I was on a flight this morning and I had an encounter with a flight attendant that really left me with an unpleasant boarding experience.
I boarded in Sky Priority and as I settled into my seat in an EC middle (since my companion insisted on the window seat), I placed my backpack in the overhead above the seat.
A few moments later an this FA came down the aisle and asked "whose backpack is this?" I said it was mine. The FA said that "smaller bags should be placed under the seat in front of you". With that he took my bag down and handed it to me.
My backpack is a standard size backpack and had my laptop, etc in it.
I argued that it was my only bag but he insisted that it must go under the seat in front of me, and so I complied and took my bag, but for the moment didn't put it under the seat in front of me. I was pretty sure there would be space for my bag since the flight wasn't full, so I let it ride, and mentioned that I don't want to argue over this.
He replied with snark and said I could argue all I wanted.
At this point I let it go and watched other passengers board and put their small carryons and backpacks in the overhead. I also overheard other passengers getting a similar treatment.
About 5 minutes later he came back, and seeing that there was plenty of bin space, he and offered to put my bag up, in the same overhead bin I had put it in in the first place!
I understand that bin space is at a premium, and that we can board with one carryon and one personal item and in this case I only had one carryon, but thats why I boarded early to make sure I had overhead bin space.
Maybe he was having a bad day, maybe it was because I was sitting in a middle seat, or maybe it was because I was wearing a costume (late Halloween!).
I believe that the FA was out of line with the attitude and snark he showed during the boarding process during this flight. It was completely uncalled for.