Hi, thanks for the kind words! That wasn't on a holiday, it was a filming trip. I cut it short because along with my bags, they'd lost camera/recording equipment and other things I needed for the trip, meaning I'd not have been able to work on the road (not just the filming, but other editing commitments I had planned for while I was away). I carry things like sound mixers, microphones, to essentially give me a studio on the road. The airline (AirCalin) provided no compensation and had refused to replace any of my belongings. Remember we're dealing with a crappy small town airline here, not Singapore Airlines or Qantas. On top of this, personal things relating to our move were taking place back home, so with no clothes and a lot of my work gear gone as well, everything just lined up to get me to move my flight to get home a few days earlier. Remember I don't spend time anywhere to have time to go shopping - these trips pretty much consist of just connecting through airports, so even if I'd wanted to get more clothes I wouldn't really have had an opportunity to get any.

The comments on that video were interesting indeed. A lot of people seemed personally offended that I changed my flight. Quite why people were quite so bothered about someone they don't even know changing their flight was interesting to me. I guess next time I've learned people can be offended by the silliest things!

Have a great day.
Noel

Not really trying to win any hearts or minds. Each to their own, I know a lot of people don't enjoy watching videos, but there are also millions who do. I don't enjoy a lot of content out there, so I make videos that I would enjoy watching. Never really set out to become a 'vlogger' (horrible word). I'm just a guy who enjoys making plane videos, and that's pretty much it.

The hate doesn't bother me (I've had many years to get used to it and laugh it off as keyboard warriors), but when people start spreading blatant lies and misinformation, it's only right to be able to set the record straight. Would you accept people making up stories about you and publicly accusing you of things like tax fraud?

Our employees are all payrolled, apart from one of our editors who will soon become payrolled, but being out of state we have to go through a registration process in her state before she can be payrolled. Can't speak for all other content creators, but I know some of them have a similar arrangement.

If I am being recorded by an unwelcome video blogger, I like the idea of breaking into loud, copyrighted song. :D

That's the thing. The vlogger would know immediately. I like that POC they did (I mentioned it upthread) where they put it at an inaudible frequency but still trackable. Think about how annoying it would be to keep getting copyright hits on your video but not being able to find out why...

I wish I could figure out how to do this (and who the most agressive copyright artists are)....

That's what the mute button is for in Final Cut! Joking aside, after this many years producing videos, and years of obnoxious background music on some airlines, it's pretty easy to block out any copyrighted songs. We also get exact timestamps of any music if it gets flagged, and it's super easy to trim out in YouTube studio afterwards. YouTube algorithms have got much better over the years too at not giving you claims for random bits of background music in the video, especially if there's voiceover over the top.

Hey Noel,

Honest question, do you do any prep before visiting certain countries?

Watching your Japan videos is like watching a train crash. As someone who travels and films for their livelihood, it seems like you didn't even google a basic travel guide. It's one thing to show a few mistakes but you battered your head into every possible travel mistake between Sapporo and leaving from Tokyo.

This was my question too. I recently watched the Eastern Airlines video and a <1-minute Google search would have gotten the answer as to why they fly once a month. It became painful to watch after the 4th or 5th "why is this airline here?" (or similar).

-J.

Think Paul Lucas, Dennis Bunnik and Jeb Brooks are great. Ricky Zhang is also another I have come to enjoy over the past few months.

Noels videos seem to have gotten progressively worse, not sure if he is trying to play the character of grumpy Englishman but the whole moaning about no Japanese food in a lounge, then proceeding to eat the International menu onboard before complaining about that was pretty poor, as is his attitude towards most foreign foods/traditions.

TrekTrendy is OK and its good he has branched out to trains etc also but feel he isn't so much into the planes/airlines as to more just into luxury - He must of made about 10 videos on Emirates? Would be good to see him trying out some other airlines/routes etc.

Noel is a bit geeky and doesn’t really do high-end reviews very well. Although, seems like a good guy and do other reviews very well. Paul, Dennis and Jeb is also pretty good, suits what I Iike. I also like The Flip Flop Traveller. He did a really good review on Oman Air in my opinion.

I still wonder who anyone can like Josh’s videos, that guy is not healthy to put it mildly.

I have not seen any of your videos but have a question. Do you record other people in the flight or only yourself? If you do record, do you ask their permission?

Interesting discussion, I just stumbled on this. I watch a lot of Noel and Cahill, and some of Jeb Brooks' stuff.

