YouTuber Accuses Air Côte d’Ivoire Of Scam, Gets Called Out By Government

YouTuber Josh Cahill is one of the most controversial aviation vloggers. He prides himself in his independence and lack of bias, though in reality, he just creates completely unnecessary (and often dishonest) drama seemingly where he goes.

So while we’re very used to him calling out airlines and accusing them of things, one government is now hitting back at him, and it’s kind or refreshing to see, as flagged by View from the Wing.

Josh Cahill accuses Air Côte d’Ivoire of downgrade & scam

A couple of weeks ago, Josh Cahill reviewed the inaugural Air Côte d’Ivoire flight from Paris (CDG) to Abidjan (ABJ). I’ve gotta be honest, I was kind of jealous, since I’ve desperately been wanting to fly the country’s flag carrier on its brand new Airbus A330-900neo, but I’ve been unable to find a reasonable premium fare.

Cahill claimed to have booked a business class ticket on the flight, and then published an absolutely scathing review, claiming he was “downgraded, scammed & censored.” It all started at check-in, when he was told that he was actually booked in economy, but he claimed to be booked in business class.

After the station manager was called, it became clear that his business class ticket was canceled, and that he was actually booked in economy. The check-in staff demanded an extra $1,500 to upgrade him to business class.

Of course Cahill always does a creative job with editing videos to make them fit his narrative. He edited out the parts where the employees presumably shared some important details that didn’t fit his narrative.

Long story short, he boarded in economy, but then once onboard, they upgraded him to business class. I assume they did so to avoid negative publicity (since they knew who he was), but who knows…

When I first saw the video a couple of weeks ago, I assumed there had to be more to the story. Like I said above, I was desperate to take this flight, but I wasn’t able to find any sort of a semi-reasonable business class fare, so I really wondered what Cahill had booked.

Of course in this case he left out that very important detail (is that too much to ask in a video that’s nearly 40 minutes long?), and that made me even more suspicious, because I assumed there was a reason he wasn’t sharing this. Well, now we know exactly what happened, and it took the government of Côte d’Ivoire to settle this…

Parliament member sets record straight on Josh Cahill

Alain Lobognon, a parliament member in Côte d’Ivoire, has taken to social media to respond to Cahill’s accusations, and it’s quite something:

As a proud Ivorian, I cannot stay silent when I see someone trying to tarnish the reputation of Air Côte d’Ivoire, a national symbol of our country’s progress, ambition, and independence in the skies. Let me remind you of the facts:

1. You booked your ticket through Booking.com, not directly with Air Côte d’Ivoire. A technical error on their platform displayed a business class fare that was never actually issued by our airline.

2. Yet, despite this, Air Côte d’Ivoire went above and beyond : they upgraded you to business class for free the moment the issue was flagged. That’s not negligence, that’s Ivorian hospitality at 30,000 feet.

So why launch a public campaign against a company that treated you with generosity and respect?

Unless, of course, your real goal isn’t fairness, but helping European carriers who are nervous about a proud African airline now competing directly on the Abidjan–Paris route, with our own aircraft, our own crew, and our own vision.

Air Côte d’Ivoire isn’t just an airline. It’s Côte d’Ivoire taking flight. It’s proof that we can build world-class service, connect our diaspora, and stand tall on the global stage.

I’m proud to see my country operate long-haul flights between Abidjan and Paris. I’m proud of our pilots, our cabin crew, our engineers. And I’m especially proud that, even in the face of a third-party mistake, we chose excellence over excuses.

Constructive criticism? Always welcome.
But bad faith attacks on a national achievement? Not on my watch.

Shame on Josh Cahill for his lack of morals and transparency

It’s not often I talk this way, but Cahill is really the lowest of the low when it comes to the extent to which he’ll manufacture drama for views. Of course this is hardly the first time that he has had major issues with an airline. Somehow he’s always getting “scammed” by airlines — it’s amazing how he’s the common link in all of these incidents.

So it appears that what happened here is that he managed to book a business class fare of €982, well below the published price. The key detail is that he booked through Booking.com, an online travel agency, so clearly the website had some issues with how it was mapping those fares.

However, this issue was clearly on Booking.com’s end, rather than on the carrier’s end. A few things:

• I have to assume that Cahill knew exactly what he was booking, and the risk it entailed; there’s no guarantee that mistake fares will be honored
• Cahill is a savvy traveler, and he knows that if an OTA makes a mistake with fare mapping, the airline isn’t necessarily at fault for that
• Since the ticket was canceled, I would be willing to bet that Cahill received a cancellation notice for the business class ticket, and just pretended that he didn’t, by showing the initial confirmation at check-in (that would explain the conversation, and the way it’s edited)

It’s just really pathetic to see the approach that Cahill takes. He doesn’t care about the truth, and he doesn’t care about giving airlines a fair shake. He just cares about clicks at any expense.

Obviously it’s not good when there are fare mapping issues, and consumers are sold a product that’s not delivered on. But he’s not honest in sharing what happened, blaming this entirely on the airline, when that’s not necessarily the case. He could’ve approached this honestly and transparently with his viewers — “hey, I booked this great fare through Booking.com, there might be issues with it, let’s see how it goes.” But that’s not what he did.

There’s an irony to Cahill constantly having a feud with Sam Chui and trying to call him out, where he accuses Chui of basically being a mouthpiece and PR for airlines. Cahill is exactly the opposite, and not in a good way — he’ll bash airlines at any expense, whether it’s true or not.

Now, of course the parliament member is quite delusional as well, claiming that Cahill’s goal is “helping European carriers who are nervous about a proud African airline now competing.” Lol, no. Cahill is just a jerk who will attack any airline if it generates clicks. He’s only there to defend himself.

Bottom line

YouTuber Josh Cahill is finding himself in a controversy yet again, this time involving the inaugural Air Côte d’Ivoire flight from Paris. Cahill claimed he was downgraded and scammed by the airline. In reality, he booked a business class mistake fare and it was canceled, and it seems the fault was primarily with the online travel agency.

It’s sad, because Cahill flies some really interesting airlines, and it’s fun to see the reviews. But he’s just such a dishonest person who takes his viewers for fools, and is willing to omit any information in order to create sensationalism.

What do you make of this Josh Cahill and Air Côte d’Ivoire drama?