Josh Cahill/YouTube
- A YouTuber says he was banned from Qatar Airways flights over a bad review.
- He described dirty bathrooms, a bad crew, and outdated cabins in his video, posted in August.
- He said the airline asked him to delete the video, which he refused.
A YouTuber says he was banned from flying with Qatar Airways after he posted a negative review.
Josh Cahill, a YouTuber known for aviation content, posted the video "THE SHOCKING DECLINE OF QATAR AIRWAYS" on August 26 to his 600,000 or so subscribers.
He said Qatar staff asked him to take down the video — and when he did not, seemed to retaliate by canceling a future booking.
He described the move as "drastic" and "a worrying example of censorship." Qatar Airlines declined to comment on the record when approach by Business Insider.
In Cahill's August video he said Qatar was losing its title as the world's best airline. He cited "outdated planes, dirty cabins, unfriendly, and demotivated crew, and running out of food choices" as some of his qualms while documenting his trip from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to the airline's hub in Doha, Qatar.
It amassed over 600,000 views and caught the attention of Qatar Airways itself.
Cahill posted another video on December 16, alleging that the airline got in contact with him and asked him to take down the video, offering a free flight if he complied.
In his video, Cahill said he refused, prompting Qatar to instead ask him to remove any negative comments other people posted on his video. He turned that down too.
Cahill said in the video he also received an email from a staff member on the flight he filmed, saying she had not given him permission to record her. She later told him she feared she would be fired if she didn't send the email, he said.
Cahill was going to travel with Qatar Airways again, he said, but was informed at Abu Dhabi Airport by staff that his booking had been canceled, and he was banned from any future flights.
He showed Business Insider screenshots of his flight booking, and a later email from Qatar staff saying his booking had been canceled.
The email said the airline would also not accept any future bookings from him.
The email cited the airline's "conditions of carriage," which give Qatar broad discretion to refuse service to passengers.
Cahill told BI that nobody from Qatar Airways had been in touch since his December 16 video.
"In 10 years of reviewing airlines I have never been banned from any airline, nor has any of them ever offered me a free flight in return to delete the negative review," he said. "That was indeed a first-timer."
He said usually airlines "are very nice and grateful and try to work on their issues or problems" after his reviews.
"Hence I'm surprised by Qatar's drastic response," he said.
Cahill said he believes an airline banning a passenger due to a bad review "sends out a worrying example of censorship."
"I have taken plenty of trips on Qatar Airways before and seemingly there was never an issue filming my experience," he said. "But things changed after I posted a rather negative but still balanced review."
He said many of his viewer appeared to have decided not to fly with Qatar given how it treated him.
Cahill said, though, that he hoped that Qatar might change its attitude given that it recently got a new CEO, Badr Mohammed Al-Meer, who has said he wants to bring a culture of "trust and empowerment" to the airline.
The airline has faced a string of controversies. In 2018, its former CEO said a woman couldn't do his job "because it is a very challenging position." Earlier this month, a former flight attendant said he was fired from the airline for using tinted moisturizer.