Amazing Passengers
 

This is my first post, so try not to throw things at me http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I have read the post for Disgusting Airline Passenger Manners. On a flight today from EWR to IAH on CO, I saw a passenger do something nice. Thus it occured to me to start a thread involving random acts of kindness from fellow passengers. I know it might not be as exciting as nose-picking or stinky feet, but I'm going to share anyway.

I was seated in coach, and was one of the last to board, as I was 4 aisles from the bulkhead. A passenger from First Class had a child in coach, and was unable to move her to 1st. Instead of causing a ruckus on the plane, he talked to the lady sitting next to his daughter and gave her his 1st class seat. (at this time about 20 pairs of ears perked up) I though that it was nice of him to surrender his 1st class ticket and sit in coach with no compensation for the downgrade. He asked for no money or compensation from the passenger whom switched seats with him either.

Has anyone else experienced/seen anything of this nature?

relaxedPax, welcome to FlyerTalk http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Earlier this year I was on business in India and well.... got hit with a rather bad case of Delhi-belly a few days before having to leave to go home. I was relaxing in the airport lounge when a fellow flyer noticed that I was looking a little ill and asked if I needed anything. I thought to myself at the time that it was a great gesture of assistance from total stranger, as having someone sitting and talking to you really takes your mind off the illness and makes the time fly by.

I later board the plane and attempt to get comfortable in my economy seat when this gentleman and an FA come down the aisle to tell me that he is swapping his Business seat for my Economy seat and that he is not taking no for an answer. Sure, this may have only been a short leg from Mumbai to Singapore, but I am sure that this random act of kindness touched many hearts on that plane... Including the FA's who let me continue the journey from Singapore to Brisbane in Business and constantly checked with me to make sure I was feeling fine.

It was amazing to be faced with a random act of kindness, as it really reassures you that in this world of hatred and hurt to fellow man, there are some genuinely nice people still out there. I did not get the gentleman’s name; so if you are reading this, please know that I am eternally grateful and you have touched me to “Pass it on”.


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~Mystery~



[This message has been edited by Mystery (edited 07-19-2001).]

Welcome to Flyertalk, relaxedPax and Mystery. Wow! So many new faces lately...

My welcome to both of you too. I hope that this thread gets more responses than the 'Disgusting' one (though I am guilty of contributing a bit to that one).

You can never be faulted for a random act of kindness. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starsmilie.gif

I am usually the first to ask the passenger behind me if they mind my seat being reclined, and they are usually very thankful. I offered my F class seat to a passenger whose hubby was sitting in the seat next to me. He sat down next to me, asked how I was doing, and offered a handshake. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif It didn't make sense for them to be sitting in different rows (they seemed to be getting along), so I simply asked if the lady in the F seat in front of her hubby wanted to trade, (hubby approving). She accepted, and I gave up my window seat for an aisle seat in the same cabin class. On that same flight, another PAX 2 rows behind me (the one I had asked about reclining my seat prior to me giving that seat up to the lady in front of me) offered his meal (a Filet Mignon) to me, but I declined because I was already stuffed from the one I had already consumed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Erik.

[This message has been edited by Planenut (edited 07-19-2001).]

Thanks for the welcome guys. Having been a lurker here for around a year I felt it was time to share some of my experiences.

The only other act of kindness I have witnessed myself was at Atlanta Hartsfield airport on Thanksgiving eve last year. An elderly gentleman gave up his seat so that a lady could make it home in time to be with her family. Unfortunately, I had an international connection in LA, so I couldn't do the same.

Hopefully this post will have more contributions. I like to think that for every 100 disgusting acts, there is at least one act of kindness.

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~Mystery~

This shouldn't be amazing, but should be the norm; I try to help the elderly and infirmed by storing and retrieving their luggage from the overhead bins.
When I diet, I offer my desert to others. When I return from trade shows, I distribute lotsa "schwag" to airline personnel who are always so kind to me. Also, for early morning flights, I bring nutrition bars for the gate agents and check-in staff; small gestures of appreciation.