I like Noel and Josh because the content is often unique - whether that be Josh's trip on Iran Air or Noel's trip across rural Queensland on Rex. Both have a ton of content from Africa. Josh's Turkmenistan Airlines experience, where they lock him in the transit hotel, was very interesting to watch. When they document the more mainstream stuff - e.g. Noel's trip on FJ last year, their reviews give me a good baseline of what to expect since their firsthand experience with various airlines is vast. I re-jiggered the FJ flights we had this past June to take the A350 to LAX specifically because of Noel's video.

Are those two melodramatic? Yeah, they can be, especially Cahill. Lots of manufactured drama and misleading video titles - Noel's "escorted off the plane" headline from Serene Air was clickbait. Related, I don't know why anyone would take the food reviews seriously. Airline food as-is isn't great to start with, and those two are eating crappy lounge food and airport fast food all the time. Their bar is low. But I don't watch their videos to know if ANA's contracted GateGourmet steak is overcooked or if Aircalin's lunch is on par with Emirates. I like them because they tend to give me a little insight into a random airline or part of the world I'm unlikely to stumble on in my usual travels. If the food is unique in some way - often the case with carriers based in Central Asia or Africa... it's interesting to get a glimpse at.

Jeb's videos are more US-centric, generally less OCD, and I think focus on more attainable experiences for US-based travelers. I like his approach - his attitude is humble and while he points out faults, he doesn't dwell on them. Jeb being an American also shows through in his videos - he comes across as genuine, wants to get to know people, and chats them up. He tells more of a story and l can see why his videos appeal a bit more to certain segments.

As a viewer, I don't find any of them annoying. I can't speak as a passenger since I've never been on a flight with any of them, but I could see it get quite annoying in Y if I was seated next to one of them and had no idea who they were.

I will agree re: Noel Philips (a.k.a. TCASAlert); while I really can't stand the attitude and the (intentional?) bumbles, the content is often truly unique, and that's one of the reasons I will admit I've watched the majority of his videos. The Lukla segments were a highlight in my mind; I have friends in Nepal and have been to KTM twice, and I re-watched all of the Nepal videos before I went earlier this year. Hoping to go to Lukla next time.

-J.

I only film myself intentionally. Of course you will often see other people in the background of the videos and I can't ask all of them - but people who are at the side of me and prominent I always chat to about the video and make sure they're OK being there. I've only been asked to blur people out a handful of times for varying reasons, and always oblige when requested. It's easy to do after the upload, YouTube has a tool specifically for that.

Honestly, I don't do a lot of preparation. But that's sometimes by intention. I visit so many countries in such a short space of time, I often arrive as a 'fresh off the boat' face. And by running into these problems and including them in the video - I hope that it can help others to not have the same issues going forward. Learn from my mistakes, if you will. After all, it would be easy for me to just edit out all those mistakes, but then who is going to get any benefit from them? Japan's a very unique country to visit and I have to say I had many issues there i wasn't expecting. But people were very happy to help at every stage.

Thank you! I know my style isn't for everyone, I really do. And I know there are plenty of other vloggers out there who different people enjoy for different reasons, just as I enjoy certain vloggers more than others. I just try to make fun videos showing interesting things, and bringing a little character to things rather than 'Here is an airport, here is a plane' type videos of which there are plenty online. I am at heart just an avgeek who enjoys flying on cool planes, and sharing that passion with people. I'm truly fortunate that I've been somehow able to make this my full time in my 40s. Lukla was incredible and is easily one of the favourite places I've ever visited, along with northern Pakistan.

Well, I had no idea I'd be 'fessing up to this, but.... I loaned my tablet computer to my 6-year old granddaughter on a flight from ORD to DSM. I consider myself pretty tech-smart (I maintain a web site and live/breathe Excel) but had never used the camera feature of the tablet. Darn kid had figured out how to create a video and was proceeding to give an animated narrative of the trip, complete with some unflattering camera angles of Grandma. Later I couldn't find where it was stored. She had to show me (the Gallery app).

At least she didn't upload it to You Tube.

Well, I think she didn't. :-)

Fair enough, Noel. Appreciate the candid response. I'm glad folks were helpful and I hope you visit again!

TCASAlert in particular I found your "Greyhound across the country in 80 hours" trip interesting and wasn't surprised when you had to bail halfway lol. I decided to do Alaska's Milk Run flights (and lucked out with much better weather) so thanks for that, too. Also just want to note that I appreciate you contributing to a thread that spends some time bashing you, most would probably just avoid it entirely.