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Chris Elliott joins [and leaves] Boarding Area

Chris Elliott joins [and leaves] Boarding Area

Old Aug 18, 2015, 12:20 pm
  #61  
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I just tried to click into Chris Elliott's blog through a link of FT that had ba for Boarding Area in the website address.

The result was a very simple page as follows:

We're no longer on Boarding Area

We've departed Boarding Area. Thanks for all the memories, and safe travels!

Take me back to Boarding Area, please.

The first line is in large font. The last appears in blue, underscored, so that it's obviously a link.
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Old Aug 18, 2015, 12:29 pm
  #62  
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lasted less than a year

but interesting almost but not quite a year
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Old Aug 22, 2015, 12:05 pm
  #63  
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Maybe it was a one year contact and when one side announced the decision not to renew, they decided to part ways a bit early. Maybe this avoids the awkwardness of a "goodbye to boarding area" blog post.
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Old Aug 22, 2015, 8:14 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
Maybe it was a one year contact...
There are NO contracts at BA. All bloggers are free to leave anytime they wish.
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 9:56 am
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Originally Posted by Raffles
Interesting. Gary ran a post attacking Chris last week (like he used to do before he joined BA) and I thought it was a bit odd as he was one of the team. But clearly he isn't!
Gary has had a bash at Elliott a number of times while his blog was part of BA....I don't think Elliott's departure from BA was in any way a signal that bashing could recommence.
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 11:29 am
  #66  
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Originally Posted by Stripy
Gary has had a bash at Elliott a number of times while his blog was part of BA....I don't think Elliott's departure from BA was in any way a signal that bashing could recommence.
Maybe so, however today's post seems to strike a bit harsher tone:

The Washington Post embarrassed itself with another Christoper Elliott column on Thursday.
So the logical conclusion is that VFTW feels Elliott was an embarrassment to Boarding Area? (I wouldn't disagree with that sentiment...though Elliott was far from the only embarrassing member of BA.)
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 11:56 am
  #67  
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It's interesting that at the bottom of that blog post today, under "More From [sic] View from the Wing", one finds links to three other Gary Leff blog posts about Chris Elliott and his columns.
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 1:36 pm
  #68  
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maybe elliott expected a change in BA responses to him

maybe BA did not what they wanted (traffic boost, etc)
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 2:43 pm
  #69  
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
maybe elliott expected a change in BA responses to him

maybe BA did not what they wanted (traffic boost, etc)
It should have been good for BA, since he had an existing following which would have had minimal crossover and yet, given that he has a disproportionately high travel focus, would have been worth having.
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 2:58 pm
  #70  
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but what exactly did they expect/want
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Old Aug 23, 2015, 7:11 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
It's interesting that at the bottom of that blog post today, under "More From [sic] View from the Wing", one finds links to three other Gary Leff blog posts about Chris Elliott and his columns.
That just means presumably that the "related posts" plugin is working. I don't know what VFTW uses for the "More From" links but that's often automated and is based on tags or content of the posts.
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Old Sep 1, 2015, 6:49 am
  #72  
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And now the contest has begun again.
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Old Sep 1, 2015, 7:58 am
  #73  
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I just posted this comment:
Passion is the foundation of a great blog. Elliott is one of Gary’s passions. So be it. Call it a symptom of the very passion that makes this blog fun to read.

Elliott has a passion too: Premium Class Warfare. So be it. There are readers who revel in envying the travel experiences of others. Is it really so bad that a writer feeds those readers the falsehoods they yearn to hear?
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Old Sep 1, 2015, 8:35 am
  #74  
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Originally Posted by nsx
I just posted this comment:
Passion is the foundation of a great blog. Elliott is one of Gary’s passions. So be it. Call it a symptom of the very passion that makes this blog fun to read.

Elliott has a passion too: Premium Class Warfare. So be it. There are readers who revel in envying the travel experiences of others. Is it really so bad that a writer feeds those readers the falsehoods they yearn to hear?
Nice summary.

I think part of Elliott's issue is not just that the proletariat support B and F buyers, it's that they support frequent flyers. And on that point, he has a point.

On my flights DCA-ORD and back this weekend I was able to see that we were one of the VERY few people in F not upgraded.

Heck, for years I used to play the upgrade game and sit in F on a ticket that was a fraction of the price of a person sitting in coach. It's a goofy business model that I loved.

But that model is coming to an end. Now anyone can sit in F for a small fee. The class system is shifting from loyalty to cold hard cash. Which is far more, shall we say, Libertarian in nature.

So it may well be that Gary and Chris will switch sides in this argument as Gary rails against being able to fly F only by paying for it married to the devaluation of elite status, and Chris supports revenue and fee based systems that open up the FC curtain to the masses.
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Old Sep 6, 2015, 5:15 am
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
The class system is shifting from loyalty to cold hard cash. Which is far more, shall we say, Libertarian in nature.
It's just good business, IMO. But, I've been watching this "shift" over the past 10 years +/- in the world of casino loyalty. But, then again, casinos have always done a "better job" in evaluating the value of their customers. There is a reason why, everything is based on "theo" (aka "theoretical loss) in "casino-land."

IMO, every airline and hotel program should have a valuation number of their customers. It just makes it so much easier to make decisions on a discretionary and program basis.
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