Tell-tale signs of a free press flight

There once was a time (long before I started this writing lark) when airlines were only too willing to offer free flights to travel writers. The usual payback for them was a mention in the factbox at the end of the article that would later be produced. The world has moved on and now you find travel writers frequently bemoaning an airline’s reluctance to offer a seat on a plane, even when the writer is heading out to write an article that might promote one of their most important rout…