calwatch

Ben's clearly a smart guy and if you went to his seminars, he mastered the art of bouncing around the country on mileage runs and of getting bumped from flights. Unfortunately those skills are less useful in today's points and miles earning environment. Although he never said it up front through a close reading of the blog you could imply a high probability of being gay, not that it is relevant, even before the reveal in comments. Overall like all people, he's showing one face on OMAAT, one to RS, and one to his partners. I think it would be interesting to chat him up at some airport or hotel bar, pretend to not know who he was, and get an even different side.

stackm

The article mentions a possible sexual assault that took place by a FA. Anyone know more about this?

Wonder if it was a male or female FA... any guesses for the airline

oliver2002

'All people' have multiple faces?

BorussiaMG

Surely most of us do.

Mostly during business meetings. Sometimes an appearance is expected that is not me. Howsoever I can't afford a "I don't give a ...." attitude. Only very few people can. Congrats to them though ^

glennaa11

I thought it was an interesting read. It does give you a fuller picture of the real person, I think. I don't view it as negatively as so many of you do.

chicagoflyer1976

It's obvious Ben was trying to portray a "straight" image on his blog, but I think eventually it caught up with him and he could no longer keep the ruse up.

But not big deal, he should just be honest about who he is.

I want to know more about the hand job that occurred in flight. I'm pretty sure it would have been consensual.

Raffles

It isn't negative, but it isn't the same Ben as you find on OMAAT. I honestly can't believe that he intended for the hand job story to get into print.

But when do you ever see real truth on blogs? Who ever writes in a trip report 'I got a bit bored, went down to the bar, got chatting to a local hooker and decided to take her upstairs' or 'I went out with some friends, got ratted and woke up the next day with a transvestite' ...?! We've all been there, I'm sure!

chicagoflyer1976

I agree - I don't think it's negative at all. He's a young, single, good looking (IMO) guy, I'm sure he has no problem finding someone to hook up with during his travels.

I'm not sure I would want something printed, though, about me getting a hand job on an airplane. Could lead to problems later on, for both parties involved. But it's an interesting story!

chicagoflyer1976

Certainly it was a male, I don't think I would classify it as an assault!

cruisr

We've all been there? Ah, NO, we all haven't been there nor do many of us want to be there.

Ricebucket

I don't post a lot here, but after reading some of the responses on this thread I feel like I should put in my 2 cents.

I read the article and I thought it was great. I learned a lot more about Ben's personal life, which I found interesting because I've been a loyal reader of his blog for so many years that I almost wished he was a friend.

Was there any surprises? Not really. Essentially all of the "tricks" to the Hobby described in the article have been written about before by Ben himself. This includes the flight bumping exploit mentioned earlier in this thread. I think Ben has been fairly honest here. Even some of the personal details that he didn't openly disclose on the blog, like the fact that he is gay, should have been plainly obvious to any frequent reader.

Some of you were shocked that Ben has gotten rich off of the blog. This shouldn't be news to anyone who has any idea of how media on the web works. On the internet, traffic = money, and Ben has lots of readers. I know of other websites started by a single person that have gotten so profitable that their owners quit their day jobs. And those websites subsist on advertising alone, whereas Ben also has his Point Pros business and credit card links.

Ben clearly spends a lot of time working on his blog, and he shares truly useful information. When I first clicked onto his blog, I had no idea about any of this world. But over the years, thanks to Ben and others, I've benefited immensely from the knowledge they shared. Flying around the world in first class? Easy, I can do that next week, thanks to Ben! If he can get rich in the process, then by all means he should; he's earned it. If you provide a lot of value to others, then it is absolutely OK for you to make money off of it.

Astrophsx

I disagree. I don't think he was trying to portray being straight. He just avoided to some point bringing his personal life into the blog. As he found his writing style and the blog became more of his life he became more open. Though, there were lies put forward in the comment section in response to reader questions. This is the only place I would agree he may have tried to "hide" anything. He was better off just not responding to those questions if he didn't want to be open about his sexuality. In the end I could care less if he is gay. I find it more funny reading the comments that probably come from older straight business men trying to talk about Hello Kitty/One Direction/Taylor Swift in order to make a connection with him because they enjoy his blog.

From now can we call it a Krug and Tug? It just sounds more aspirational that way.

"His mission is to outwit the airlines and fly first class, for free, as much as he can without getting caught."

"The fact is, we are beating the airlines at their own game. The people who run these programs are idiots. And we'll always be one stop ahead of them."

I don't think those are honest or positive words.

I don't think that many people care how much money he is making from the blog. It's the fact that he asked his readers to fund his Kickstarter and then publicly criticized a pastor on his blog for encouraging his followers to fund a private jet (while Ben could afford to pay for his flight the pastor could not afford a private jet).

Kagehitokiri

they are 'dramatic' words

note ben's demographic...

glennaa11

The author's formulation of some passages did sound very odd to me. Like some one who doesn't really understand the Hobby. :-)

Kagehitokiri

but goal is entertaining those who know nothing of Hobby

i cant be only one who has heard "Hobbyist" used in a.. not good.. way [related to Raffles quote..]

in terms of Raffles comments i think he was joking about the nature of the vast majority of writing
ben is example of someone who sometimes, including intentionally not just unintentionally, posts about 'mistakes'