Woman Asks For Seat She Paid $600 Extra For, Disappoints Staff And Other Passengers
Getting to the gate on time when catching a flight might be crucial, yet sometimes, despite making it before the common gate closing time, it may still require some additional effort from a passenger.
At least this Redditor had to try hard to first, get accepted for a flight and second, to get the seat they paid extra for, eventually questioning whether they actually did something wrong and seeking advice online.
More info: Reddit
A woman gets her seat back, yet gets scolded for unknowingly taking it from a passenger with a broken leg
Image credits: Oliver King (not the actual photo)
The plane passenger arrived at the gate 27 minutes before the departure of her flight and was told the boarding was finished
Image credits: Markus Winkler (not the actual photo)
Image credits: tanked-it
The passenger pointed out that boarding wasn’t supposed to end until 20 minutes before the flight and was let onto the plane
Image credits: Clique Images (not the actual photo)
Yet the flight attendant informed the passenger she couldn’t have the seat she paid $600 extra for, and had to sit in economy
A woman brought it to the Reddit AITA community online after getting her plane seat back, yet being scolded for it as it was retracted from a passenger with a broken leg.
The traveler explained that she miscalculated the timing to get to her gate, arrived at the gate 27 minutes before the departure of her flight from Athens to Atlanta and was told by the gate attendant she couldn’t board as the boarding was finished.
At this point, the passenger pointed out that boarding closes 20 minutes before the flight and was eventually allowed to board, yet she was also told she would have to sit in economy as they had given her seat away.
The passenger repeated that she was at the gate at the allotted time and wanted the seat she paid for, which was around $600 extra for a comfort plus seat.
After the woman was finally allowed to sit in the seat she paid for, the flight attendant approached and proceeded to tell her that they had upgraded a passenger with a broken leg to her seat and had to move them back to the economy seat. This resulted in a fair few cold looks from other passengers.
Eventually the passenger was allowed to take the seat she booked, where she was approached by a flight attendant
Image credits: Ross Parmly (not the actual photo)
The woman got scolded for getting the passenger with a broken leg moved and was met with cold looks from other passengers
Based on an article by Travel and Leisure, it might be a good idea to know one’s rights as a passenger as well as the airlines’ rights. They reminded the readers that when purchasing a ticket, a passenger normally gets to mark that they agree with the terms and conditions of the contract, which usually include the flight attendant’s right to change one’s seat.
They explained that a client is not purchasing an actual seat, but a transportation, while the reasons for asking a passenger to change their seat may even include safety, for example, by redistributing the weight balance of the aircraft, which is more common on smaller planes. This means that if a passenger is given a new boarding pass, they are required to sit in the seat directed by it, regardless of how much they paid for a ticket.
On the other hand, these are rare and exceptional cases and if a person is downgraded from a seat with extra legroom to a regular economy seat, the airline has to reimburse the difference in price after contacting the airline’s customer service department.
Coming back to the original story, the woman’s post gathered 7.9k upvotes on Reddit and people judged she was not the jerk in this situation, commenting that the situation was handled poorly by the flight attendants.
What’s your take on the situation? Please, share your thoughts in the comment section below!
Redditors shared their takes on the situation
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I feel for the woman with the broken leg sitting in economy for 10+ hours but... $600 dollars is no small amount of money. If they offered to refund the extra $600, maybe id suck it up and handle the economy, just that one time. Still, in these stories it's always the same. OP gets dirty looks, but not one other person offers to give their seat up.
Plot twist, it was just a fake cast to get an upgrade..! 🙃
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They are acting like a lady with a broken leg is someone made of glass with terminal cancer 😂
I was thinking that the broken leg lady was one of their coworkers or a friend of one of the pilots heading home to the states given the dirty looks and all!!
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This is so FAKE. 1) Check in closing time varies from company to company, and even from airport to airport. I had flight close boarding as early as 45 minutes in advance on busy airports and a large plane. Saying "boarding closes 20 minutes before the flight "as if it's an universal truth is just clueless. 2) Flight personnel can upgrade people seats, but it is done *always* after "boarding complete" is declared. If the boarding had been already completed and the doors shut, no way OP would have been allowed in. 3) According to civil aviation rules, the Airline had no obligation to give her a first class seat and could have easily downgraded her with a reimbursement (30-75% the price of the flight). It sucks, true, but it's well within their powers.
Yup. And a transatlantic at that. Some close boarding one full hour before takeoff.
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I feel for the woman with the broken leg sitting in economy for 10+ hours but... $600 dollars is no small amount of money. If they offered to refund the extra $600, maybe id suck it up and handle the economy, just that one time. Still, in these stories it's always the same. OP gets dirty looks, but not one other person offers to give their seat up.
Plot twist, it was just a fake cast to get an upgrade..! 🙃
Load More Replies... They are acting like a lady with a broken leg is someone made of glass with terminal cancer 😂
I was thinking that the broken leg lady was one of their coworkers or a friend of one of the pilots heading home to the states given the dirty looks and all!!
Load More Replies... This is so FAKE. 1) Check in closing time varies from company to company, and even from airport to airport. I had flight close boarding as early as 45 minutes in advance on busy airports and a large plane. Saying "boarding closes 20 minutes before the flight "as if it's an universal truth is just clueless. 2) Flight personnel can upgrade people seats, but it is done *always* after "boarding complete" is declared. If the boarding had been already completed and the doors shut, no way OP would have been allowed in. 3) According to civil aviation rules, the Airline had no obligation to give her a first class seat and could have easily downgraded her with a reimbursement (30-75% the price of the flight). It sucks, true, but it's well within their powers.
Yup. And a transatlantic at that. Some close boarding one full hour before takeoff.
Load More Replies...
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