IggySD

Do you honestly believe there is an epidemic of falsified EXP cards out there? Presumably the card would have an expiration date which the FA could check if they cared to make the effort. I suppose it's possible that someone would go through the trouble of creating a fake EXP card and adding it to their Apple wallet just to have on hand for a free drink and snack on the odd AA flight but I can't imagine there are too many people who would go through the effort. And while you might not get upgraded you absolutely could show up to the gate with the card and get added to the upgrade list.

Additionally, the OP was seated right next to his assigned seat. While it could have made things easier to start the conversation with "oh, by the way, I switched seats" it also seems reasonable that if the middle seat on the FAs handheld was showing an EXP, the occupants of the row looked like a family, and the individual in the aisle mentions that they're an EXP that the FA could intuit that, quite possibly, there was a seat switch. How hard is that? If the handheld wasn't showing an EXP in the middle seat then it really doesn't matter if the OP switched seats or not.

Catbert10

According to the OP, the FA provided the benefit as a one time exception, not because the FA realized the OP had status and was, in fact, entitled to the benefit.

TWA884

The OP never told us whether or not she received the free snack.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

And that's exactly what happened, at least according to the OP.

There's nothing to indicate to the FA that the OP only swapped one seat across. It could have been that the whole family moved to be seated together (swapping with pax in other rows).

The original EXP could have been anywhere.

Fonsini

hbtr

hbtr

serfty

I'm looking at the thread title:Given this is based on seat number the device was accurate in it indication (presumably the OP's wife had no status, or least not EXP.)

I would have conveyed to the FA at the first point (even as requesting) of contact that they had swapped seats.

chrisdenver1

Something similar happened to me where the FA's handheld didn't show my status, but the other FA saw it on hers. We were all confused, but I definitely saw that it didn't display. Strange!

Geordie405

Talk about a storm in a teacup! I am also not in the least surprised that the OP has given up considering a lot of the responses on here. At the end of the day the OP was prima facie entitled to a free snack because of their status, irrespective (in my view) of whether the FA's PDA showed the correct colour square for their seat. As for why it didn't, maybe the FA hadn't loaded / refreshed it with the current flight's manifest? Who knows? Who cares?

As an aside, what if the OP had hypothetically put - say - their BA or CX number in the booking and that didn't entitle them to a free snack (being only Sapphire and not Emerald) but, as an EXP, they could still ask for one by virtue of their direct AA status and show their card? That's a perfectly plausible reason for what could have happened (irrespective of whether it did or didn't in reality).

As for seat swapping, I don't see what that brings to the party. I have swapped seats before and when the person in my assigned seat asked for a drink the FA said "Oh, you're not Mr. Geordie405" (as the reason I'd swapped was to allow a mother to sit with her kids) at which point I was able to say "No, I'm here" and (because I'm generous) said that she could have my complimentary drink anyway.

There really is a tendency to treat a lot of OPs on here with way too much suspicion and assume there's some ulterior motive to their post / question. There's a lot of very useful advice available here and a lot of people go out of their way to help others but there's also the extreme opposite with accusatory, demeaning and downright hostile posts which doesn't do the forum any favours.