A travel influencer faced backlash online after claiming he was “stranded” in Singapore due to Middle East flight disruptions when there were still economy seats available.
According to a New York Post report, Daniel Goz, better known online as NonStop Dan, posted a video titled “There Are No Flights Left” to his more than one million YouTube subscribers on March 4.
In the clip, the influencer said he had been travelling from Bali to Dubai with a stopover in Singapore when he became “stranded” due to flight disruptions affecting routes through the Middle East. While showing a graphic of upcoming flights, he said that “there are a few seats on some days in economy”.
Social media reactions
This remark prompted an angry reaction from some of his viewers who accused him of being tone-deaf, especially at a time when many travellers were genuinely struggling to return home.
{{/usCountry}}This remark prompted an angry reaction from some of his viewers who accused him of being tone-deaf, especially at a time when many travellers were genuinely struggling to return home.
{{/usCountry}}“Laughed for 15 minutes straight at this airline reviewer claiming he got stranded in Singapore on his way to Dubai and that there are indeed flights, he just doesn’t want to fly economy class,” one X user wrote.
“Absolutely hilarious that Dan would rather wait two weeks in Singapore without seeing his family rather than dealing with the horror of traveling economy,” wrote another.
“My thoughts are with the premium passengers and those in danger of flying economy,” wrote a third user.
(Also Read: Anand Mahindra praises Indian businessman for offering free stay to stranded travellers in UAE: 'Salute to you')
‘This bigger point of this video…’
Following the criticism, Goz appeared to shorten the video by more than a minute and changed its title to “Millions of travellers are about to be stranded.”
He also pinned a comment under the video addressing the backlash.
“Lots of you saying ‘just fly economy!’ and I totally get that. The pricing example I show on screen in the video is economy (should’ve been clearer about that), and as you can see there’s barely anything available for the next two weeks,” he wrote.
He added that the few remaining economy seats were priced at more than $1,500 per person for a one-way ticket and could soon sell out.
“The bigger point of this video, that global aviation capacity has been massively disrupted and millions of travelers, families, students, people on work trips, will feel ripple effects, still stands. I hope it’s useful to those of you figuring this out. Stay safe everyone,” he wrote.
Goz, who grew up in London and now lives in Sweden, began travelling at the age of 12 and later turned his passion into a career. The influencer has posted around 700 videos and reviewed more than 160 airlines worldwide.