Yesterday I shared the spat that airline vlogger Josh Cahill is having with Air Côte d’Ivoire. While I appreciate his stated purpose of holding airlines accountable, there’s no denying that trouble follows Josh wherever he goes. Along those lines, I just received an interesting email, and I’ll leave it to y’all to decide what I should do with this…
Josh Cahill’s personal assistant sent me a sassy email
On my post yesterday about the spat between Josh Cahill and Air Côte d’Ivoire, a frequent commenter wrote the following:
I understand that Josh and perhaps others have invited Ben to have a discussion live/broadcast online or a video, and perhaps Ben has been invited to the Avcon summit of aviation/airline YouTubers in April. But Ben has declined Josh’s invitations. I could be wrong, but this is my understanding of it…
That caught me off guard, because if I’ve ever been invited to have a discussion with Josh (or anyone in his circle), that would be news to me. Now, I was invited to Av-Con 2026 by someone else, but I haven’t committed to that, because it seems more YouTube and video focused, which isn’t really my jam.
So in response to that comment, I asked if there was anything I’m missing, because I genuinely don’t remember receiving an invitation to chat with Josh, let alone declining it. I didn’t hear anything further there, until today, when I received an email from Josh’s personal assistant:
I hope this email finds you well and you are having a great week!
I’m [name], PA to Josh and I’m reaching out regarding the ongoing smear campaign you have going on against him. A couple of viewers have forwarded your articles, as well as screenshots of personal messages that you have exchanged, sharing your bias and disgust towards Josh…
Neither do your recent claims match the statements we received from Air Cote D’ivoire Airlines or Booking in regards to Josh’s recent flight. We would love to invite you for an interview and present those to you, as well as the screenshots from group chats and personal conversation on camera. We can come to wherever you want us to be or have you flown into a neutral location of your choice, all expenses covered of course.
I’m sure you have no issue putting your money where your mouth is right? Let’s get the ball rolling as we are dying to see all your evidence of the claims that you have made. I’m sure this is going to be great fun and as a true journalist you claim to be, you are eager to showcase the truth to your audience too, isn’t it?
Let me know your availability please!
Goodness gracious, where do we even begin here?
- I’d love to see the screenshots of personal messages that I’ve exchanged about Josh that share my bias and disgust? That would be news to me, because the extent of me chiming in on Josh is what you’ll see published on this blog
- I’m really confused by the claim of our meeting being all expenses paid, and also telling me to put my money where my mouth is; I’m fine paying for my own travel, but those things kinda contradict one another, no? Or am I the one paying all the expenses for everyone? Or is that just a general expression about being willing to have a discussion?
- It’s ironic that I apparently claim to be a “true journalist,” because I don’t claim that; I’m a blogger who just writes what I find interesting online without pretense, while Josh likes to credentialize himself as a “Multi-Award Winning Aviation Journalist & YouTuber”
I’ll let y’all decide what I should do here…
I must admit that I’m quite amused, though I’m not sure to what extent it makes sense to engage. A certain quote comes to mind — “never wrestle with a pig, you just get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.”
As I see it, Josh looks for conflict any place he can. That’s a big part of his schtick. I’d be more than happy to have a discussion with Josh, and share my perspective on things. However, an in-person meeting where there will be sharing of “the screenshots from group chats and personal conversation on camera” is really odd to me, because like I said, I don’t even know what he’s referencing.
Being confronted with something that I don’t think exists is just a very strange premise for meeting. I’d encourage him to release those things now… I have nothing to hide! Release the OMAAT Files!! He’s also really good at editing videos to make himself look good, and I’m worried he’d try to do the same here.
There’s no ego in this for me, and I’m just trying to stand up for the average customer here. There are things I’d love to ask Josh about, though, and I don’t need to keep them a secret until our live meeting.
For example, why does Josh so carelessly film other passengers on flights, in violation of virtually every carrier’s policy on filming other passengers, while not blurring out their faces? Most people don’t board a flight expecting to be filmed in a video that will be viewed by hundreds of thousands of people (or more)?
And why does Josh outright lie in his videos? For example, when he flew Legend Airlines, he told the crew member he wasn’t recording them and that there is “no record of you” while literally recording them.
The funny thing is that what Josh is labeling as a “smear campaign” is really just me being balanced. I’ve also covered multiple of his reviews where I defended him and said the airline was out of line — just take a look at what I wrote about his awful Aero Dili experience, or how he was banned from Qatar Airways. I’d say that’s pretty balanced, no?
For what it’s worth, I’ve responded to the email asking for some clarification, and also inviting them to share what details I got wrong with Josh’s Air Côte d’Ivoire flight. I’m sure he can appreciate my desire to correct any mistakes ASAP, rather than waiting for some in-person showdown that he’s hoping for.
Bottom line
Josh Cahill wants to “interview” me, and confront me with “personal messages” I’ve reportedly exchanged, sharing my “bias and disgust” toward Josh. He doesn’t just want to do a virtual video interview, but wants to meet in person.
I’m conflicted on this. If Josh wants to have a conversation, I’m happy to do so. If he has some sort of evidence of things I’ve reportedly said about him in private, I encourage him to release it. That seems like the mature thing to do. But I’m a little conflicted regarding the theatrics here, of him wanting to confront me live. But I also have nothing to hide, so…?
To the OMAAT community, how would you like me to handle this situation?
