The troublemakers always seem to have the words, "... And I'm a gold member, yadda yadda yadda" during their rants to gate agents, hotel agents, etc.

I once sat across from this guy and his family ranting on and on about how they were "promised" by the gate agent that all four of them could be "seated together" because he was a "gold member," only to discover when they boarded (just before the airplane door closed, mind you) that they were, in fact, separated by an aisle.

After listening to this dork go on for 15 minutes whining to the Concierge (on Continental), and mentioning that he was a "gold member" maybe fifty some-odd times, I just got enough and called out to him, "Don't you see there are no four contiguous seats anywhere on this aircraft... I'm sure the gate agent knew that too whenever she supposedly promised you about keeping you all together... and by the way I'm Platinum, you're outranked, so I'm telling you to just shut up."

Got a nudge from the FA's every time they walked by.

Even us "Elite" folks don't care for the nonsense that some of our elite peers put EVERYONE through. Some of us happen to get elite just by virtue of what we do - travel a lot, out of neccessity - and not because we're inherently better people. Unfortunately, some people confuse these marketing credentials of "status" as validation of their personal value, which is as misguided as it is pathetic.

I suppose these types want to be treated like royalty when the only royalty about them is that they're royal pains in the asses.

[This message has been edited by ETOPS01 (edited 05-24-2001).]