Courtesy sometimes has its own rewards. ONce I offered up my FC seat to a woman with a seeing eye dog who would have had a tight flight in her economy seat. I took the backseat, but before takeoff the Fl/Atndt brought me back up to FC and at the end of the flight presented me with a bottle of wine for being "so nice." Not a bad payoff to the risk investment of giving up a FC seat. Actually, I did it for the dog's sake.

Understatement of the day! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

The very first time I flew across the country with my girlfriend, a couple we met in the concourse gave us their TWA fc seats and let us college age lovebirds enjoy fc. They even offered us access to the TWA lounge at the layover in STL. I in turn once gave my fc seat up to a guy in a full leg cast. He has making painfully slow progress in the jetway and since a long line of us fc'rs were boarding behind him, I told the gate agent to put him in my fc seat. The fc fa later came back to coach to offer me wine, which kind of surprised the pax around me.

Last year, I was on a DL flight from DFW to MEM. The DL staff plopped a 5-year-old boy beside a passenger traveling alone, without saying so much as the child may need a little care. (It turns out his 6-year-old sister was in the seat behind, and dear sweet dad was in first class.) The boy was visibly shaken, crying and looking toward the FC cabin, and begging to go see his dad. The passenger beside the child entertained this kid, really cared for the little boy during the trip. (The kid had actually just flown from Hawaii to DFW.) This passenger went beyond the call of duty and showed true compassion to a scared and lonely little boy. Dad came by once to tell his children to get off the plane (less than 2 min). None of the FAs stopped by to check on the child or thank the passenger. More than a year has passed, and I still am angry at dad for his callous behavior and at Delta for letting these young children to be "alone." The caring passenger was great, and she deserves lots of appreciation that she never received.

I've been the recipient of the occasional acts of kindness, and I certainly try to pass them on. Recently when I connected in ORD, I had plenty of time for the connection. A woman traveling with a walking toddler and a baby in a carseat plus the mandatory carry-on bags for diapers and such was struggling to get loaded back up after getting off the plane. Upon asking and finding out that she needed to change terminals (although I didn't) and had a very tight connection given our arrival was a little late, I offered to carry her bags and car seat so she could carry her baby and take her toddler's hand, making the escalators down to and up from the inter-terminal passageway much more navigable. I figured I need the exercise anyway. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I know people complain about kids sometimes on FT, and sometimes there do seem to be rather indulgent parents that have failed to bring up their kids properly, but generally speaking, I'm very interested in helping make the travel experience a little less painful for parents, especially single parents managing multiple kids. Most of the time, it's not as if they are bringing their kids along on the trip gratuitously....

Great thread to have started, relaxedPax.

[This message has been edited by pshuang (edited 07-21-2001).]

I would hope that we on FT would participate in random acts of kindness on other pax. It seems to amaze the FAs and other pax that someone would be kind at all.

Reminds me, I need to run to the store to get some samples for the WN FAs for my ONT-LAS-SLC tomorrow.

Thanks pshuang. It's always easy to be negative. Being positive and helping others it what makes a difference on people. And although it really does not call for a pat on the back, it is not the norm, even though it ought to be.

Also -Thanks goes out to all for being very welcoming. I've been observing for awhile and figured it was time to contribute.

How 'bout a big hand for the random acts of kindness performed by fellow FT'ers who give away certs every day over in Coupon Connection? You guys are great! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Look, I shouldn't pat _myself_ on the back, and my stories don't quite measure up to helping blind people, but..

Last month I had an expiring upgrade cert that I wasn't going to use myself (and didn't have time to give away through the aforementioned method) so I used it on the next passenger trying to upgrade..

(I really did it as a random act of kindness. I said it was anonymous, but the gate agent was impressed and asked for my name so I could be thanked. He was insistent. I never heard from him or the pass., so in the end I preserved my anonymity.)

One other random act was to take a whole big stack of WN drink coupons and give them to the F/A -- I told her drinks for the plane were on me as long as she didn't identify the donor. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I wanted to agree that this was a great thread.

While I have always tried to act as an officer and gentleman, I can not claim anything I would say was out of the ordinary. Yet I still marvel at the nicest thing that has happened to me. On my way to the baton rouge airport as a college student traveling to Ft. Benning Ga. for airborne school, my car broke down on the interstate. As I was running late I thought that I would be ******* over. It was poring down raining. I was surprised by a car stopping almost immediately. A lady asked if she could help me. I asked to go to a gas station to call friends/taxi. When I made my calls I discovered I would never make my plane, as I thanked her she asked if I was going to make it. I said no and she offered to drive me to my car, get my luggage and then drive me to the airport. I am still surprised 14 years later. I guess luck was with me the flight was delayed 45 minutes do to the bad weather. I also sent her flowers at the hospital she worked at. I also told her that I hoped she did not make a habit out of picking up strangers on the interstate.

