Hi Flyertalk! long time lurker and random commenter, but this is my first thread. Thank you all for providing so much insight - I am now considered the travel guru amongst my friends and it's all because of you
I've now planned an even bigger, better trip to Asia this Fall using everything I've learned!
On to the story...
This is a story about a DYKWIA situation I've never experienced before. My husband and I were flying ICN-JFK in F on the A380 and we were super excited as it was our first real international F. We had boarded first and were poking around our seats (me in 1J, Mr.GPY in 2J) and there were 4 other passengers (in 1A, 2A, 2D, 3A) so we had a side of the plane all to ourselves. The FA had warmly welcomed us and was getting our PDBs.
As we were busy acting like kids on Christmas morning a British woman with a cane and a very noticeable limp boards and takes the seat behind us. Within seconds an FA comes and very politely asks for her boarding pass and lets her know that business is up the stairs. The woman says she knows but she doesn't EVER climb stairs and it would be impossible with her leg and she MUST sit in first - look! cane! she can barely even walk! There is a lot of back and forth as the FA (and another FA) explain to her over and over that they understand and they can help her up the stairs but that she can not sit in First. Mrs.DYKWIA refuses to move and says had she knows business was only on the upper level she would have paid for first and that they should have told her at check in since it was "obvious" she had trouble walking. At this point I went back to exploring my seat and she was escorted out of F back towards economy.
We had an awesome flight. Had some champagne, some red, Mr.GPY cracked open the JWBlue, we took a field trip to the bar upstairs where made friends with Mrs.2D. It turns out her husband is a KE pilot and she was flying with her mother in law in 2A. Her husband was sitting in coach with their sons and let her have the other seat in F. What a husband!
I slept fitfully for 6 hours since it was too warm, but all in all - it was amazing.
When we landed in JFK J passengers had already starting coming down the stairs but were being held back so we could get off first. We made our way through immigration, picked up our checked bag and as we headed to the taxi line someone raced by us - why, by some miracle Mrs.DYKWIA had been blessed by the angels in heaven during the flight and no longer needed her cane to walk! Hallellujah, praise Jesus! She jogged past us without the slightest sign of a limp so she could cut us in the taxi line. I would like to say I didn't make a slightly snarky comment to Mr.GPY just loud enough to be overheard...but I would be lying.
