YouTuber Josh Cahill is one of the more well-known airline vloggers out there. As you’d expect, people have mixed opinions on him. On the one hand, I give him credit for flying unique airlines, and trying to hold airlines accountable. On the other hand, he also no doubt dramatizes things quite a bit (“stolen,” “scam,” etc.), and looks for problems.
That brings us to his latest video, where I have to call him out a bit, despite him probably being correct on this being a terrible airline.
In this post:
Josh Cahill flew Legend Airlines, which is shady as could be
In his latest video, Josh flew Legend Airlines, a Romanian charter carrier that has a fleet of two Airbus A340-300s. Funny enough, the carrier flies planes that initially operated for Finnair, before operating for Air Belgium (man, good times!).
Legend Airlines doesn’t operate regularly scheduled flights, but instead, leases out its planes, including to other airlines, and also for one-off charters. Josh flew Legend Airlines on a flight it was operating on behalf of Tunisair, between Paris Orly (ORY) and Tunis (TUN).
Josh correctly points out the operator is really shady. It has been accused of human trafficking, and its owners have ties to Afghanistan, and Josh suggests even ties to the Taliban (I’m just passing on what he’s claiming). Anyway, I do think that as an airline registered in the European Union, there should perhaps be a bit more scrutiny of the company’s practices.
Anyway, Josh’s video about his flight is titled “Crew tries to SHUT ME DOWN – Onboard Europe’s DODGIEST Airline!” He boards the flight filming, and narrates the video saying “they had one clear order from management — shut him down, and don’t allow him to film.”
Once Josh gets to his seat, he films an interaction with the crew, where they confront him about his filming. It happens at the 7min10sec mark in the below video…
When it comes to filming, I side with the crew
I try to look at things objectively, and in the past, I’ve defended Josh when he was in the right, and airlines wronged him. So I say all of this neither as a “hater” nor as a “super fan” of Josh, and just as someone who sometimes enjoys watching his videos.
Is Legend Airlines super shady? Yes, in my opinion. Was the crew right for calling him out? Yes, in my opinion.
Reading the comments on the video, I’m kind of amazed at the extent to which we normalize outright lies, so can someone help me understand this?
A vast majority of airlines allow people to take pictures or videos, as long as they respect the privacy of others. Look, this isn’t really a hot take, but Josh does not respect the privacy of others… like, 0%. He’ll gladly film all his interactions with people, and in a vast majority of situations (presumably unless he’s threatened, or he thinks there could be legal consequences), he doesn’t blur anything out.
So the crew saw him filming, and they asked him not to do that. I wouldn’t call simply enforcing virtually every carrier’s photography and video policy to be any sort of shutting him down. When he insists he’s just filming himself, they back off.
What I find bizarre is that while he’s interacting with the crew and recording them, he outright lies:
- “Nobody will be on the internet or anything like this”
- “Have I recorded you? I have not recorded you, there is no record of you”
- “Your privacy is protected, and I have a right to film myself, thank you very much”
I’m sorry, but does everyone just gloss over the fact that he is gaslighting the crew about recording them while recording them?! In the video he published, he did blur out their faces, but presumably only due to them confronting him (since he doesn’t otherwise typically do that).
Quite to the contrary of Josh’s claims, it doesn’t actually seem like they were trying to shut him down for recording. Many airline crews might try to do that, but the Legend Airlines crew didn’t.
I’m just bothered by the approach he takes here. He consistently violates the privacy of others, in violation of airline rules, and when he’s called out by a crew for doing so, he lies and claims he’s not recording them?
Hey, as someone who also reviews airlines, I totally get that this is his job, and I appreciate that he generally tries to do this independently and objectively (unlike some others). But either do more to respect the privacy of others, or at least don’t outright lie about the extent to which you don’t make any efforts to protect the privacy of others.
Bottom line
YouTuber Josh Cahill flew Legend Airlines, which is no doubt an incredibly suspicious airline with some questionable practices. While I 100% agree with him on that, I don’t think he has much room to play the victim card for being called out for filming.
The crew simply asked that he respect the privacy of others, and his response was to claim that he wasn’t recording them while recording them… which to me seems wrong, but maybe that’s a hot take?
Where do you stand on this Legend Airlines filming interaction?
Let's first start by calling Josh his real name: Aljoscha Wendholt
Oh no a public figure having a stage name... what a crime! Yet all his boarding passes show Josh Cahill so not sure whether that is his actual name or conspiracy!
We should at least congratulate Josh for not confusing Tu-nis with a flight to-Nice!
Really should not post about this clown. He is a cloud chasing low minded individual with no integrity.
