Originally Posted by
orange1
To add more detail. I mentioned to the gate agent that I was part of the rows that were to be downgraded and he told me and my wife to stand to the side first (without providing any details and checking our tickets/names). Others who were also downgraded were also asked to stand to the side. However all the other downgraded passengers were allowed to boarded along with group 1 while we were still told to stand to the side. The gate agent only knew we were part of the affected 3-4 rows but didn't know our names and which row we were in. Mind you the row opposite to us that was also affected by the change in configuration was also allowed to board first. My wife and I were not allowed to board until the very end and was specifically called out to not try to board, unsure why we were singled out like that.
It would have been helpful to receive some kind of explanation and it's actually helpful to understand some of the reasons that are being shared on this thread. Unfortunately, we didn't get anything and I'm still puzzled why this happened.
Agree, its very bizarre and low end behavior on the part of the ground staff. I can see why you would wonder about discrimination. There are numerous reputable studies about how people who are non white get treated differently (everything from assumptions about intelligence on down). If anything it probably wasn't about the virus and sadly more so just the type of everyday discrimination of being an "other." Very sad if that was the case.