BillyBleach

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMF6NgeLs/

Context 'The Points Guy' just posted this BA F review (LHR to IAD) to TikTok (social media for youngsters for those who don't know)

Best comments for me

"the seats have so much space..."

"the table was set with military precision, and the meal was the best we've ever had on a plane"

"bed...was more comfortable than our own at home"

I mean could they make it more obvious this might be a paid for advertisement?

I mean to put this in context The Points Guy has a review on also on TikTok for Singapore Airlines First Class Suites (https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMF6NvDRx/ ).

Very funny.

Update - Minor edit to ensure any readers I am not making a claim regarding pay for content, purely a comedic take on a funny post. Some of these legalistic replies suck the life and soul out of these lighthearted threads.

golfmad

Unless the bed at home is particularly cr@p I think this statement is wildly out of kilter with my own experience of any airline seat/bed. I’m all for beds in premium cabins and I do sleep but never particularly comfortably and nothing like a decent hotel bed or the bed at home.

mikeyfly

This was discussed a few weeks back... Liam was in Business Class and was very very complimentary about it... as I can't find the posts right now - here's the "feature length video"
Not sure this deserves it's own thread please !!

BillyBleach

100% it was at this point I was convinced it must be a paid for ad.

crazy8534

Appreciate that some of this is enthusiastic verging on hyperbole but I think that it should be seen in the context that most viewers on TikTok won’t ever be travelling in J or F and it is not really supposed to be a comprehensive critique.

The team at TPG includes some people active on this forum and the rules around undeclared advertising on social media are pretty strict now. BA do not to my knowledge pay any influencers specifically to provide social media reviews. Their ambassador programme includes celebrities but more golfers and tennis players rather than ‘influencers’!

Ldnn1

Without doubt, if anyone thinks a bed on a commercial aircraft, on any airline, is more comfortable than their bed at home, it’s a very sure sign that they need to invest in a new bed/mattress.

A decent one will likely be cheaper than one business class ticket, incidentally.

PES_B1

Unless it is a real bed like SQ's new A380 first or LH's short lived 744 separate bed&seat, noway can a seat that reclines come close to the comfort of a real bed.

Corpt

Wasn’t the purpose of the feature to compare and contrast the four different BA cabins/services, rather than to critique them against other airlines?

Fraser

I think I sleep better in CX F than at home.

No dog taking up room on the bed, or wife taking more than her fair share of the space Plus a few gallons of Krug/Chateau Lynch Bages helps before bedding down...

scubadu

Sure, of course, but using hyperbolic language like "more comfortable than my bed at home" is likely to raise the eyebrows of just about any rational thinking flier (even an infrequent one)

Regards

Given how quickly folks cycle through TPG these days, this statement may or may not be true on any given day of the week...

I don't think you are going to find too many regular FTers that are sympathetic to or get a warm fuzzy from TPG...

Regards

speedbird002

I lost respect for TPG after watching his video interview with Alex Cruz a few years ago. Rather than ask critical/ tough questions of which there could have been myriad, he acted like a school newspaper reporter interviewing the principal in the hopes of good grades.

noFODplease

It was a bit cringe to watch. TPG have lost the plot and it’s all fluff nowadays.

I’ll never forget the final comment on a ‘Busiest airports in the world’ post last year ‘maybe you should avoid these airports as it might take longer to get through!’ - utterly nonsensical and a complete unprofessional understanding of how airports work.

crazy8534

Respectfully, that’s not really the point I am making- you have snipped part of the sentence a bit unsympathetically. You can of course feel warm and fuzzy about someone but disagree with their views on flying BA or indeed anything else…!

My point is more that the OP has accused BA of paying for this positive review and also therefore accused TPG of receiving payment for creating the review and also therefore accused both of them of failing to declare that the review was in fact paid advertising. I am just saying that I think that those things are unlikely to be true and that there isn’t much evidence to back up the claim, save the perhaps overly-positive assessment of BA given.

I am not involved with TPG at all and I fully realise that I am in a minority on FT in being largely sympathetic towards the work of the new generation of ‘Vloggers’ who seemingly fly around the world in J and F on YouTube’s dime or with the help of sponsorship. I just have always felt that young people who seek out gaps in the market and build their own brand and find a way to achieve a degree of financial independence or success are no different from what many of us tried to do in different ways in our own professions or sectors when we too were young. Would I ask TPGs a difficult question about seating or ticketing or lounge access on BA? No, FT is much more useful for me in that sense. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t think they have value or can’t make interesting or fun or funny videos! Gen-Z have been some of the worst affected by the covid lockdowns and the recovery, and I feel a lot of love towards them, and I note that TPG basically respected the lockdowns while other “influencers” spent a lot of time “working” in Dubai etc.

OK I’ve said my piece, crucify me now!

Raffles

That’s a bizarre post.

The TPG team are salaried employees of a huge US corporation, which also owns Lonely Planet, uSwitch and other brands, You don’t just disappear off to Dubai for a pandemic.

Instead, the team was basically disbanded during covid and moved to other ops within the US parent (eg uSwitch) or fired.

Flyertalker001342

TPG Videos are entertaining fluff I sometimes watch while using my rowing machine.

I doubt that they are "paid for," but on the other hand it wouldn't shock me to hear that TPG gets their seats heavily discounted or even for nothing. I don't know what their business model is, but presumably their income comes from ads, affiliate links, etc.

The actors and occasional actresses are generally entertaining and charming.

Should anyone with any sense watch their content and use it as a basis for choosing between services offered by the various air carriers? I think not.