New thread?
 

First, great story, horrible ending. Con artist pure and simple. I'm a vet, and I'm not entitled to anything that anyone else is. I pays my money and takes my chances. You can buy a Vietnam era jacket at any army surplus store. Heck, if you look REALLY old, get something from WWII or Korea.

Now, having read the rest of the stories in this thread, I wonder if someone should start a thread about "stuff you just can't make up". Then again, we do have the DYKWIA thread......:D

+1

Agreed....

Yep. ^^^^this.

I greatly respect your attitude and appreciate your service.

I live in retirement central in the middle of Florida. I can buy any kind of military jacket with whatever patches on it I want and half a dozen thrift stores. If I want more patches or jackets I can run over to the flea market on Saturday. There is a guy over there who has everything. I see way too many "Vietnam Vets" seeking sympathy from the public to give much consideration to any of them. My husband was in this category, and he would crawl over broken glass rather than accept something in return for his military service. Asking for pity is repulsive. I cannot imagine any legitimate veteran wearing a 45 year old piece of clothing unless to elicit sympathy. It is part of the costume of a con artist.

As an older person I am even more disturbed by the dementia act. It is difficult enough convincing those under 50 that you can still make a reasonable decision on you own when you are 70 without people pretending to be demented. I guess I am naturally suspicious, but if you do not know how to find your seat on an airplane what will happen when you reach your destination?

I do hope the man who generously gave up his seat never knows to whom he made this noble gesture. Hopefully he was overwhelmed by his own generosity and felt good about himself for days.

Thank you very much for your service.

I'm guessing that the older man in question doesn't fly often or he'd see that DL is extremely supportive of members of the military. Oftentimes, GAs will let those traveling in uniform board first as an appreciative gesture and will occasionally upgrade them if all eligible elites have been upgraded and others have had the opportunity to purchase upgrades. Whenever I fly, I see and thank a lot of members of the military for their service and can't remember a time when any of them have been anything other than extremely polite.

It's very easy to get military or veteran's clothing at thrift stores, eBay, and garage sales. Two of my favorite articles of clothing are a vintage Coast Guard jacket and hat which became parts of my pilot costume for Halloween.

Many (maybe most) veterans from whatever conflict find it awkward, even embarrassing, to have strangers come up to them and thank them for their service.

I think many of those who go out of their way to publicly thank veterans do so out of shame or guilt for not choosing to give service themselves. Among the worst offenders are politicians from both parties.

This country and its military veterans would be better served (and probably enter fewer conflicts) if everyone was required to serve. And veterans in particular would be better honored if we backed up words with action. That means actively support and work for veterans benefits, jobs for veterans and the like.

Words are easy. And cheap.

I'm reminded of being in (LA - I think), and a guy walked up to me - sickeningly sweet - saying some thing like . . .

I'm a former Vietnam veteran. Can you possibly spare some change so I can eat something. I said, sorry, but I don't have any change. He said - - Thanx a lot, ya piece of CR@P!

My guess is he was a faker, too!

I hava story about a guy on a CO flight who plotted (I heard him before boarding) and tried to steal an F seat, but it requires a good bit of typing. Maybe later! :)

I agree with everything you say here. I would like to add that I lived in San Antonio during the early years of the Iraq War. There were many service men and women with moderate injuries who were being treated there. I did notice that my fellow Elite travelers would often give up their F seats, when it would help provide a more comfortable ride for the wounded veteran (they were on crutches, had an injury that would make it difficult to sit comfortably in Y, etc). I had no problem with doing this.

Irritating story and even worse, this is why REAL veterans don't get the respect they deserve. Too many con-artists and scammers. I look at all the vets in my family, from every conflict from WWII through present day, and not one of them flaunts their service. Occasionally they were a hat representing their respective branch of the armed services, but they look at their service as their honor and privilege, not something they are owed undo reward for. They expect nothing for their service and that is how it should be.

Quick story of my own:

Was flying through DFW the other day and walked by an AA gate watching a flight board. Young man in uniform was at the back of the line to board, even though they called him out for pre-boarding. He didn't mind. He was happy to be the last one on board so all the other folks (mostly elderly and families) could get on first. Hat tip to that kid. Those all the active service members and future vets I want to reward with acts of generosity.

Now I won't be able to sleep, waiting for the story...

I'm sure! :D

I'm still awake...

So, this was ages ago, during whatever time frame CO was partnered with NW for UGs . . . . I was already UG'ed.

I was flying out of the old MDW, to EWR, I believe B737. I overheard a guy at the gate talking to a woman, who if I had to guess, he had never met before. The general nature of the conversation was that he was bragging about how he sneaks into F on flights, and he had a lot of success, but, that it's getting harder and harder to do.

The guy boarded directly ahead of me. As we walked thru F, he made a strange outburst holding out his BP and saying something, like - - I can't read my seat number - - I guess I'll sit here. I told him that I could read it - something like 17F - and he just ignored me and sat in F, which was not full.

The doors close. The FA does a walk-thru count. There's some whispering between FAs. Suddenly, they announce that they'll hafto check F pax BPs. Keeping in mind that I was much younger then, and I'm always dressed very casually in jeans, sneakers and a baseball cap, they came to ME FIRST, in the last row of F, to check my BP!

They eventually found him, and he said something, like, oh, I thought that was my seat! Of course, he got booted back and did a REAL walk of shame! :D

Later, during the flight, I walked up front and told the whole story to the FAs.

Some people!

:)