It’s probably just human nature, but there’s something comforting about people with a vast sense of entitlement who get their comeuppance. We’ve written about such situations in the travel world in the past:
- The complaining business class passenger who got exactly what was coming to him
- The Disney guest who had the gall to say, “You can’t arrest me; I spent $15k here!”
- The entitled woman who arrived at the airport 30 minutes before her flight
- The other entitled woman vs. the equally entitled United 1K member
- The winner of the “Most Entitled Passenger” award goes to….
Why do some people think they deserve special treatment? These are some of the reasons. Gotta say though, when fellow passengers put an entitled person in their place, it’s one thing. But when flight staff do it? It’s just extra special. This brings us to a story from a while back in the EntitledPeople subreddit of Reddit.
Defined as, “Stories from your lives about people who think the rules don’t apply to them and they should get what they want,” EntitledPeople are tales of when people thought they were much more than they actually are.
Case in point…A Redditor named Snarfleberry says he is (or rather, was – now retired) an airline pilot (based on his stories and comments on Reddit, I tend to believe him). relayed a story about a woman on a flight he was on who was VERY entitled. He called it I’ve Upgraded To First Class.
I’ve Upgraded to First Class
Background: Airline Captain, commuting to work, purchased a full fare First Class ticket to get there. Lived in Atlanta at the time, domiciled in Houston and commuted. Normally you could get a jump seat in the cockpit, but on this auspicious day, that was already taken. Pass riding wasn’t an option because there were no seats in coach and only one in First. Pass riders can be bumped for fare paying passengers. And I needed to get to work, so I plunked down my credit card and bought the last seat in First.
Boarding has occurred and I am peacefully in my seat, waiting for pushback.
Cast of Characters:
Me: Commuting pilot EW: Entitled woman FA: Flight Attendant CPT: Captain of the flight I’m on.
EW: You are sitting in my seat. You’ll need to move right now.
Me: (Checks boarding pass) Nope. This is my seat. Not going to happen. Sorry.
EW: You’re an employee. You’re sitting in my seat. Move now.
Me: May I see your boarding pass? Clearly there’s been some mistake.
EW: You may not see my boarding pass. I showed that when I boarded. I’ve upgraded to First Class. Now move.
Me: You’ll need to resolve this with the flight crew. I’m a passenger.
EW stomps off, resembling an irritated Delores Umbridge and returns with FA
FA Good morning Captain! May I see your boarding pass?
Me: Sure thing. (Shows boarding pass)
FA: Ma’am that’s his seat. He paid for it.
EW: Well then throw him off dear. I’ve upgraded to First Class and that is now my seat.
FA: I’ll need to see your boarding pass, ma’am.
EW: You will not! I showed it when I boarded. I’ve upgraded to First Class.
FA: How did you upgrade to First Class?
EW: I upgraded to First Class. I’m more important than an employee. Now get him out of my seat.
(Someone has called the cockpit and the Captain has left the flight deck to deal with this)
CPT: Ma’am I’m Captain Wallaby (not his real name). I’ve just spoken with the Gate Agent. We certainly apologize for this awkward situation. The Agent has corrected your paperwork, and has a voucher for future travel for you as well. Please go fetch your new boarding pass and your voucher and we’ll be on our way.
EW: (Departs up the jetway, a triumphant smile on her face)
The Captain turns to the FA and says, prepare the doors for departure. The doors close. The Captain returns to the cockpit and as we push back from the gate I can see the EW pounding on the glass next to jetway.
It was a nice ride to Houston. The coffee was wonderful.
He got close to 200 replies. Here are some of the better ones (edited only for clarity and adult language):
- Really hope other airlines use the “you win, just go get what you want and PSYCH!” strategy, would help them more than security dragging the a-hole off. — Aceswift007 (Note from Sharon: I disagree. As much as it would help the people on the plane, I feel badly for the people who were now stuck dealing with her at the gate. Although probably more disruptive there, it’d probably be easier to get security, police, etc.)
- Doubly sucks to be her if she had any checked bags already on the plane. Serves her right. — hyperRed13
- If you read it carefully, nothing he said implied that she was getting upgraded, or even that she was staying on that flight. 😃 Excellent use of language to say one thing but make them hear another. — letmeseeyourpubs
- I wonder how many employees and guests laughed as she defeatedly turned from the glass… well, she probably will show someone her ticket NOW, to ask for a refund since they left her… — curvy_dreamer
- My father was an airline Pilot, there is no way in gods creation that he or any other pilot is going to buy their own seat in coach, they would quit before paying for 1st class. there is ALWAYS another flight to catch a jumpseat ride on, even if it has to be with another airline. Particularly between two hubs like Atlanta and Houston.
When a passenger is ejected from a flight the baggage has to be removed as well. that takes time. it is a massive pain in the ass for everyone involved.
No pilot is going to eject a passenger without explaining to them why.
even if they did, it would take 10 min from sending them up the jetway to being ready for pushback. Real life is not like the movies, he cannot send her up there then sprint back to the cockpit and start reversing out of there while waving to her.
The windows on the plane do not face forward, the narrater here could not see anyone “Pounding on the windows” back in the terminal. By the time the plane has turned enough to see the terminal from a passenger seat you are 80-100 yards away from it. And the glass is usually tinted/reflective.
There is a zero percent chance any of this happened. Its a fun story and I hate to be the one to spoil it (and I am a month late here so nobody is reading this anyway) but its just SO full of holes I can’t just ignore it. Still, OP will see this and to you congratulations. As I type this its the top voted post in this sub (how I found it). It may not be true, but everyone seems to love it. — Blaizefed - (in response to above comment) OP has explained that he was a pilot in the 80s and 90s and furloughed for some time. Things were different back then. Paying to fly may very well have been a decision he had to make.
Luggage of deplaned passengers didn’t have to be removed pre-9/11.
And regarding the windows, you’re assuming you know the orientation of the jetway. The last gate on a concourse often has a jetway that extends directly out in line with the concourse, the plane would be perpendicular to that which would make all the seats on the left side face the gate. I’ve sat on plenty of planes where I could see the gate after boarding.
Nothing about this story is unbelievable. — tryingagain80 - (also in response to the above comment) Yes he can have someone removed from the airplane.
But there was at least one missing step from his story; the pilot would have had to have either gotten the gate agent on the radio to explain or would have contacted ops who would have contacted the gate agent. Otherwise a gate agent isn’t going to close the doors and pull the jetway away with a customer who is showing as boarded who is standing at the gate if she doesn’t have any indication the customer is being kicked off. You can’t leave with fewer passengers than the paperwork says there are.
So the story can and probably did happen. But not as simple as “ma’am go see the gate agent” and “close the doors we’re outta here”. — clocks212 - Lying , self entitled b**ch deserved it. I would’ve loved to see the panicky (oh s**t! they busted me) as she watched the plane leave. — MrsECummings
- Did you wave? — nosleepforthedreamer
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