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“Influencer” banned for life from Cathay Pacific after trying to demand business class upgrade

Soumis
 
Cathay Pacific has banned a social media "influencer" after she allegedly tried to use a faked email to get an upgrade to business class. (www.gatechecked.com) Plus d'info...

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richardorgill
Richard Orgill 37
Well written article and KARMA for this lady.
outward
Jimmy Robinson 41
Waaaaaahh!! I'm important and people make decisions based on what I say and do! If you don't believe me just ask me. I want what I want and I won't take no for an answer for what I want for free.

This is what I get from hearing about influencers. I see pictures in stories about them and the prevailing themes seem to be vanity, self absorption, ego mania, and wanting lots of people to pay attention to them and what they say and do. Maybe I'm missing something. This influencer trend seems to be part of the entitlement generation and wanting everything for free given to them by the govt. or someone else. The influence any of them have on me is about as much as the influence i get from the rock in my back yard. I like to think I'm intelligent enough and have enough common sense to make up my own mind and in the right way.
PSUAth
Supercool Marmol 18
Really, "influencers" are just self employed ad agencies. problem is that the barrier to entry to be an influencer is much much much lower than owing an ad agency.
joelwiley
joel wiley 14
To put that bar any lower would take a shovel...
PSUAth
Like it or not, it is right there. Tech has allowed for very low barriers to entries for many jobs. Film, photography, audio/recording, art, design, etc.
markwms99
Vernon Williams 12
Absolutely right on, This is what we have enabled by "Participation Trophies" early on, a sense of entitlement, not having to work toward anything...
MikePetro
Mike Petro 3
Be careful, a rock from your back yard could have a significant influence on you if someone chucked it at you.
redcataviation
Sidney Smith 18
Perfect! About time one of these whining jerks got what they deserve.
Braniff77
Braniff77 14
So she claims to have an email giving her a possible upgrade on her JFK-HK flight, but she then tried using it to get an upgrade on the HK-JFK leg too. She got greedy and lost.
TorstenHoff
Torsten Hoff 14
It's worse than that. There was no email from Cathay Pacific, the printouts are fake. She fraudulently tried to obtain upgrades.
666adt
Braniff77 is fully aware that there was no email from CP, that the printouts were fake. Braniff77's point is that Ng was greedy in trying to commit the fraud a SECOND time, and it was especially stupid because the fake email was for HK to JFK rather than from JFK to HK.
airuphere
airuphere 11
3000 followers on Instagram hardly an Influencer.. but either way these influencer brand deals are proving not to be worth much at alL. There are enough aviation bloggers that actually get on early, cover the new biz class amenities properly - what would she really do to help Cathay.. lol stay in your lane. Enjoy the free jeans you receive to “influence” and move on lol
racerxx
racerxx 32
Influencer...aka too lazy to find a real job
MikeMohle
Mike Mohle 7
LOL, and who would listen to or do anything these so-called "influencers" would suggest?
Bernie20910
Bernie20910 -1
Too lazy to run for Congress.
PaulN2719
PaulN2719 20
Influencer aka vapid shallow self-centered millennial whose entire world revolves around how many likes they get on a social media platform. Get real. Life is about way more than that.
airuphere
airuphere 1
Also for fun... as you said in another post your 40 - so 21 in 2000 definition of millennial is young adulthood in the 21st century.. so ;)
airuphere
airuphere -4
Most influencer are actually from GenZ not millennials.. despite everyone loving to shit on them. Get real.
devsfan
ken young 0
Millenials, Gen Z...All the same..... whiny helicopter parented, snowflake, easily offended, self entitled, narcissistic, freeloading jerks
joelwiley
joel wiley 0
Maybe not for the inflencees of this influencer.
jmilleratp
jmilleratp 14
Influencer = Someone who makes decisions for you, because you are unable to make them for yourself.
PSUAth
aka, a self employed, single person ad agency
charlesmills
Charles Mills 6
She influenced me to like Cathay Pacific more than I already do.
rkpeck
Roger Peck 5
Would be fun to be a fly on the wall as she's chatting with her lawyer.
Pat1990
Pat Tolaj 5
3000 followers? Lmao. The average passenger on a Cathay Pacific flight could "influence" just as well as this fraud of a lady. What a joke all of this is becoming
ayebee
Ivan Blakely 4
not aviation, but am hearing about many similar examples where "influencers" are asking restaurants for free meal in exchange for a good review.
Had to laugh where a local coffee place did a reverse review on the "influencer" where so much negative crap ended up in the Tweenstabook account it was shut down.
devsfan
ken young 4
Wverr notice how most of these so called social media influencers are for the most part whiny self entitled millenials?
For a living they do nothing.
They use threats of bad publicity against whomever as means to extort what they want
And just to get rid of the influencers, whomever is the target, usually will cave.
Instead of finding a career and doing honest work, these influencers are borderline criminals.
joelwiley
joel wiley 4
Her electronic mail wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.
PSUAth
Maybe I'm still "young" enough to get the "influencer" thing. Influencers are independent/self-employed ad agencies. And like any ad agency, or any business, you have those who will treat it as a business and conduct business in a "business-like" manner. And you will have others who just want to ride the wave of "the next best thing". How is an influencer reaching out to a business asking for some type of relationship no different than a sales person cold-calling the same business?

