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Encounter with Mr. Entitlement on 1915 today

 
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 4:27 pm
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Encounter with Mr. Entitlement on 1915 today

I was first on the aircraft in SFO, and I seated in 3B. I slid my rollerbag wheels first in the DEF side. Right behind me is a passenger who exclaimed "how come you guys always put the bag on my side?" He was visibly annoyed, although never looking directly at me.

In a calm pleasant manner, I explained that the DEF side is deeper and by everyone storing bags wheels first, it leaves much more room for the other passengers in the cabin.

He never says a word to me, instead cramming his two bags sideways to fill an entire double locker on the long side and sits down sullenly. I must have missed the DYKWIA lanyard and the notice on the aircraft that the three lockers above 3E are exclusively his.
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 5:31 pm
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Originally Posted by eightmillionmiler
I was first on the aircraft in SFO, and I seated in 3B. I slid my rollerbag wheels first in the DEF side. Right behind me is a passenger who exclaimed "how come you guys always put the bag on my side?" He was visibly annoyed, although never looking directly at me.

In a calm pleasant manner, I explained that the DEF side is deeper and by everyone storing bags wheels first, it leaves much more room for the other passengers in the cabin.

He never says a word to me, instead cramming his two bags sideways to fill an entire double locker on the long side and sits down sullenly. I must have missed the DYKWIA lanyard and the notice on the aircraft that the three lockers above 3E are exclusively his.
I had a similar experience a few years ago on a UA LAX-LHR flight. I was seated in the center section of the 777. The overhead above my seat was occupied so I put my rollerboard in the overhead right across from my aisle seat, it took up 1/2 the compartment. An older couple boards later, becomes upset and loudly exclaims "someone has put a bag in OUR compartment."

Not wanting to make a scene and figuring I was going to spend 9 hours in a small aluminum tube with these people, I got up and moved my bag to the next compartment so they could have the entire compartment for her purse and his small briefcase. As I was doing so the couple very loudly exclaimed "obviously you must not travel very much or you'd know that compartment is reserved for our seats, after all, it has our seat numbers on it (referring to the seat numbers directly above their seats)."

On a more recent trip to PDX on a 737 I was seated in 1D and stored my rollerboard directly above my seat. A gentleman got on a few minutes after me and proceeded to push my bag all the way to the back of the bin at the end of the first class section, put his bag in its place, then take his seat in 1C. I had been standing there and watched him do it. This was the end of a long day for me, I felt the gentleman had a lot of chutzpah and asked why he felt it was appropriate to rearrange other people's bags for his convenience (and in retrospect not very nicely I'm sure).

His reply was "I want my bag where I can reach it, your bag is still in the bin, why are you making a big deal about whether your's is in the front or the back of the cabin? What difference does it make to you?" I could tell this was going to be a long flight seated next to a self absorbed Mr. Icomefirst. While waiting to board I had been speaking with a burly Marine traveling on standby due to missing some connections. He'd been traveling for over 24 hours and let me just say he badly needed a shower. So when I saw him come through the door I stood up, handed him my boarding pass, thanked him for his service to our country and gave him my seat, much to the chagrin of Mr. Icomefirst, whose eyes must have been watering for the next 1.5 hours.

Last edited by danville 1K; Jan 13, 2008 at 6:59 pm Reason: Atrocious grammar
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 5:36 pm
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
..."obviously you must not travel very much or you'd know that compartment is reserved for our seats, after all, it has our seat numbers on it ..."

roflmao
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 5:45 pm
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
As I was doing so the couple very loudly exclaimed "obviously you must not travel very much or you'd know that compartment is reserved for our seats, after all, it has our seat numbers on it (referring to the seat numbers directly above their seats)."
You've created a monster! I generally ignore such comments, or if the people seem to want to remove my bags, I inform them that the space is first come, first served, and point them towards a FA if they have any more problems.
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 5:53 pm
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[QUOTE=danville 1K;9062481]I had a similar experience a few years ago on a UA LAX-LHR flight. I was seated in the center section of the 777. The overhead above my seat was occupied so I put my rollerboard in the overhead right across from my aisle seat, it took up 1/2 the compartment. An older couple boards later, becomes upset and loudly exclaims "someone has put a bag in OUR compartment."

