I read an article today that reminded me about why I started all of this to begin with. I really hate liars and today’s internet really encourages so many people to B.S. everyone in an effort to increase clicks and views. Unfortunately, the travel industry and the travel hacking community are not spared from all this. Websites that were great resources years ago are now just nothing but affiliate links and ads. The primary goal is making money and not helping you out. I’m not going to mention any names, but if you’ve been in this community for a while, you know who I’m talking about. But it’s not limited to people that have turned their brand into a media powerhouse. It’s anyone with the ability to get themselves on social media like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc. that will say anything just to get some clicks and views.
I think it’s gotten much worse over the last few years because so many people sat home during the pandemic and realized that they can make money on the internet. A lot of people quit their jobs and now work from anywhere creating content for their social media channels. Other people saw this happening so they’ve jumped on the bandwagon. Some people want money while others just want the thrill of getting a lot of views on their viral video. As a result, you wind up with complete nonsense floating around out there and since the average person isn’t going to research what a lot of these people say, these content creators can get away with a lot. I’m going to go through several examples of all the nonsense that is out there.
Packaging old information as new
This is common but one that came out a few months ago was the TikToker who was talking about Skiplagging. So many people sent me this video thinking that this TikToker discovered some new hack. Skiplagging has been around for many years. In fact, United filed a lawsuit against the 22 year old founder of the skiplagged.com which is still the primary site for finding such fares. This got a ton of media attention both when the suit was filed and as it kept going until the case was dismissed in 2015. Millions of people knew about all of this but this was long before TikTok was a thing. Since it has limited application and a ton of downsides, it wasn’t something that was discussed too often once these lawsuits went away. Then it picks up on TikTok and gets a ton of views as a lot of people either forgot about it or missed all the headlines from about a decade ago. It’s presented as a new hack and the media goes wild as if this is something that is actually new and not something old that has been presented in a new format. And why would they? They want to get clicks just like anyone else?
Making extraordinary claims without supporting facts
But it goes beyond just presenting old information as new since you could argue that creating a false impression is not actually lying. Here’s the story that got me going today. The DailyDot reported about a flight attendant that posted a video to YouTube that shares secrets about how to get stuff for free from your flight crew. The TLDR is that if you give them a gift card for about $20 or so, they can do all sorts of things for you like give you free upgrades and even bonus miles. Like anything else, a broken clock is right twice a day so is it possible that if you basically bribe a flight attendant, that person will give you something for free? Sure, I don’t doubt that it has happened. But does that mean it will happen with any consistency? No. What really stood out to me was the bonus miles part because I don’t even know how that would be accomplished. I remember there being an issue where American Airlines flight crew had this ability but it was pretty much abused (how did no one see that coming) so it was discontinued years ago.
There’s the saying, “the devil is in the details” but I always like to say that that the devil is in the lack of details. You’ll notice that people that make extraordinary claims don’t provide any details and don’t respond to people challenging them. What’s nice about the DailyDot is that they didn’t just pass this off as true. They included a lot of the comments of people raising concerns about the validity of this information. They also tried to contact this flight attendant to get more information and…surprise, surprise, they haven’t heard anything back. You honesty think she didn’t see that the media contacted her? I’ve worked with hundreds of media outlets. They will update the story the moment they get more information so this isn’t liked a print deadline has passed. You could come back to this story at any time and I doubt you’ll see a response from her.
Exaggerated scenarios
While I was writing this, someone posted a video in our Facebook group where the person was misleading you to believe that if you get bumped from your flight, the airline will just put you one a new flight and say sorry. But thanks to this video, you’ll be shown what to do and how to get compensation. Sigh. Do people get bumped from flights? Sure, it happens. Do people get bumped and get nothing from the airline? Like I said, I’m sure everything that can happen has happened but this is a video that just doesn’t need to be made. The odds of you getting bumped from a flight and getting no compensation is just so rare, a fact which is conspicuously absent from said video. And it makes sense right? Would you really watch the full video if it opened up with something like “you’ll probably never need this information but in case you do….”? Of course not. But if it’s presented as the evil airlines are screwing people over and this video will help you fight back, then yeah, better watch this one. Better share it with people so they can have this helpful information.
Left out of this video is any mention that since the David Dao incident in 2017, airlines have done everything they could to avoid involuntarily bumping passengers. While it’s more common on Frontier, it’s rare to almost non-existent on other airlines according to these 2022 statistics. Most other airlines will ask for volunteers and will pay a king’s ransom sometimes to get these passengers to give up their seats. But even if someone is bumped, most airlines will automatically give you the compensation that you are entitled to because it’s not discretionary and there is nothing in the law that requires you to ask for it. Like I said, is there someone out there that had to ask for it? Sure, but I doubt anyone in that position will ever even see this video. In other words, this is a video just for clicks and not some useful piece of information. All of this other information is left out.
