One Mile at a Time, one of the most widely read travel sites in the US, appears to be blocked in the United Arab Emirates. Its founder, Ben Schlappig, said on Wednesday that the site won't load for many readers in the UAE, at least on connections through Etisalat, one of the country's main internet providers. He says the block isn't yet consistent across the country.
Schlappig believes the timing is no coincidence. Last week, he reported on the sudden exit of Etihad's chief commercial officer, Arik De. Then on Sunday, he published a follow-up in which more than a dozen current and former Etihad managers, all anonymous, described what he called a deeply toxic culture among the airline's senior leadership. Etihad is owned by ADQ, a holding company controlled by the Abu Dhabi government.
One Mile at a Time · UAE
How a Travel Site Went Dark in the UAE
Contrail
What We Know
Not much is official. Schlappig's post doesn't cite any official explanation, and Contrail hasn't seen a public statement from UAE authorities or Etihad. The country restricts many kinds of websites, so it's possible the block has a different cause. Still, a travel site going dark in the UAE just days after a critical piece about the national airline is hard to read any other way, and Schlappig is clear about how he sees it.
He's also been careful to say his reporting was about the airline's leadership, not the UAE or its people. "There are a ton of incredible employees at Etihad, including many Emiratis, who do an amazing job," he wrote.
It Wasn't a Review
It's worth being clear about what got the site into trouble. This wasn't a harsh review of Etihad's seats or food. Schlappig has praised Etihad's cabins for years. It was reporting on how the airline is run, based on what its own managers told him.
That's a different kind of criticism, and in some ways a more sensitive one. A bad review says a product isn't good enough. A story about leadership says the people in charge are the problem. For an airline owned by its government, that can quickly become a government matter.
Why This Matters to Travelers
You might think how an airline treats its office staff has nothing to do with your flight. But the culture at the top shapes everything else, from how crews are treated to how problems get fixed to whether the people who spot a problem feel safe raising it. The service you get at 35,000 feet starts there.
Travelers rely on independent coverage to know what an airline is really like, and that includes more than seat reviews. It means reporting on strikes, safety, refunds, layoffs and how airlines treat their own people. That coverage only works if writers can publish what they find. Gulf airlines earn a lot of praise from travel writers, often deservedly, because their cabins and service can be excellent. But that praise only means something if criticism is possible too.
It Isn't Only the Gulf
This isn't only a Gulf issue. This week alone, Israel detained a British TV journalist at Ben-Gurion Airport and asked him whether he believes Israel is committing genocide, before letting him in hours later. The details are very different, but the question is the same. When governments decide which journalists get in, or which websites people can read, travelers end up with less honest information about the places they're planning to visit.
Why It Makes Me Nervous
I'll be honest: I do get nervous sometimes when I'm reviewing or reporting on airlines from countries with a track record of taking criticism personally. There's a fine line to walk. I never go after people personally, and I never attack a country or its people. What I write is about a seat, a meal, a crew and a company's decisions, nothing more.
But man, to have a product that works and a business that lasts, you have to accept negative feedback. How else do you ever get better? The airlines that improve are the ones that listen to what isn't working. Shutting down the criticism doesn't fix the problem. It just scares people off from speaking up, and the problem stays exactly where it was.
Where Contrail Stands
None of this will change how I cover Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways or Riyadh Air. I'll keep giving praise where it's earned and criticism where it isn't. Etihad's first and business class cabins are widely considered among the best in the world, and that hasn't changed.
Blocking a website doesn't change what employees said, and it doesn't make the questions go away. If anything, it makes readers wonder what else they aren't hearing. The best way for any airline to answer criticism is to fix what's wrong and let its product, and its people, speak for themselves.