Not wanting to make a scene and figuring I was going to spend 9 hours in a small aluminum tube with these people, I got up and moved my bag to the next compartment so they could have the entire compartment for her purse and his small briefcase. As I was doing so the couple very loudly exclaimed "obviously you must not travel very much or you'd know that compartment is reserved for our seats, after all, it has our seat numbers on it (referring to the seat numbers directly above their seats)."[/QUOTE]
Oh spare me ... you were probably a lot more polite to these jerks than I would have been!
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 6:28 pm
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Originally Posted by danville 1K
I had a similar experience a few years ago on a UA LAX-LHR flight. I was seated in the center section of the 777. The overhead above my seat was occupied so I put my rollerboard in the overhead right across from my aisle seat, it took up 1/2 the compartment. An older couple boards later, becomes upset and loudly exclaims "someone has put a bag in OUR compartment."

Not wanting to make a scene and figuring I was going to spend 9 hours in a small aluminum tube with these people, I got up and moved my bag to the next compartment so they could have the entire compartment for her purse and his small briefcase. As I was doing so the couple very loudly exclaimed "obviously you must not travel very much or you'd know that compartment is reserved for our seats, after all, it has our seat numbers on it (referring to the seat numbers directly above their seats)."

On a more recent trip to PDX on a 737 I was seated in 1D and stored my rollerboard directly above my seat. A gentleman got on a few minutes after me and proceeded to push my bag all the way to the back of the bin at the end of the first class section, put his bag in its place, then take his seat in 1C. I had been standing there and watched him do it. This was the end of a long day for me, I felt the gentleman had a lot of chutzpah and asked why he felt it was appropriate to rearrange other people's bags for his convenience (and in retrospect not very nicely I'm sure).

His reply was "I want my bag where I can reach it, your bag is still in the bin, why are you making a big deal about whether your's is in the front or the back of the cabin? What difference does it make to you?" I could tell this was going to be a long flight seated next to a self absorbed Mr. Icomefirst. While waiting to board I had been speaking with a burly Marine traveling on standby due to missing some connections. He'd been traveling for over 24 hours and let me just say he badly needed a shower. So when I saw him come through the door I stood up, handed him my boarding pass, thanked him for his service to our country and gave him my seat, much to the chagrin of Mr. Icomefirst, who's eyes must have been watering for the next 1.5 hours.
Brilliant!
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 6:41 pm
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Originally Posted by muddy
roflmao
It was definitely a Ma and Pa Kettle moment... not sure how they got into business class.
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 6:49 pm
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Originally Posted by eightmillionmiler
I was first on the aircraft in SFO, and I seated in 3B.
Interesting; I was also on the flight, although I boarded after the incident I guess. Were you the one that switched from 3B to 6B and solved the problem for those two couples?
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 6:51 pm
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Originally Posted by Jaimito Cartero
You've created a monster! I generally ignore such comments, or if the people seem to want to remove my bags, I inform them that the space is first come, first served, and point them towards a FA if they have any more problems.
I don't disagree with your approach, and normally I have had the same reaction. This was the first day of a 10 day trip and I didn't want it to start off on negative note. So I just blew it off (trust me, not my normal demeanor.)
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 7:19 pm
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Originally Posted by teabird
Brilliant!
I 2nd the 'brilliant' and welcome teabird to FT.
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 7:52 pm
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Danville1K - what a great solution! I agree.....truly brilliant!
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Old Jan 13, 2008, 9:58 pm
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Originally Posted by emcat
Interesting; I was also on the flight, although I boarded after the incident I guess. Were you the one that switched from 3B to 6B and solved the problem for those two couples?
Well, if you both had FT bag tags, you would have known on board...

But to suggest that an FT'er disregarded FEBO -- why, them's fightin' words!
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Old Jan 14, 2008, 12:55 am
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About 10 years ago I was traveling with my 3 eighty+ year old aunts (wheel chairs and all).

My goal was to get everyone seated so the airplane could continue boarding as quickly as possible.

After I finally sat down a gentleman was upset that we had taken 'his' overhead bin. Not a problem, moved to the 'ours'.

--

Seriously, it makes more sense for 'us to use theirs' and 'they to use ours' from a security perspective....you can always keep an eye on your bag.
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Old Jan 14, 2008, 7:12 am
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Italians Also Have Sense of Entitlement to That Space

My wife and I were on a train in Italy last year and had to endure a dressing down by an Italian woman and her husband about how the compartments above their heads were theirs and we had taken up all the space. When I pointed out that the one across the aisle was completely empty and I would move one of our bags she really started in on her lecture about obnoxious Americans.

Most of our time in Italy was fantastic, but that was a long train ride.
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Old Jan 14, 2008, 9:58 am
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I'm quite impressed with the amount of restraint some of you have when dealing with ignorant and rude passengers that appear to have an over-inflated sense of entitlement. I can deal with someone sliding my bag to fit theirs in the bin, but I probably (most definitely) would have snapped at the old couple that made the insinuation regarding not flying often because of the bags placed in "their" overhead compartment.
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