I think you should not post about his content as that is just spreading him more. The best you could do is not talk about him, his content, and his review style.
Ben, why are you drawing more views to his posts? I know where you are coming from and I agree with your POV on this one but it's an undeniable truth that you have just given this guy hundreds if not thousands of more views.
As a flight report youtuber I aspire to be NOT like him! I hate that we have gotten to the point where content creators do anything and eveything for fame and fortune. It's not even a review anymore. Just a collection of as much drmaa as possible to earn as much money as possible. If anyone sees me EVER acting like this in my videos and chasing drama, I give them permission to slap me in public
IMHO he is an arrogant p*** who has got too full of himself. All he vlogs now are sensationalistic stories with every single weakness of the airline proclaimed very loudly while the positive stuff gets lost in the babble.
I do appreciate Josh's honest reporting. He was banned by Qatar Airways for doing just that. He tells it like it is and I trust him.
Amen. He's super nice and friendly in person. And being banned by Qatar Airways is a badge of honor.
Putting Josh Cahill aside, what about the safety/security issues he raises ? Are they just as quickly dismissed as bogus ?
I was always curious as to what, if anything, has happened to the female pilots @ Kam Air since the Taliban took over..,
The female pilots from Kam Air, namely the two featured in the Cahill video, are flying 737s for a cargo airline in Europe living there with their families.
One of the things that irritates me the most about him is his "safety/security issues"
I'm not saying he hasn't pointed out some valid ones, but he has no professional training / expertise in the aspect of air safety aside from having taken many flights. I don't think this makes someone qualified to determine what is safe/ unsafe.
I.E. he has called out airlines for not requiring window shades to be open on...
One of the things that irritates me the most about him is his "safety/security issues"
I'm not saying he hasn't pointed out some valid ones, but he has no professional training / expertise in the aspect of air safety aside from having taken many flights. I don't think this makes someone qualified to determine what is safe/ unsafe.
I.E. he has called out airlines for not requiring window shades to be open on takeoff/ landing (not common in the US at all, metal tape on planes (perfectly safe) and anything he can create drama with.
Not cool, Josh. Not cool.
Yeah, lying about who he's recording and THEN publishing it online (clearly without consent) is indefensible. Scummy sort of behavior.
He's a shameless attention [GARDEN TOOL]. Dishonest, fake name and made up drama. Absolute trash of a human
I discovered him a few months ago and have really enjoyed his content and reviews.Most of the folks that review airlines and travel are BORING!!I want to see how the crew treats him and all interactions with anyone and everyone he’s in contact with.Keep doing what you do Josh,MOST of is enjoy your reviews
Privacy of the crew and passengers should be taken more seriously.
Noel Phillips is another one who doesn’t blur out subject in his video and some of them (especially the seat neighbors) look really uncomfortable being filmed. Pity as he has a sense of humor.
And Noel Is Great Too!
"The Flip Flop Traveler" is one of the best travel bloggers out there. This guy is on it, amazing reviews, and very respectful of other passengers. He's astute, so you are in for a treat with his commentary.
"Refugee from Czech Republic"? He has an agenda like Brian Cohens and others. He kept on mentioning Afghans, Talibans, people from Middle East and other ME airlines.
"On the other hand, he also no doubt dramatizes things quite a bit (“stolen,” “scam,” etc.), and looks for problems."
Well, he usually doesn’t have to look very hard. Josh does real reporting from airlines, classes, and routes few cover, not posh-Ben reviews on carriers that have been covered ad nauseam, like you.
He's taking Greyhound LA to NYC this month. I'd like to see Ben or Matthew Klint or Gary do that.
Maybe the US isn't his main audience, but the airlines he reviews are mostly so obscure and third world that no reasonable person would expect a seamless experience. If he wanted to ream Qatar / American / United / Emirates he should go right ahead, but it seems silly to book a ticket on Iran air and then talk about how dated the cabin is.
Please stop giving this narcissist free publicity. You are better than this Ben.
Just another run-of-the-mill nuisance vlogger.
Probably a good idea to update himself on Johnny Somali's situation in the ROK.
Doesn't seem like this fool's behavior quite rises to that level but nonetheless the world could do without it. Maybe we'll get lucky and some country will take a play from the ROK's playbook and sack him for a major loss, give him a couple of years picking cabbages.
This is the problem I have with Josh Cahill. He doesn’t seek out problems, he creates them.
Then, he posts the video and continues to create content about it, demands action from the airline, browbeats them until they give him what they want or then ban him (think QR).
This is all done to get likes on his videos. He makes money from doing this to airlines. That is just wrong.
There are some things...
This is the problem I have with Josh Cahill. He doesn’t seek out problems, he creates them.
