Originally Posted by
ATC Watcher
We all have suspicions as to what this flight really was and who directed who, , but as said before a few times already , the actual facts are showing it was a private flight ( i.e. Flight plan , no contract, no money involved, passenger confirming by SMS it was for free, etc..).
This perhaps makes sense of why a third party's credit card was apparently used throughout the journey.
However, Luc Lion also mentions the criterion of passenger and pilot being brought together by a middle man. who as far as I can see from the above two posts is, by virtue of being a middle man, the de facto operator. Isn't that the case here?
(For the flights I keep referring to, on which I was a passenger, I never paid anything, but that doesn't mean no money changed hands: it undoubtedly did).
[cross-post]