CMK10

To expand beyond the title, I was flying HP 415, the scheduled 8:30 PM PHX-SFO last Friday (the 9th) with a companion. In the hopes of a free seat, I'd booked myself in 11A and my companion in 11C and when we checked at the USAirways Club 11B was empty. However, at the gate, over a dozen non-revs got seat assignments and when we boarded, 11B was occupied by a dour looking woman. Upon reaching the row I said to her "would you mind switching to the aisle so I can sit with my friend?" To which she replied curtly "no".

After this, I replied we'd talk over her the whole flight to which she replied "I'll take the window". Wanting to converse with Jennifer, I allowed her the window, following which she turned to Jennifer and said "your friend is a sarcastic son of a ......" After Jennifer replied "I know, I like him that way" she said "he's going to get hit in the face you know" after which she jumped up and and asked the man in 10F to switch with her.

As we sat waiting to pushback, I mentioned to the FA that a woman flying on USAirways privlidges had insulted me and I wished to report it. She went and got the gate agent who merely looked at me and said "we need to leave" so I dropped the issue. However, I was a bit miffed by the whole experiance, though now I am laughing about it.

usa18dca

Unbelievable...although I have got worse nonrevving on HP operated routes between LAS and LAX
(February)
Row 16A/B/C Are empty as I board the aircraft and (I am the last non-rev on)...Sit down in 16A (I love windows plus its the last flight to LAX)...

Some octogenarian sat down in 16B, I asked her kindly if she would like to sit in 16C for some room...she mouthed off at me something and got the FA over...I got moved to 19B (Took someones empty middle seat...honestly we non revs should act like a revenue pax but a revenue pax shouldn't act like an non rev )

jan_az

How did she figure it out so quickly? ( though i resent the slur on your charming mom)

LAX1K to AmWest

LOL! I have to say this is funny.. but I have been amazed by some Non-Revs.. Most are excellent and quite nice, so this is more an exception than a rule!!!

Alexzander

Such things to the flight attendant? What would you expect her to do, arrest her?

CMK10

No, but at least in my job we're told to always project a positive image of our company at all times. I felt this woman needed to be reminded of that and insulting revenue passengers is not the route to doing thusly.

jbryan77

I completely agree! I would have taken a picture of her with my camera phone and sent it in with my letter. An employer should always be eager to learn when one of their employees is treating a customer poorly.

petrhsr

I agree. Being flown about by one's employer is a privilege, not a right. Perhaps she needs to have that privilege withdrawn for a few months, until she learns how to behave when interacting with paying customers.

BoeingBoy

Just a FYI, and by no means meant to excuse or justify what happened....

There are more than one type of people who non-rev:

- Employees, who generally know the rules and behavior expectations. Sometimes new employees will need a "reminder" of proper behavior while non-reving, but since travel privileges can be revoked for improper behavior one "reminder" is usually enough.

- OAL employees, who generally know the rules also. Just like company employees, there's the occassional problem with someone new but they usually get the message pretty quickly.

- Guests, or generally non-airline, non-employee dependents who are using a US employee's guest passes (relatively inexpensive fee-based non-rev passes). While the employee should make sure that their "guests" are aware of proper behavior, sometimes it doesn't register. More than a few guest pass riders seem to assume that the non-rev ticket they've gotten is no different than a regular ticket (other than price) and behave accordingly.

Again, the non-rev's behavior toward the OP is unforgivable. Just pointing out that it might not have been an employee.

Jim

warbo

I completely agree. however, although this person may be flyin non-rev on standby, this does not at all necessarily mean she was a US employee. Many people are given free standby tickets... travel agents, other airline employees, relatives etc. I'm not in any way supporting this woman's actions, but do you actually know she was an employee? I'd like to know. None of my colleagues would be so demanding when flying non-rev; we know it's a privilege, not a right.

CAPT Tee

That's a verbal assult.

That can be taken as a physical threat. Enough reasons to have any passenger removed from the plane? Probably won't consider doing that to a regular passenger. But a non-rev passenger saying that to a paying customer, that's a different story.

aztimm

Is it possible that this pax wasn't a non-rev at all? Perhaps she was scheduled to fly on another flight that day and did the $25 standby thing?

When I worked there I tried to keep a very low profile when I non-rev'd, but sometimes a very chatty seatmate would start asking where I live, work, etc. Sometimes I'd just make it up.

coachrowsey

That's me also. I never tell anyone.

catstvl

Just to add to the last post. I was on standby for a flight to Orlando with about 10 other full fare passengers and a large handful of employees.. We were all given seats at the same time. We were all called to the desk and given our boarding passes together then boarded in no specifi order.
The airline employees on this flight were very polite. So on this day you could not tell one full fare passenger from the airline employees unless you asked.
That woman will get hers one day. Maybe next to me with my son who gets air sick during turbulance.

sh9168

Let me get this straight. She was in a middle seat and said no to an isle seat? And your a son of a b? I see nothing sarcastic in your request. She was obviously in a bad mood and wanted to be left alone. You did nothing wrong.