Once, after retrieving our car from parking, we pulled over to help a fellow passenger who was distraught over losing his wallet. In his rush to make last call at the Tiki Bar, he had left his wallet on the hood of his car and raced off. When we pulled up, it looked like lotsa large confetti all over the roadway. He had a month's worth of business receipts, along with his cash, cards, license, etc... crammed into his wallet and now it was all over the road. We helped scour the area and found all that we could. He was very grateful and wanted to treat us to some "adult beverages", however everyplace was closed by then. Saying we'd take a raincheck for another time, we were just glad to help; and it was somewhat comical.

edited to correct some grammar

[This message has been edited by anim8r (edited 07-20-2001).]

i have done musical seats many many times, given meals & part meals to starving teenagers, helped people w/ overhead luggage [a defence sometimes when it is over my aisle seat]. however, i'm a grouch & will not swap my aisle for a middle, no matter how impassioned the request!

Many years ago on a delayed DL flight from
BOM-FRA, I had developed stomach-flu. I gave
a lady my First class seat in exchange for her (she was the only one in a three seat middle row. I needed to ly down ;-) )
I got medical attention @ FRA and was better off rest of the journey.

I like to think that I am an "amazing" passenger. Oh wait, this topic is not about me...

Ive given my upgraded seat away many times. Often because I wanted to sit next to someone else and several times to elderly pax that looked like they needed it more than I. I never thought it was unusual or a big enough deal for a back pat though.

This is slightly related so I thought I would share it. While traveling from ATL to BOS, I had to switch planes in PIT and, across from my gate was the Champ himself, Mohammed Ali, waiting for his flight to board. He was the most gracious person of his stature I have ever seen as I watched him pose for pictures with anyone who wanted one, sign autographs, shake hands, or just talk. Rather than board the plane first, as he is not a quick as he once was, he waited until everyone was one the plane and continued to meet and greet. When he finally boarded, the look on everyone's face was that they had shared a special experience.

This thread reminds me of an experience at Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC last month:

A young lady was trying to get her toddler and two pieces of luggage down a flight of steps. A scuffy-looking guy came over and offered to carry the luggage for her to her bus. The lady refused and grabbed the luaggage tightly. The guy replied, "Do you think I'm going to take something? Oh, lady, that is SO eighties!" She let him carry it. He helped her to the waiting area, smiled, and left.



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He who dies with the most miles ... is dead.

Our buddy B747-437B is on a quest to NOT get upgraded this year, and so when he does get upgraded, he kindly and randomly gives his upgrade to a fellow passenger (some kind of sadistic bet among friends, I believe).

[This message has been edited by flyerwife (edited 07-20-2001).]

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.


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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.


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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

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"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

I'm glad to see there are other people out there that do nice things for people, including the F/A's.

I'm always very nice to the F/A's for one simple reason... They get a lot of flack from people for no reason. I'm always gracious to the reservation people, and to the counter people... it makes their jobs easier and their day when someone is gracious to them, instead of yelling at them.
In fact, one certain lady in the International desk was so nice to me, that I fedex'd her a little Versace gift to say thanks for being fun, nice, and going out of her way.

I continue to send (on a regular basis) nice letters about F/A's, gate agents, and club personnel each year, and I actually keep a running list of the agents, reservation personnel, club personnel and send a fax at the end of the year to the consumer affairs dept. of the people whom I think have done an outstanding job on a CONTINUAL basis for the FY.

I still help women put their bags into the over head bins, I've invited people to go to the club with me, and have also upgraded (if it was available) people to first class with me (if i'm traveling alone).

Ramdom acts of kindness are still needed in this world.

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"We are dimming the cabin lights to enhance the beauty of our flight crew" - Actual Quote from USAirways F/A: CLT-BNA.

Chairmans: USAir, Gold: NWA, Diners, HH, Gold: Marriott

[This message has been edited by USAirGreg (edited 07-23-2001).]

If you don't read Trip Reports, maybe you should check out The B747-437B July 4 Upgrade Bonanza! (with sound clips)

[This message has been edited by chexfan (edited 07-24-2001).]

On a flight from LGA-PHX (with a stop in ORD), I was upgraded all the way through. The flight left LGA late (what a surprise) and some passengers were going to miss some very tight, last of the night flights from ORD. I overheard one girl (who looked particularily upset) talk to the FA about what she should do. I told her to get her stuff and I would switch seats with her since I was going to be on this same plane -- it did not matter to me.

I went back to coach, took her aisle seat and proceed to nap. During my nap, I felt something hit my arm. The first time I just moved my arm, the next time I opened my eyes. The two FAs from 1st came back to see me, gave me a present for being nice and sang happy birthday to me -- since it was my birthday. (They knew since when I got on they flight they asked me how I was and I commented that I was happy to spend my birthday with them!).

