Most inaugural flights are not blocked IME. A minority of the inaugural flights are difficult to book using regular channels, but that minority just tends to correspond to the more interesting inaugural flights.
Originally Posted by
kokonutz
Many points and miles bloggers have been comped elite statuses.
Others, if you read their trip reports, make it clear that they are 'travel writers' when interacting with or forming relationships with airline and hotel staff in order to grease wheels.
Not a "problem," per se. But when you read a blog report about a product or destination I think it's important to keep in mind that 1) the reviewer may be biased, and 2) non-'travel writers' may or may not receive service similar to that reported by travel writers. @:-)
There are also "non-bloggers" who get comps from industry suppliers. I would be shocked if none of the FT establishment players who "guide" this place have no history of taking comps from suppliers. Disclosure/non-disclosure issue on that end is simply part of the game.