<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by B747-437B:
On a NWA flight MSP-DTW last year I was the last passenger aboard and found an older businessman type sitting in my assigned First Class seat. I pointed it out to the FA who asked him for his boarding pass but when he said it was buried in his bag in the overhead bin, she took his word for it and sent me packing to any empty seat in coach.
After the beverage service, I approached the lead FA who went up to the gentleman again and made him dig out the boarding pass which unsurprisingly showed him as being in a seat in coach. Shockingly enough though, he was allowed to remain in First Class and I continued to be banished to steerage.
Of course on a short hop like that it wasn't a big deal comfortwise (especially since I got a row to myself at the back) but the principle that they would take his lying word over mine simply because he was a white middle-aged businessman in a suit and I was a younger brown dishevelled type fresh off a redeye irked me.
NWA apologized profusely for the event and gave me a handful of miles as compensation, so all's well that ends well. However, keep in mind that appearances are the key to pulling this kinda stunt off succesfully.</font>
That is not cool what they did to you. Even if his boarding pass was hassle to take out, the FA's could of asked for a form of identification and match it with the manifest.