--Jim

I ended up in a WIN-WIN-WIN situation! I finished a business/vacation trip and was ready to fly RNO(Reno)-LAX-ORD. I was told that UA's flight RNO-LAX was cancelled. They booked me on AA RNO-ORD, which was quicker.

But I thought I might want to spend one more night in Reno (not a bad place), and get my UA miles.

As I approached the desk, I heard an elderly woman complain that she HAD to get to Chgo for a funeral the next day. She was starting to go ballistic. I signalled the desk agent, and suggested that I'd be willing to spend a night in Reno, let the woman take my AA seat, and I'd take a UA flight the next day.

The agent jumped on my offer, the woman calmed down & was appreciative, and I had nice night in Reno.

Bonus: the agent upgraded me from coach to 1st class. I got my RNO-LAX-ORD miles plus a 50% ? bonus, and several hours of champagne!

Although not the most amazing act of generosity ever recorded, I did somehting nice on a recent BA flight from AMS to HLR. I was seated in a window seat in one of the back rows of a 757 (the nonconvertable seats). Just before departing, a mother and her son took the middle and aisle seats next to me. I noticed that the kid was looking out the window, but thought nothing of it and went back to my magazine. A few minutes later, the mother asks me if I could lower my magazine, as I was blocking the window and it was her son's first flight. That's all I needed to hear and I promptly offered the window seat to the kid and refused the mother's offer for the aisle seat. She was quite grateful for both acts of kindness.

Although even less generous than the window seat thing (which isn't terribly generous to start), I gave a half used Octopus Card to the bartender at the long bar in Cathay's Wing lounge when leaving HKG as I was not going to use the rest. It would have made a nice memento for my scrapbook, but after a few G&Ts, I was feeling generous. The bartender was very appreciative and went around showing the card to the other lounge employees.

My mom was right, I am a good boy . . .

At OAK while waiting for my UA Sh*ttle flight to LAX, I watched as a particularly obnoxious passenger berated the gate agents because our departure was delayed 45 minutes. He was truly obnoxious and I felt sorry for the gate agents as they certainly didn't have any control over the schedule. I went into the gift shop next door to the gate and bought a Ghiradelli chocolate assortment. I brought it over to the desk and told the agents that this for them and I hoped that this made their day a little better. Needless to say they were very surprised and appreciative. I didn't expect, nor received, anything in return. But interestingly enough, on my next UA trip I was operationally upgraded to F. Karma?

Bear with me, this really is on-topic...

On one of my many UA "mechanical" delays in Denver last summer (DEN-MCO), we sat at the gate for 90 minutes getting something "fixed."

We finally got the mechanic's sign-off, got clearance (thank you Ch 9!), pushed back and had taxi'd out to within 100 yards of the runway -- when the captain said they had a brake overtemp light on the left main gear which would make an emergency abort (if one was needed) iffy at best.

We moved to a penalty box, sat for 40 minutes waiting for the brakes to cool enough to take off, but they didn't. They then said a tug had to come out to tow us in!

30 minutes later the tug still hadn't showed up, so we limped into the gate for a repair. It would be at least 60 minutes to inspect and possibly repair the problem.

The flight crew was getting close to timing out, and the plane had to be re-catered as the food was TOTALLY overcooked and the fresh items were past their holding times.

They actually allowed us the passengers off the plane and offered $10 lunch vouchers for everyone. We went to Steak Escape in the center of the B concourse and ordered lunch, as well as extra orders of fries.

My travel partner and I wolfed down our lunch. The hour was almost up and some people were still standing in line to order their meals!

The extra fries? As we re-boarded the plane we handed a couple of big bags of fries to the purser and cabin crew who were totally surprised and very grateful.

The purser thanked us profusely, and I scored a bottle of a nice Adult Beverage.

This is not the only time I "took care" of the FAs, but it was the most memorable.

The second most memorable was taking about 20 minutes to show one the FAs (HKG-LAX) how to work a Tomagotchi she bought for a niece. I had just bought two for my girls, she saw them, and asked for help because the instructions were in Japanese. No, I don't speak Japanese, I had a demo in HK from someone who already one. I got another bottle of Adult Beverage, but it was just fun to help out.

RAD http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cool.gif