The only difference is that the sales person will take a No and move on (and be/should be professional about it). The Bad influencers will go to their social media and try to make a sob poor me story.
devsfan
ken young 1
Or the jilted influencer who for the most part EXPECT or oven DEMAND the merchant give them the free stuff, or else.....
ElliotCannon
Elliot Cannon 3
Influencer? WTF is an influencer?

devsfan
ken young 1
Think of walking through a domestic animal farm and checking for the gunk on the bottom of your shoes.
You'l find the influencer
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Easy there big fella. Can you say "Google"?
owllight5788
Patrick Rutten 5
Influencers are just self absorbed egotists that are addicted to social media.
redcataviation
Sidney Smith 2
SAME!!!
stephenjshaner
s s 2
I kind of feel bad. I mean, who doesn't want a dozen photos of an inflight meal and lengthy monologue concerning the contents of the amenities kit? Maybe there was going to be a nice hand cream in it.
AirStare
Where in the story, apart from in its headline and in one sub-head, does the text of the story state that Cathay Pacific Airways actually banned the woman for life?

I've read the story pretty carefully and I can answer my own question: nowhere does the story itself say she was banned for life. The story specifically states that the refusal of carriage was only for any sectors covered by that particular ticket.

So here we have an apparently gratuitous example of a writer or his editor deliberately using a misleading click-bait headline to get people to make a story sound much more sensational than in fact it is.

While the story does indicate that the woman in question may well have received a timely measure of justified comeuppance from Cathay Pacific Airways, perhaps I, as an aviation writer of long standing, might suggest that Cathay Pacific should consider banning the writer and his editor from flying with the airline because of their attempts at hyperbole?
666adt
Not sure why Chris' comment got a downvote. His/her comment is exactly correct.
AirStare
Chris Kjelgaard -1
I'm a he! I've been a professional aviation writer for nearly 40 years and you can see some of my writing for AIN and other publications if you just Google my name as above.
BluSTi
James Willich 3
I'm just a dumb engineer but I too only read "banned" in the headline. Clickbait garbage...
CerealSpiller
Mike G 2
I agree that this key information is not found in this article. But looking at several other sites that published this story, it seems clear that Jacqueline Ng is the one claiming she is banned for life. This is one reference to her claims: "She said that she waited at check-in for 30 minutes, after which a member of staff accused her of trying to get an upgrade with a fake email. They then cancelled her ticket, citing fraud, and banned her from ever flying with the airline."

Given her propensity for telling fibs, her being banned could very well be false, just her trying to get more attention.

In any case, before making such a claim in the headline, a responsible journalist would certainly verify it first with Cathay. It is also very possible that Cathay would choose to not go public with such information, for legal reasons.

This article seems to be written by someone that actually tried to get the details right, and it seems to imply that Jacqueline is the one claiming to be banned for life, since Cathay is not making public comments:
https://www.elliott.org/airline-problems/ask-for-upgrade-kicked-off-your-flight/
PSUAth
"“[The supervisor] proceeded to give me a ‘refusal of carriage letter’ 30 minutes later,” Ng recalled."

