Originally Posted by TheBOSman

My biggest issue with it is that he will no longer be able to provide an unbiased report. If he had simply dug into his pocket, and bought the trip himself, and THEN posted it, I would have huge respect for him. It would have generated plenty of page views and grabbed a lot of attention.

As is, Etihad is fully aware of who he is, what he does, and knows his name. There won't be that many people who fly the Residence, so it is trivial for the route manager or station managers at LHR or AUH to keep an eye out for his name on a manifest. On the day that they see he is flying, inform all crew of who he is and what a good review from him will mean for the airline. We saw what was rumored to have happened when he gave a (deserved by the airline) less than stellar review of China Southern's A380 F service. It certainly drew a huge discussion on Weibo and other Chinese social media platforms and forums. Because of this, I see no way in wish he can give an unvarnished review of service.

It would be better if two people that the airline did not already know of flew the product and did a review. That would be a more accurate and fairer review of how the Residence actually works out, and not some version played up for when the provider knows a reviewer is trying a product. There is a reason that Michelin reviewers and other reviewers do their absolute best to maintain anonymity. Who wants to pay for MY (and another FTer's) Residence ticket!

Sadly, searching "etihad" "residence" on Google gives his post promoting his KS the fourth spot, and the KS itself the fifth spot.