peachfront

There is an insulting article that has been linked on the front page of Flyer Talk for several days now, called, "Seven Travel Tips for Women Flying Alone." The tips assume that the solo woman flyer has no brain and no travel experience whatsoever. There is absolutely no value in the piece at all. It is a waste of fluff with the final tip number seven being the ultimate insult to women, Don't Gab. I don't understand why this link was posted in the first place, and I don't understand why it has been allowed to remain.

If we were giving advice to male flyers, we would already assume that they know how to dress, how much to drink, and not to "gab." This is really offensive. I'm not saying read it if you haven't already. It doesn't deserve further exposure. It just needs to be replaced by an article that might actually contain some information.

Analise

I never noticed the article until you pointed it out. Your response to it got me curious.

I find much of the advice to be common sense. The don't "gab" title is patronizing to say the least; that said, the advice is good. How many times have you heard people, especially hotel front desk professionals, say aloud someone's room number. When that has happened to me, I insist upon a new room in which the clerk tells me the room by writing it down in small print on the room key folder. In addition, both men and women seem to have a problem shouting in their cell phones. How many of us miss those telephone booths.

Frankly, this advice is good for both sexes.

b1513

I never noticed it either so, of course, I just read it. I really don't think there's anything in it that we didn't already know. The word gab is kind of offensive although I might not have noticed had you not mentioned it.

Bobette

KathyWdrf

The article is there, I'm pretty sure, because FlyerTalk has recently started commissioning short articles of this type (for a few bucks compensation). This has been discussed in various places on FT.

Yes, the advice may seem obvious and/or condescending, but based on some of the threads posted on this very (Women Travelers) forum, there are at least a few people who might benefit from it!

WillTravel

I have mixed feelings about the "tip", in any event.

Is it realistic that if you want to chat to your seatmate (not always or even often the case, I know), that you will not give out any information about yourself or your trip, in the event that some stalker nearby might use the information against you?

fpm

I read the article the other day and frankly, it struck me as travel tips for everyone. I didn't see anything that was particularly aimed at female travelers.

Believe me, I have encountered plenty of males that had a problem with gabbing.

peachfront

Yes, it's common sense and common knowledge. If it were aimed at the general traveler or at men, it would not have been accepted for publication, because it would be recognized that information aimed at the first grader is not appropriate for the adult. But it's OK to insult women with tripe like "don't gab?" The word "gab" is a specific insult aimed at females. I've never heard it used in regard to a man's conversation.

It's only travel tips aimed at "everyone" if by "everyone" you mean "someone who has never stepped foot outside their state before." It is beyond condescending. It's offensive. Someone was paid to insult me and to tell me I drink too much and talk too much and dress in an impractical fashion and they know this how? Because I have xx chromosomes...

FPM -- The title of the piece says "women." It does not say "everyone." It does not say "common sense information." It says "women." A man is presumed not to be such an idiot that he needs to told how to get out of bed in the morning and tie his shoes. Only woman needs to be told not to drink and not to gab. And yet I travel solo around the world and most all of the drunks I see gabbing it up are male...and yet the entire board would be rolling its eyes at the waste of bandwith if flyertalk ran an article telling men not to drink or "gab" on their travels.

KathyWdrf

Having looked over some of these FT articles, I have to say that the overall quality seems mediocre at best.

Their main purpose, I believe, is simply to provide a hook for context-sensitive advertising to be hung on.

The articles are intentionally brief, which limits their ability to provide any real substance. For example, look at the one on "JFK Airport Parking and Ground Transportation." Could that possibly be any worse? It seems that whoever wrote it isn't really that familiar with JFK parking/transportation -- they just cribbed the info (and garbled some of it) from other sources.

Oh, well, this is the "new" FlyerTalk under Internet Brands. It's mostly about quantity, NOT about quality (i.e., providing accurate information -- what a quaint concept ).

So it isn't just the "tips for women flying alone" article that is bad.

peachfront

I guess the lesson learned is that, in future, when I see a bad article, I need to get off my duff, speak up, and complain. There is lots of good information to be had on this site. They don't need to pad it with nonsense that wastes everyone's time.

Katja

Thanks for your comments; the article in question has been removed.

IBsteph

Thanks Katja. You beat me to the punch! :-)

l etoile

Thanks to IB for removing the article. And since the matter has been taken care of, I'll close this thread.