After turning PFL last week, I was looking forward to my first long-haul on AF.
With the recent improvements when it comes to soft benefits as Plat when flying Y, I have to say I was quite curious about how it would pan out.
Boy, was I in for a treat.
I managed to snatch an empty row on long-haul Y. Nothing special, as there were half a dozen of them at OLCI. But it was a godsend after throwing my back out on the day before the flight.
Doors closed, take off, then a gentleman comes and sits next to me "as per FA instructions".
I didn't make the iPad dance (probably because of the last minute seat change), but I did ask a roaming FA if by any chance there were still some empty Y rows further back since I had the luck to be given a last-minute seatmate.
FA looked at the iPad, froze, then said "I'm gonna ask the purser, that's not right".
Purser came, FA asked her why the pax was moved to this row, mentioning "Mr Maalloc is PFL", and purser snapped back "Yeah, so what? This doesn't grand them free seats". All the while avoiding eye contact and referring to me on a third-person basis (very weird for french speakers since I was 20 cm away). FA gave up, apologised for the mishap after purser left, telling me that the gentleman should have been sent somewhere else . She did come back a few minutes after, offering to move me to W... for a mere 80 000 miles "to thank me for my loyalty". In the age of unbundling and BoB, you gotta be impressed at how she turned this situation into an opportunity for an upsell.
Can't help but think about our fellow Ulti FTers who end up with seatmates when there are still plenty of empty seats in the cabin.
So I guess PFL is indeed a step up from Platinum, getting closer to Ulti
