Originally Posted by
goodeats21
The more I think about it, I am not so sure that United doesn't participate on FlyerTalk. But I believe they are using intermediaries instead of the official "UA Insider" account. It seems to be in the same camp as using "bloggers" to put forth UA in a positive light. Eliminates the pesky problem of actually having a dialogue and answering questions.
And United absolutely is monitoring FlyerTalk. Former UA Insider Scott openly stated it was a very valuable information source for their Customer Insights.
Are you suggesting they are using non-official accounts to participate in the forum? I think that would violate TOS - or do you mean they are leveraging offline relationships with certain bloggers to present an agenda or steer the discussion or opinion a certain way? If it's not, that should also be a violation of the TOS.
I think anyone who is a compensated blogger, whether directly by a travel vendor, or indirectly by web traffic, should have their FT account specifically identified as such so it's clear when they are posting comments, their opinions and statements may be influenced by vendor relationships or financial bias.