Why subscribe?
The Contrail is an independent publication launched in December 2025 by Zachary Benitez, a full time New York University student flying around the world to document the commercial aviation industry.
If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows The Contrail to continue to exist. Thank you!
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A Note on Transparency and Fairness
The Contrail seeks to provide transparency into an industry often marred by obscurity. As such, one of our largest initiatives is to ensure our content is free from bias or any sort of ulterior influence. We disclose all sponsorships and partnerships. Most of our review flights are self funded — with no airline involvement. On the rare exception we are given an irresistible freebie and/or we believe the integrity of a review may have been harmed, there will be a clear disclaimer located above the Flight Info section (just after the introductory words).
If at at any point you come across something that feels influenced or dishonest, please flag it to us using our Bias Inquiry Form. We will either change/remove the language or provide a explanation as to it's fairness. If you have a general inquiry unrelated to bias, please use the Contact Information tab instead.
