Joe and I are both strong supporters of the arts in Central Florida. And let me tell you – we’ve got some AMAZING arts here, with museums, orchestras, the ballet, and lots and LOTS of local, professional theater.
Of course, there shouldn’t be any wonder in that – with 3 major theme parks chock full of live entertainment, that’s a whole lot of professional performers who do other shows, not in theme parks, here and there.
One of those performers is a guy we know named Rob. If you’ve been to Walt Disney World or SeaWorld in the past decade and change, you’ve probably seen Rob in a variety of roles, either acting or singing or maybe both. He’s even done some directing here and there.
Anyway, Rob is, like many performers, very creative. He also has the talent of being able to size up a situation quickly. So when he was on a flight from Denver to San Diego and was thrown into an awkward situation that the flight attendant made, he used his skills to try and fix the problem. Unfortunately, the flight attendant wanted no part of it; she wanted things to be done HER way. Even if her way meant essentially allowing what she wasn’t allowing in the first place. Not that her version of the allowing was any better…but it was hers.
Here’s how Rob explained it:
On United Flight 2309
Seated in a full row in front of an exit row.
After the crew closes the main cabin door, the woman next to me leaves our row to go to an empty seat with her mother in the exit row. As the crew is making final checks, a flight attendant approaches the woman.
Flight Attendant: “Is that your seat?”
Woman: “No, I came back to sit with my mom.”
FA: “Well, you can’t sit there. It’s an up charge.”
Woman: “Really?”
FA: “Unless maybe this gentleman would like to take your middle seat in the next row up.” Shifting her attention to the man seated in the exit row with them, “Sir, would you like to leave your exit row seat here and go sit in the middle seat in the next row up so that these two can sit together?”
Man #1: “They are sitting together.”
FA: “It’s an up charge, though. So, they can’t sit here unless someone pays.”
Now I’m brought into the conversation.
FA: “Sir, maybe you would like to come back to the exit row so these two can sit together?”
Rob: “How about I stay where I am and I donate my exit row seat to her?”
FA: “Are you going to pay for her to sit there?”
Rob: “No, because you just offered it to me for free, and now I’m offering it to her.”
FA: “But someone needs to pay for the exit row seat.”
Rob: “You just offered it to me for free. Besides, what would we be paying for exactly?”
FA: “The extra leg room.”
Rob: “I’m good with my leg room. What I’m not good with is paying for the privilege of assisting in case of an emergency.”
FA: “I don’t make the rules.”
Rob: “No, but you certainly do enforce them.”
She then tries the other guy in my row.
FA: “Sir, would you be willing to go to the exit row?”
Man #2: “No, I would like to go back to sleep.”
FA: “You can sleep in the exit row.”
Man #2: “What does it cost?”
FA: “For you, it’s free.”
He moved back. The lady and her mother came up to my row. The flight attendant, stood tall in her ability to solve a problem she created and resumed her final checks.
So the woman couldn’t sit in the seat for free, but Rob or Man #2 could. Ummm….OK?
My question is, did the flight attendant even know what she just did???
*** Many thanks to Rob L. for allowing us to share his story (and to Chris L. for PMing Joe!)
Feature Photo: Turkish Airlines / Twitter
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