I'm guessing that's where the banned for life came from? The letter may included the statement that all future requests for carriage will also be denied. So not explicitly stated but possibly inferred?
mweiserny
Mark Weiser 2
Oh boo hoo! The spoiled children of late need to grow up and understand that just because you are does not mean you are entitled, you have to EARN privileges..social media influences my behind, just another con...
TorontoJeff
Jeff Phipps 2
She is lucky CP didn't refer this to the police for fraud. It's not too far off from faking a boarding pass. Great story.
WhiteKnight77
WhiteKnight77 2
She is just another self-important person trying to get something that they are not entitled to. If Cathay Pacific did ban her for life (not really specified in the artile), she deserves every bit of it.
f4fntm
john doe 1
Ugh. Contemptible.
ChrisCollingwood
Famous for wanting to be famous? So "into" their own self-importance that they forget who they are and where they came from.
MikeOK
Mike Couves 1
"His commander, Lieutenant General Jim Slife, posted that he can't decide if O'Brien is a "superman or mayhem," the guy from insurance commercials. We'll just call him a hero."

Amazing quote.
awsauerman
Mike - your comment appears to be the one posted to the Airman "Hero" story.
ReverendLee
ReverendLee 1
I needed this. I really needed to read this. It is glorious. Thank you.
pilot62
Scott Campbell 1
Nice try - like just sitting in first Because no one on board knows the PX count
iflyrjs
terry gersdorf 1
never heard of her
inman8
charles inman 1
Actually I am influenced far more by rocks in my garden, having recently returned from Kyoto.
jenastreet
jena weber 1
The world doesn’t need more people like this; entitled, MS in lying, pond dwelling, and probably not a nice person.
Fly Cargo, no blanket.
kiwipop
Geoff Arkley 1
Mommy, Mommy, when I grow up can I be an "Influencer"?
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
I may have missed something in the article, but it seems to me Cathay took a very round about way of attempting to confirm the authenticity of the email. I wonder why they simply didn't go directly to the Cathay employee who allegedly authored the document.
ed7778
It is written in CP's last cited communication: "We verified with R**** and understand that he did not send any such emails to you. We also cross-checked our email systems and confirmed no emails were delivered to you on the date and time as indicated in your emails."
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
Ahah. Thanks, Dennis. (I need to get over a tendency to skim.)
aMACer2
“Influencer”=modern day extortionist from my perspective.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 1
There are some posts here questioning or ridiculing people identifying as "influencer". Just saw something on a program last night, and depending on your view, it's either disturbing or interesting. The program, "Million Dollar Listing" as showing the realtor's party to bring attention to the property he was representing...he made note to get as many influencers to attend as possible, banking on them to spread the word about the property. Seems they actually do serve a function - for some.
devsfan
ken young 1
The realtor is being a cheapskate by not doing business the correct way and paying for marketing. "there is no shortcut to greatness"...If one wants big rewards, put in the hard work.
Influencers are legends in their own tiny minds,
Here..." I'f you give me something which you made or provide and thus if not paid for. costs you money, for free, I'll give you a good review"....What the influencer doesn't tell the merchant is f the influencer DOES NOT receive the freebies, they will trash the business. THAT.....Is extortion.
mutrock
Mark Kortum 1
A YouTube travel influencer was raving about a particular airline's business class to which he was given a free upgrade. I commented on his channel that credibility is lost when freebies are accepted. He angrily replied that he paid for the flight, just not the upgrade and that somehow made me an idiot and him a credible reviewer.
Viperguy46
Jesse Carroll 0
Who's Staff does she work for? Sanders, Warren, Biden, Harris, Castro etc:!! They would fly her around the world free along with anything else she would want!
Just saying!
fedexman2
Eric Schmaltz -1
Did I really just waste 5 minutes of my life reading that story? It appears I did.
AWAAlum
AWAAlum 2
And tack on another 5 posting about wasting 5 minutes of your life.
Moviela
Ric Wernicke -1
What ever happened to the days when they peeled a sticker off a sheet for the airplane and stuck it on your boarding pass? It was so easy to put $50 in the correct palm and get a sticker for the first two rows.

There were some good aspects of aviation in decades past.

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