Articles that are purposely bad
I’ll admit here that I’m speculating a bit as I don’t have any inside information but there are some media outlets that out the worst articles ever and I’m just convinced that they are bad on purpose. Insider is notorious for this. You’ll see articles like “I flew on Spirit Airlines and was shocked that I had to pay extra for everything”. C’mon man. No one is that stupid. But it stuff like that gets people to comment on it and comments create more visibility which in turn results in more clicks. More clicks = more money.
Travel agents hyping deals that aren’t deals
I’m gonna preface this by saying that I’m now a travel agent but I’m not like some of these other agents out there. Travel agents get paid by commission and some suppliers provide a higher commission than others. So I could sell you Hotel A which would cost $1000 for a week and I’d make a small cut or I could sell you Hotel B which would cost $1500 and I’d make a lot more money. There’s nothing wrong with Hotel A and in fact, it gets better reviews than Hotel B. But some travel agents will sell you on B because that’s where the money is. So when you see a travel agent offering a special, don’t assume it’s really in your best interest unless you know and trust this agent. Since my commission funds my charitable efforts, it makes no difference to me if I make $20 or $200. I want what’s best for you. Unfortunately, not everyone else is like that.
Pictures that don’t tell the whole story
You’ll see this with influencers. They are sitting in a private jet and they look like they are total ballers. What you don’t realize is that anyone can go sit on a private jet for a few minutes and take a picture. Doesn’t cost much. There’s all sorts of props like that that people will use. I’ve seen people sit in first class, get a few pictures of themselves taken and then they go sit in economy. Same thing goes with those amazing pictures you’ll see. That famous picture of Santorini looks amazing right? It’s certainly beautiful but what you don’t see is the line of about 100 people right behind this influencer that is waiting to take the same exact picture. Hardly luxurious.
SO WHAT CAUSES ALL OF THIS?
I’ve discussed just a handful of things you need to watch out for but you should also know why this happens. I’ll also provide you with a few more examples of things to watch out for.
Cash for views
Whether its YouTube, TikTok or Reels, you’ll get money for views of your videos. The more views you get, the more money you make. Some people make some nice money and a handful of become very wealthy. The problem is that as people turned social media into a fulltime job, there is a preference to keep the content and views coming. There’s also a lot more competition out there so they have to do whatever they can to stand out from the crowd. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with making money for your efforts. The problem is when people are providing BS information in these videos. This is really no different than what’s been going on for years just in a different medium. Remember those supermarket tabloids? What draws your attention more, a headline in a newspaper that says the President attended a peace summit or that a movie star had an affair with the nanny? Sensationism sells. It’s gotta be exciting and in the world of travel, exciting things are often exaggerated or made up.
Cash for clicks
This should be obvious to everyone but most websites are monetized so the more people that click on a link, the more people will see an ad. The more people that see an ad, the more people will click on the ad. Some websites are loaded with ads and even an accidental click will result in money being made.
Affiliate links
This seems to be the issue most people don’t fully understand and it’s a big issue with travel hacking. Affiliate links work like this, someone recommends a credit card, a product or a service and if you sign up through that link, the person that gave you that link makes money. Is there anything wrong with that? Not at all. I use the same thing on this website. The problem is that some people will recommend anything that will give them an affiliate commission. This results in people buying services they don’t need or not considering better/cheaper alternatives.
As I said, this is a big issue with travel hacking. Some websites promote just about every credit card that exists. According to them, every card is a great card! This is complete nonsense. I recommend beginners start with Chase but that’s the same advice most people would give. This would be my advice regardless of whether Chase gave me anything. Could I get affiliate links for all sorts of other cards? Sure. Does the average person need all of these other cards? Not at all. I think the casual travel hacker can easily get by with mostly having Chase cards. There’s nothing wrong with having 32 different credit cards with points spread out amongst a half dozen points ecosystems but is that really necessary for most people? I just don’t think so. But you just don’t see that advice in a lot of places because they are driven by affiliate links. Credit card affiliate links are big money wish is why just about every card is often sold as a great card.
Conclusion
I want to stress again that there’s nothing wrong with being compensated for your work. There’s also nothing wrong with affiliate links. I think Rakuten is an amazing way to save money. It’s nice that I can make money for my charitable efforts by referring people to them but I would do it regardless. There’s plenty of people out there creating very helpful content that is 100% accurate with no hidden agenda. But for every one of those people, I think there’s at least several others that are filling up the internet with nonsense and B.S. They take advantage of people that don’t travel often and don’t have time to fact check them. They know that sensational and exaggerated videos (and sometimes lies) will generate clicks and views which will put money in their pocket. Since this is a full-time job now for some people, there is a lot of pressure to keep this income flowing. Unfortunately, greed makes people do bad things.
So that’s why I created all of this. I wanted to have space on the internet for people to go to get truthful information without any hidden agenda. My goal is to help you travel for free with points or for less money by finding the best deals possible. For help with travel, join our Facebook group Travel Better, Travel More. If you want to discuss travel hacking and all things points and miles, we have a different Facebook group called Simple Travel Hacks. Feel free to join both!
Hopefully you have a better idea as to what’s out there and why but if you aren’t sure, post a question in one of the groups and I’ll be happy to tell you what the real deal is.