Blogging is different for everyone.  Some people use their blog as an online diary, some detail their adventures abroad and some people take to their online pages to vent about experiences they’ve had, both positives and negatives.  Although you may not know who, if anyone, is reading your posts, a new USA Today article discusses how seriously the travel industry takes bloggers complaints, and the victories that several bloggers have experienced.

Carl Larson tried to check a regulation-size box, containing a folding bike, on a JetBlue flight when a ticket agency demanded he pay a checked bag fee because of the contents.  Annoyed and $50 poorer Larson took to a blog to describe his experience.  The story was eventually picked up by several other higher profile blogs and made its way back to JetBlue.  With the amount of pressure and negative buzz JetBlue experienced, they actually refunded Larson’s money and changed their baggage policy to include: “Customers traveling with folding bikes in a bag that fits within the standard checked bag weights and dimensions will not be charged the bike fee and will be treated like any checked bag.”

This is only one of many stories that USA Today describes.  Blogs are quite powerful and they actually are creating change in the Travel Industry.  The article also details how a Las Vegas hotel, rental car agency and another airline changed their tune when called out by an angry blogger.  For the full article, which also provides 7 ways for your blog to become part of the travel revolution, go to: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/traveltips/03/23/blogging.travel.complaints/index.html