I doubt that I will ever catch up to the acts of kindness that I have received, no matter how hard I try.


------------------
Robert

There are some nice people out there. I am more than happy to trade my FC seat with another FC passenger so he or she can sit with someone. However, to be honest, if one person is in first and the other in coach, it makes much more sense for the FC passenger to trade with a coach passenger so they can sit together, rather than vice versa.

On at least three flights I have seen a kid in first, and the parent (always a Dad for some reason) in coach try and trade with someone to get upfront. I find this very presumptuous. Once it worked, once they stayed split, and once the kid moved back to coach.


------------------
What do you mean I can't charge my heart bypass to my Visa? I need the MILES!!!

Wow. I started a thread exactly like this once the "obnoxious passengers" thread came out. I only got a few responses, however. Maybe my title wasn't so catchy!!!! Good luck, it's fun to read about "non-jerks" who actually do something nice instead of whining and acting poorly.

I was on a crowded United flight from Kansas City to Washington several years ago, and I've never forgotten it. When I went to the gate and asked to upgrade, the gate agent waved me away, saying, "I'm too busy trying to keep a family together." Apparently the travel agent had put the kids and parents all in different parts of the plane, and the gate agent was frantically trying to arrange them to be together on a full flight. I have my own family and appreciated what she was trying to do, so I simply said, "I understand," and backed away, figuring I could try to use my upgrade on some other flight. No big deal at all.

I took my seat in coach, and right before the plane was ready to take off, a voice on the public address system said, "Will Passenger Rebozo please gather your belongings and come to the front of the plane?" I figured I was in trouble, like when the principal calls your name on the PA system. I gathered my stuff and shuffled off to the front of the plane, preparing to be arrested or otherwise humiliated.

But when I got there, the attendant pointed to an empty seat and said, "We got you a seat in First." When I asked if she wanted my upgrade certificate, she said no, and walked away. I sat down, the plane took off, and there I was upgraded for free! I was surprised they even knew my name, since I never gave it to them.

I've always really appreciated this random act of kindness on the part of United. And have always felt that if the airlines spent less time rewarding the bullying loudmouths, and more time rewarding those who cooperate in helping their flights run more smoothly, flying would be a far more pleasant experience.

I have also tried to return a good deed. I have been upgraded from WBC to FC more than a few times. This was back when NW still had International FC. One time I was flying WBC SFO - Shanghai. I was going to survey a keyboard factory. The sales person for the keyboard company was taking the same flight - only her company only authorized Coach class. I figured that since I had been on the receiving end often, and I had a ton of miles, I would try to upgrade her to WBC. I took her with me to check in at the FC/WBC line. The coach line seemed to go on forever. I checked in and then asked the agent if I could upgrade her to WBC - using my miles. He left, came back in a moment and gave her a WBC boarding pass from SFO to Tokyo. He said that there was nothing available from NRT to Shanghai. When I offered my WP card to the agent, he smiled and handed it back saying "It's not necessary - it's complimentary". We then went to relax in the lounge. She was delighted to be in Business Class for those 10 or 11 hours.

Likewise, I've been honoured to be the recipient of acts of kindness and always try to "pay it forward."

On a recent flight through DEN that was overcrowded and WAAAY-overdelayed, I began chatting with some of the fellow passengers. One young lady was on her way to Korea and had already missed the connection out of Seattle (one flight a day). Knowing that she was in for an even longer day than I, I told her to give me her boarding pass. After she reluctantly handed it over, I anted up some upgrade certs and got her upgraded for the flight. While it certainly didn't fix her problems, it made them just a little easier to swallow, I hope.

On another note, I always try my best to be polite and even helpful to the FAs. Especially when there are "difficult" passengers on some of the flights. It's not an easy job! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

------------------
"What do you mean you didn't get miles for that?!"

Last month during a trip to KOA, my friend and I were waiting for our rental car when two people from Vienna asked if we were staying on the island for a few days. When we said yes, he handed us a pass for the Volcano National Park (which was already on our agenda!). Saved us $10. I offered him $$ as well as coupons for his trip, but he declined.

Reading many of these posts has really been uplifting - so often all we hear about are bad things. Thank you all for such nice stories as well as starting this thread. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif