When Air Travel Blogs Go Wrong

Too many details are like too much throttle - you wind up in a messy situation. (photo credit unknown - let me know if it's you!)

Attention, air travel bloggers: I don’t care what runway you took off from. The registration number of your aircraft is worthless fluff, less than meaningless. And photos of your food” Please, don’t. Just don’t.

And I love flying! Commercial air travel is a blast. Yet I still can’t fathom what’s remotely interesting about the most banal details of a routine flight.

But you all take it too far. You need to realize something – not every flight is worth a discussion — or enough photos to fill a 4-MB SD card.

Need an example” Witness this over-the-top display in the One Mile at a Time blog. This post would’ve been just fine with one photo of the terminal, some airplane photos and one shot of the interior. But no – there’s seriously a photo in that post of a used hot towel! Yes, you read that right. I don’t ordinarily hang another blogger out to dry – but some of these frustrate me because they make something I really like seem obsessive, boring and over-privileged. I scrolled through the post looking for the part where it gets interesting.

And really, does gabbing about divestiture not suck all the fun out of the airline industry” Oddly enough, one of the most unabashed (and tightly focused) aviation industry analysis bloggers still manages to be more interesting than this. At least it’s breaking down what makes the industry tick – and conveys some enthusiasm.

There are gobs of air travel blogs out there. Nearly every one has an occasional nugget that’s terrific – though you’ve just seen them sink into the quagmire of insider privilege, industry glossolalia and institutional apologia (I just made that word up — or so I though until spellcheck didn’t hold up a red card).

Unfortunately, I see very few from the perspective of someone who:

  • flies just every few months.
  • never gets comped.
  • is not an industry insider.
  • knows what flights aren’t worth writing about.
  • is only vaguely aware that first class exists.
  • does not have a trust fund.

That just might be the benefit to sites like travelervoice.com. So far as I’ve seen, it seems to be all real people rather than shills. And every month, it’s getting harder to parse the shills and get to the real travelers.

This post just might contain affiliate links. Fear not, they’re non-spammy and benign. Hey, I have to keep this thing running somehow!

By Wandering Justin

Writer. Traveler. Gastronomic daredevil. Fitness fan. Homebrewer. Metal dude \m/. Cat and dog lover.

3 comments

  1. Love the lingo (ex. or enough photos to fill a 4-MB SD card). Though here’s something I thought after I read about the card: if my plane ended up in the position as the one atop this blog post, you bet people would be taking photos. Evidence please! Law suits ensue!
    Are you addressing Asians with this post, though? They do, after all, take pictures of bloody air. And always with the peace sign up. (When I first moved to China, I always told my students to wave the peace sign if they saw me, rather than squealing or running to me, as they were prone to do. By the time a few months passed and I saw how they actually already used the peace sign, it made me never want to flash it again.)
    This part of your post cracked my white ass up: “quagmire of insider privilege, industry glossolalia and institutional apologia (I just made that word up … or so I though until spellcheck didn’t hold up a red card).” The mini-rant and the pace are delightful!
    Cheers!

  2. accurate details should be always welcome. Sometimes you might need hell lot of info before you make a decision..same goes to airline industry. With all these travel blogs, online travel stores, travelers are much more aware of what they are getting into. So in my opinion i really appreciate every bit of accurate info that i can get before making a decision 🙂

  3. I suppose. But seriously, first class on Air New Zealand is hardly an X factor. I’d rather hear about tourist class on Jetstar. That’s where I’m more likely to end up – as are most travelers.

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