Then, he posts the video and continues to create content about it, demands action from the airline, browbeats them until they give him what they want or then ban him (think QR).
This is all done to get likes on his videos. He makes money from doing this to airlines. That is just wrong.
There are some things he does right. Showcasing airlines that one doesn’t ever know about is not a bad thing, as long as he is even handed about it. The problem there is a lot of times he isn’t.
We are not going to change his behavior, so long as people are willing to give him the support he needs to make money.
So my advice, if you don’t like the content, don’t watch it. That’s about all we can do.
We're on the same page. This isn't journalism or even AvGeekery. This is just someone begging for more YouTube hits at the expense of cabin crew. They have a job to do, and he's making a scene.
Seeking to provoke a negative reaction is poor form in any setting, but it's especially tactless when used for clickbait on an airplane.
These antics show an immaturity and disrespectful tone. My fear is that it...
We're on the same page. This isn't journalism or even AvGeekery. This is just someone begging for more YouTube hits at the expense of cabin crew. They have a job to do, and he's making a scene.
Seeking to provoke a negative reaction is poor form in any setting, but it's especially tactless when used for clickbait on an airplane.
These antics show an immaturity and disrespectful tone. My fear is that it will fuel budding YouTube stars to antagonise airport and airline employees.
It's time for Josh to grow up.
He knows his content is trash so he needs to a drama. As much as he says he wants to be under the radar when flying to get the true experience he suffers greatly from DYKWHI. HE definitely dies things to get perks, Kind of a dirtbag.
This will never happen to a UK citizen once Nigel Farage becomes Prime Minister of the UK. MUKGA !
Quite hard to find some good aviation YouTubers these days. I've been only watching videos from TFFT and Simply Aviation for a while.
Flightradar24 has been producing some interesting videos lately if you're looking for another to add to the rotation.
Patrick Shea and The Layover aviation are pretty good too.
There are plenty.
Noel Phillips is no drama.
Drew Binsky isn't as completely-aviation focused, but still a good travel blogger overall, especially for people into more exotic forms of travel that the typical Western traveler would engage in.
Then there's the pilot bloggers: Mentour Pilot, Captain Joe, and plenty of others.
There's Pilot Drew: if you just want an eye-candy thirst trap who doesn't focus much on actual aviation, but makes sure you get...
There are plenty.
Noel Phillips is no drama.
Drew Binsky isn't as completely-aviation focused, but still a good travel blogger overall, especially for people into more exotic forms of travel that the typical Western traveler would engage in.
Then there's the pilot bloggers: Mentour Pilot, Captain Joe, and plenty of others.
There's Pilot Drew: if you just want an eye-candy thirst trap who doesn't focus much on actual aviation, but makes sure you get multiple angles of his (admittedly astonishingly handsome) face in all scenes.
And of course, last but not least: all the airport runway live-cams, at the major fields across the world. LAX (finally) got a 24hr one itself.
They should have offloaded him from the flight without a refund. Air carriage is not a right, especially when you violate the rules. About time some airlines and their employees (perhaps some fellow passengers too) start suing him
100% agree. He goes to great lengths to claim that he is only filming himself and that 'no one will be able to see the faces of the crew'.
This is an outright lie.
Multiple times during his review the crew are clearly visible (including their faces). Several times and a female crew member walks past and again several times when a male crew member opens an overhead locker above Josh.
I like his reviews but I don't see hime as credible as I used to.
He also claims to have come to Germany as a "refugee" from Czechia and claims to have been treated really badly by the Germans, yet he was born and raised in Germany as he stated himself in an interview a few years back. So which is a lie?
It’s not even his real name
@Marina, Wikipedia lists 3 different possible birthplaces for Josh (it also has his real name). On different occasions, he has said he was born in northern Germany, the former Czechoslovakia, and Australia. He’s a total fraud.
@Miguel_R Agreed.
The bigger question for me this this: why do you keep giving Josh Cahill free publicity Ben?
You’re at a much higher level, and have credibility, so I don’t see why you give this awful fellow so much air time. Is there something I’m missing or is this a commercial relationship?
Nothing wrong with holding them accountability or support them. As much as I find Josh annoying, he really does cover airlines that you generally won’t find any information about online. So to keep him out of light is not an ideal option. But it is important he also gets accountability in instances like this where he just ends up being a liar, hopefully to get better, even though it is unlikely and drama is $$$ on YouTube
The little I've seen of this dude I can't say he delivers much value. He like most bloggers focuses on mindless items that would have zero impact on my flight like the size of the seat back pocket or how much the flight attendants smiled.
