Badenoch

It does certainly look like she was lording over fact she was in first and it is not unreasonable for her acquaintance to have received the offer that way. "Yes, good servant please take yon credit card to the rear and give the lowly peon in steerage whatever her heart desires." If her acquaintance were that upset with it however the offer would have been politely declined and the card returned.

pinniped

The only thing I'd add to my original take is that I probably wouldn't do it to someone unfamiliar with the FF game. If I had friends who associated cabins on a commercial airliner with class (and took it seriously), then I wouldn't do this.

nancypants

do we actually know that anything was purchased and not politely declined?
if offence is/was taken wouldn’t you rather know about it than have that person ghost you for the rest of your social interactions?

the phoenix

At OP, I stand by my initial thought. But would your wife had some the same if she too were in coach??? I mean, if you think about it, whether in coach or first, she paid for the drink.

Duke787

To me the question of a patient purchasing a drink at a restaurant is a completely different question to the OP.

You've presumably provided good service and you've helped improve their quality of life in through whatever form of medicine you practice. They know you are paid a salary but they see you out and about and are appreciative of what you've done and so are going above and beyond to thank you again for helping with their medical need.

In this case based on the OP we're simply talking about the neighbor who lives down the street who you maybe nod to a couple of times a week while walking the dog or see at the neighborhood picnic or at the HOA meeting. Unless there is some context from one of those arenas (e.g., neighborhood acquaintance watched the kids in the cul-de-sac one afternoon because you couldn't get off a call and this is a thank you) I stand by my original POV where I can see how someone interprets this the wrong way

BowserLovesPuppy

If that happened to me, I would definitely ask for a bloody marry and be super appreciative!

I understand people can feel differently about this, but this wasn’t even a coworker.

Per OP, it was a “neighborhood acquaintance”, if they live in the similar neighborhood, C’mon what’s there to show off really…

WeekendTraveler

Back home and the neighbor who didn’t like receiving a drink saw my wife while they were both out in then neighborhood. My wife spoke (Hi, ——-). The neighbor just glared and walked away.

CDTraveler

What has not been mentioned is HOW the offer was presented to the acquaintance by the FA. The wording may have been rather condescending or rude, and the neighbor believed that tone came from the wife.

TWA884

Why not? Since WeekendTraveler has American Airlines in their profile, I assume that the card in question is the Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Silver Mastercard, which provides $25 statement credit a day for inflight food and beverage purchases. That's definitely enough to buy more than one alcoholic drink. In addition, had the OP and his wife been in Main Cabin Extra seats, where alcoholic beverages are complimentary, the $25 credit would have gone even further.

That neighbor seems to be a bitter jealous hag.

Visconti

LOL...No good deed goes unpunished?

I haven't the foggiest what your neighbor may be thinking but I'll offer my perspective. This notion is probably from a different time and era, but my reaction would be along the lines of "I can pay my own way in life" and find anyone under the assumption I'm in need of charity to be mildly insulting. However, as one who indulges in this points game of ours, I'd understand the rationale your Wife was offering and accept it, it I were inclined, in the spirit in which it were offered.

Growing up, my Father always demanded we never ask strangers for anything or accept anything from outside our immediate family. Perhaps, your neighbor had a similar upbringing.

CDTraveler

WOW!!

That's an extremely harsh criticism of someone you know almost nothing about. Maybe try to be a bit more open-minded and consider that we're only getting one side of the story, basically third-hand, and there could be a lot of information missing.

enviroian

Unless you know that person 100% it's a definite no go for me. From the OP's comments it sounded like she was surprised at the Y passenger's response meaning she didn't know her/him well enough to know whether or not she/he was joking and said it in jest or being serious. Also, person in Y doesn't know that F passenger paid for the drink. He/She might just assume since that person is up front it's a free drink she sent back even adding to what might cause someone in Y to turn up their nose.

This confusion could have all been avoided by just not doing it.

WeekendTraveler

Yes but the polite way to receive something for free is to say “thank you” and be done with it.

Miss Manners says to give the benefit of the doubt to someone rather than figuring that the person was motivated by malice.

the phoenix

obvuoualy has class issues and demons in her head

but….

can’t say I disagree. But….


And then there’s pride. Pride is a ...... So is reality.

so many angles here. Brought this to my wife’s attention and if we were coach, we’d have said thank you. It’s called being gracious. Too much pride and too little gratitude perhaps??

CDTraveler

Not sure how you can reach so many conclusions without hearing both sides of the story.

For example, how did wife & neighbor get along before the flight? Maybe neighbor already had a negative of opinion of wife before this, and drink incident just confirmed the previous opinion.

There's just one side posted here, and too few facts, to reach a conclusion on the why's and how's of this story.