if they currently never do it, then that is not a lie right?

but semantics and legalese can be questionable tactics

How isn't this blog dishonest when they never mentioned
they were bought by the crecitcards.com corporation?
They even deleted comments which mentioned that.
Yeah, sure, full honesty :D

bankrate wasnt it? seem to recall they only had brief comment on that

Same thing. I don't think they ever commented on it.

Methinks this is more to stay in line with the new FTC guidelines for bloggers. Most bloggers will insist they don't take comps, but its a very grey area. For example some buy a cheapo economy ticket on a flight and then ask/beg the airline to open up upgrade inventory.

Journos have compliance policies if they are employed (not freelance). Even then the PR departments at the airlines will make sure they get special reporter fares or revenue management opens up a lower booking class for them. Also the occasional op-up is known to happen...

Bankrate owns creditcards.com as well.

The focus on comped trips is a bit of a smokescreen in my view. None of us review airline seats with the mindset of someone who paid hard cash for it out of their own pocket, and if we did we would be more critical.

We also all have huge piles of miles to burn. It isn't as if we must get a free seat or room or we won't be travelling - we just burn a few points instead.

There is far more pressure from other quarters. One major hotel group believes that, if you have its affiliate links, it can email you and ask you to remove posts which it does not like. Many of us also take direct advertising and that brings its own implicit pressures.

My way around this is that I only do 'nice things'. Life is too short anyway. If Air Kazakhstan want me to review their new Y seat then I won't be doing it. Neither will be I checking into a one-star hotel anytime soon for a freebie. I only do stuff that I would be happy to spend my own money on in the first place. If I stay in a hotel for free it means a night away from my wife and young kids which - whilst sometimes good for a recharge! - is not ideal.

You have a strange habit of speaking for everyone else. Bizarre, especially when it is not true.

The most I have ever paid for a flight from my own pocket is £1,700, so around $2,500. That is a decent chunk of change but (partially as a factor of our overall family income) I still don't think that puts me in the position of someone who is thinking of dropping more than that as a very special treat for a honeymoon etc and is looking at reviews to help them decide if it is worth it spending 5-10 per cent of their annual income on a couple of tickets.

What percentage of BA bloggers have even paid $2,500 per person from their own pocket for a single flight? Very slim.

wow. (but you have spent on hotel. ben paid for amanresorts once.) most on FT who spend seem to spend on expensive J/F. ben seems to fit with those many FTers, buying tickets in $1.5K > $2.5K price range regularly. he has said that his blog is not about traveling at zero cost. seem to recall gary at one point saying he paid for domestic F on leisure trips, but stopped.

i really need to learn more about buying miles.

I have no idea. Mostly because I've never asked. But I do often pay for my flights and that price point is a bit higher than I've gone but I have paid for several in that ballpark. So when you say things like "none of us" or "all have" you're misrepresenting reality. Unless, of course, you know what everyone has done. And given the number of recent posts where you've claimed things for "all" which do not reflect my personal behavior I'm pretty sure that's not true.

There's no reason to speak for everyone. Especially when doing so misrepresents reality.

I've only been around 13+ years, but it seems to me most on FT dont spend a dime on tickets, most are OPM.

sbm12, he was talking about a certain type of blogger

you quoted where i stated "who spend"

"most are OPM" ignores business travel

Business/work travel is OPM.

Business/work travel is OPM, and a majority of FlyerTalkers are work flyers.