would do take after take, call the flight attendant over, and, most egregiously, leave the windows uncovered to get better lighting. I had planned on sleeping, but was always interrupted by his loud talking and filming. I actually think sitting next to a baby would’ve been better.

I considered asking to switch seats, but really I think these influencers and travel sites should buy two seats out if they’re doing this. The crew seemed to know who he was, and what he was doing, welcoming him, and thanking him the end.

So annoying that his flight was likely comped, and I paid extra for a better seat to try to get some rest.

Anyway, just remember that all of these people documenting plane come at the cost of their neighbors! Run away if you have been misfortune of sitting next to one.

As you’d expect, the thread is getting quite the responses on Reddit, because any time that influencers are brought up, people have a lot to say. There are also plenty of people sharing their experiences flying with other influencer types.

What should the limits be on documenting inflight experiences?

As mentioned earlier, over the years we’ve certainly seen a massive increase in the number of people documenting their travel experiences. Sharing short form travel video content is almost the new version of “everyone is asking me about my skincare routine” (no they’re not).

Generally airlines have pretty simple rules about taking pictures or filming onboard. Typically the idea is that you can film and record yourself, but not others (and increasingly, we’re seeing airlines add this to their contract of carriage, and make onboard announcements reminding passengers of this).

But this of course becomes a slippery slope. It’s probably fine to film yourself if someone is just barely in the background. But what happens when you start setting up multiple cameras, and when you film for hours? It’s hard to individually say “you shouldn’t be allowed to talk” or “you shouldn’t be allowed to keep your window shade open,” or whatever. But I also understand when you combine those things, it can start to materially impact the experience of others.

And I’m not saying any of this to rag on whomever was tasked with filming these videos (I’m not sure who this is about). They work for a big VC-funded company that expects certain things from employees, and clearly a semi-professionally produced video is among them. They’re just doing their jobs.

Putting the person in the position of doing that while seated right next to other passengers isn’t exactly easy. I don’t know where the line is with what should and shouldn’t be allowed. I do think that generally once there are multiple cameras and things are starting to be affixed to the windows and fuselage, that usually ups the level of disruption, and starts to make things feel like a film studio.

Obviously this also puts the crew in a tough position. They’re probably told to support the filming and recording as much as possible, and at the same time, how are they supposed to balance that with the comfort of other passengers?

Bottom line

A United Airlines passenger traveling on the carrier’s first flight from London to San Francisco with new cabins ended up in premium economy next to an influencer. He found the entire thing to be very disruptive, between there being multiple cameras, constant talking, etc.

This obviously isn’t about any one person, but it does raise the general question of what level of filming should be allowed in a cabin. On the surface, it’s reasonable to let people document themselves on a plane, but should there be limits? I don’t have the answer, but I find it to be a fair discussion to have.

Where do you stand on this?