Josh Cahill is awful and full of himself. He loves the sound of his own voice.
He's had over 500 million views and won multiple awards, you know :)
I watched one of his vids recently about an Air Seychelles flight and the lack of catering. What he did NOT mention - rather relevant, surely? - is the length of the flight, which I had to look up on FR24. He rarely provides the vital information about journey time.
Give me Cahill over Sam Chui or Nonstop Dan any day. Honest, unfiltered and easy on the eyes (for an AvGeek).
You are basically comparing being shot with being poisoned. They all suck.
Noel Phillips and Dennis Bunnik are good options though. Nothing dramatic, just genuine account of their own personal experiences.
Honest? As I said in another comment:
He claims to have come to Germany as a "refugee" from Czechia and claims to have been treated really badly by the Germans, yet he was born and raised in Germany as he stated himself in an interview a few years back. So which is a lie?
He told different versions of this story in several videos and they all contradict each other.
Nonstop Dan has grown up and is way more likeable than he was. Chui is only telling you whatever he is paid to say. And the less that is said about Cahill, the better.
For me the flip flop traveller really sets the bar good, honest reviews, Bunnik is also properly on the right side. Phillips makes entertaining content but the fact that he plans a convention together with clickbait Cahill leavs a foul stench.
+1 for Flip Flop Traveller. Very good and fair reviews across a variety of airlines and geographies. He also goes out of his way to stay anonymous which I think is also adds to his integrity.
@Daniel +1 on The Flip Flop Travellers and I agree that Non Stop Dan has come a long way from his bratty, untitled days but old habits die hard and it can still feel entitled sometimes
You need to play the aviation YouTuber drinking game. Take a drink when:
Sam Chui nods his head too much or leers at a female crew member.
Noel Philips says "It's quite nice actually."
Nonstop Dan reminds you he is vegan.
To me, there is a thin line. If you’re just recording interactions with fellow passengers without their consent, even though you technically could, I would not subscribe to that. If you record your interactions with the crew in normal circumstances without their permission even and then I probably won’t want to subscribe to that.
But if you record your interactions with wayward crew or when they are failed to resolve a legit issue, in that...
To me, there is a thin line. If you’re just recording interactions with fellow passengers without their consent, even though you technically could, I would not subscribe to that. If you record your interactions with the crew in normal circumstances without their permission even and then I probably won’t want to subscribe to that.
But if you record your interactions with wayward crew or when they are failed to resolve a legit issue, in that situation, it should be very acceptable to record them and that interaction should be published for people to review. It won’t be honest on part of the live year to keep that information away from their audience.
If a corporation order, their employees are falling short of acceptable, professional behavior it should be recorded and published, and you do not consent. That should be the standard.
@ Bbt -- I hear you, and that argument can be made. However, the point is that Josh records others (crews, fellow passengers, etc.), regardless of whether the experience is great, mediocre, or bad.
I’m not agreeing with that. Never will.
Trump should put him on the do not fly list. He acts like a damn two year old.
And he will grow up to become just like the loser AeroB13a
Just by the title, I automatically knew who that was...
Completely agree. Josh Cahill I actually feel was kind of a good YouTuber way back when but at some point he just started to chase drama and conflict for views. He also has what comes off as as a bit of a nasty streak. I remember him once telling this story where he was on a domestic Chinese airline, the crew found out he was German and then went to extra effort to present him...
Completely agree. Josh Cahill I actually feel was kind of a good YouTuber way back when but at some point he just started to chase drama and conflict for views. He also has what comes off as as a bit of a nasty streak. I remember him once telling this story where he was on a domestic Chinese airline, the crew found out he was German and then went to extra effort to present him with some kind of German pastry. He described this as "weird" and creepy", when it was clearly a generous gesture from the cabin crew who were clearly excited to have a German guest onboard. That completely turned me off him and ever since he's just gotten worse.
Stopped watching his content years ago: he’s overly dramatic - something goes off on every single flight. Just not my thing.
Dramatic Josh Cahill voice: "You won't believe how shocking and disgusting this flight was on a SCAM airline. Rude crew, bad food and gross facilities."
Cuts to: slightly stale bread roll, one crew member didn't smile when clearing a glass, there is a single strand hair on the sink in the bathroom.
Without a doubt he is the most entitled, pretentious flog of a blogger in existence.
To him, unless he receives 5* treatment from the cabin crew, the flight he has taken is "DANGEROUS", "SCAM", or "HORRENDOUS".
Funny that he had no issue with flying Aeroflot who is owned by the Russian government, despite claiming to have Ukrainian family
All the interactions in the video might also be related to his previous Tunisair flights. I doubt that Legend Airlines cares about him.