This issue of credibility of the message poked its ugly head out of the woodwork the last week or so, and it was you, my readers, that first alerted me to the problem.

This week's email bag had more than 60 complaints concerning what some saw as a "planted one-two punch" PR attempt to make United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton look good.

The emails started coming after former industry labor consultant Bill Swelbar, who publishes the Swelblog blog, and who we profiled here many years ago in a PBB Lounge Lizard Interview, posted a blog post that was particularly complimentary to Mr. Tilton. "A truly gushing profile," as one PBB subscriber put it. Another subscriber wrote, "Something tells me that Swelbar has a little Tilton shrine built in his house."

Another subscriber wondered, "Holly, is Bill on Tilton's payroll or what?"

The title of this particular blog was "Patience and Perseverance: Tilton Walks It Like He Talks It." According to Bill, "We listen intently to Giovanni Bisignani, the CEO of IATA. But we do not listen enough to Tilton. Why? Because Tilton’s is a message of change not cluttered by this industry’s history, and some people don’t like the message."

The message? I don't mean to be overtly sarcastic here, but this comment reminds me of the joke those of us who observe the industry continued to use time and time again over the last 8 years or so -- every time Glenn Tilton spoke anywhere. The joke? Did he change his speech yet?

Because every time he spoke, no matter what the venue, or where, the message was always the same. Consolidation, consolidation, consolidation. Mixed in with a healthy amount of triangulation. Some of us began to believe he could deliver the speech in his sleep.

It was a fairly long post, and essentially read like the kind of "positive spin" positioning piece that politicians pay to have posted for themselves on the web.

The question of the "placement" of the column was also brought up big time the next day, after the daily news update from the Air Transport Association arrived in my email box. And what was the headlined "news" article for the day? You got it. A link to the Swelblog post.

As many of you are aware, the Air Transport Association contracts out with a vendor to send out a daily news compilation email. The company does the same thing for a number of other organizations.

On that day, the ATA daily email just happened to headline with Bill's blog post -- with the headline, "UA Chief Reiterates Need To Continue Prodding for Evolution."

As more than one of you noted, this cosmic coincidence might just possibly be related to the fact that Glenn Tilton presently serves as the President of the ATA.

We all know how these "plant" efforts work. The email piggybacked onto Bill's post. Bill's blog gets more hits and the clout from having the link in the email update, and the piece gets read far more widely than it would have otherwise.

The number and content of the comments I received this week suggest that ham-handed attempts to plant "positive spin" about someone in this industry or some company in this industry is risky whenever it is attempted. Credit the industry's built-in cynical nature. Credit the change in the way all of us look at information that is "out there" today. This isn't about whether or not you like Glenn Tilton.

Finally, I've known Bill for more than a few years. And I think any of us who have read his blog over the last couple of years is very well aware of his close ties to Glenn. It is what it is. I've talked to him about it before. One thing I do have to give him credit for -- I notice he does acknowledge that he owns shares of UAUA now. That was not always the case. So at least he took my advice on the matter of disclosure.