Dear
Shawn,
It
must have been one of the most coolest things I’ve heard a captain
say to passengers, “That’s what happens when you come on my
airplane and act like children.” I asked the others in the galley
if they had heard it, since most were talking among themselves. When
I repeated it, their mouths went agape.
It
started as we began to taxi in Houston for our takeoff to Rio. A man
was seated in the last row of first class by the window. The flight
attendant realized that he was not a first class passenger. The
safety demo had just begun playing, and I was standing just behind
him. He was instructed to get up, gather his things, and go to his
seat in 31K. He sat there for a moment and started telling a story
about his last flight. I moved in and used my stern voice, “Hi, I’m
sorry, but we need you to move to your seat immediately, we’ve
begun our taxi for takeoff, and this is not your seat.” Less
chatty, more moving!
As
he did this, the purser stopped the demo and after he returned to his
seat, which he did by sort of stumbling, as it was apparent that he’d
already enjoyed some adult libations in the airport bar. At least he
was a friendly drunk, and had even apologized. There were now a few
minutes of silence in the cabin as the purser informed the captain of
what was going on, so the flight attendant in the next aisle and I
exchanged comments on how unbelievable this was, and how it’s been
years since we’ve seen this happen.
I
noticed, as we did this, that the passenger in the middle seat, the
last one of first class, the young man in tight blue shorts with his
sandled feet up on the forward console of this seat pod, had ignored
the whole situation. His blinders made the issue going on in the seat
next to him of no interest to him. It seemed odd to me that he didn’t
listen in or acknowledge what was going on, as most others would do.
He was watching a movie, had his earphones on, and enjoyed a bourbon
from pre-departure. Oblivious.
As
it would turn out, he was doing this to not bring attention to the
fact that he, too, was a coach passenger who gave himself an upgrade.
In fact, the passengers in all three seats in the last row of first
class had moved up. They were in cahoots. The first one, seeing open
seats when he boarded, left 31K and took a seat at 10A. He then
texted to his buddies, who had flown in from Austin, TX, that there
were seats for them, too. Just before the door closed, when we were
busiest, they moved in, and even asked for drinks. So much for your
charm and good looks- they don’t always get you everywhere!
The
biggest issue was that one man, after being found out and forced back
to his seat in coach, came back to the first class seat in the middle
of the flight. He placed the seat in the lie-flat position, and
started to go to sleep. Needless to say, when we landed in Brazil,
the authorities were waiting. However, because of this, no one was
allowed to deplane until the Brazilian police had also arrived, so
there was a delay of about 5 minutes before anyone was allowed to
leave the plane, and this is when the captain came on the PA to
apologize for the delay, and warned of the ramifications of acting
like children on his plane. So, how was your day?
