A great Seinfeld episode.

Untill recently, I had not seen anyone attempt to scam the free upgrade for some time. Then I watched an overweight lady argue with gate agent about her need for an F upgrade due to a medical condition. She was told to get a doctor's note and sent away. (Probably should have also been told to return with an extra $6000). That was entertainment enough, but then 2 individuals (separately) planted themselves in C seats and pretended to be the rightful occupants. Alas for them, the flight was packed full, and they were soon ejected by the ever-efficient Swiss crew. ^

A ~16-18ish kid tried this on a recent SYD-LAX flight. I was in 1A and he sat down in 2A. The FA came by about 10 mins before takeoff and asked to see his BP. He showed her the BP with 2A on it.. she looked confused, and turned back to the galley. As she's turning around she notices that the BP with 2A on it is for his LAX-SAN flight, not SYD-LAX.

He then "found" his other BP -- 53K. Gotta hand it to him. Bypassed C completely, went right for three class F suite.

You have 10 seconds of oportunity to shmooze...I recently smiled and asked while boarding past C class, Do you need any volunteers today?

EXCELLENT POST!!!!!!

I think you will not get many (if any) replies to this because a lot of people don't consider point 2 "inappropriate." They can try to justify it in many ways, but it is as bad as point 1.


LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not necessarily, my dedicated hairstylist in LA charges US$450, which is more than a domestic First ticket.

$450 haircut? And I thought $120 was bad..

I don't think it's possible anymore; the manifest (or a head count) would quickly show an extra person in F.

Wow, a thread I started in 2002. Right after seeing my first ever seat poacher. Ahhh, memories......

I was on DL Flight 401 on 3/5/15 from JFK-LHR with a woman sitting across from me who was traveling with her husband and little daughter. At some point during the flight she snuck off and slept in the 1 empty BE seat. She came back to her regular seat right before breakfast. Soon after, two FA's confronted her and she shamelessly claimed to have done nothing wrong because she didn't eat any of the food. I thought it was pretty ballsy!!

Too bad the FAs apparently didn't have her arrested upon arrival if she refused to pay.

Were these EC/C+ seats? She must have been able to see the empty BE seat somehow, or did she first use the BE lavatory in order to do a reconnaissance mission up front?

As you say - ballsy

I had people kicked out of one of the lounges in Bangkok I think it was. There was a delay and everyone raced to the airline lounge at midnight. There were people and kids everywhere. It was so noisy you were unable to get any sleep or a seat. I complained and said that I paid for business class which entitled me to a service. I asked if these people using the facilities had paid for them. Soon 3/4 of the people were being hearded out and the lounge once again became a tranquil oasis where I could like down and sleep.

Same goes for this lady using one of the seats. Saying she didn't eat anything doesn't make it right. I hate sneaky people.

Despite averaging around 50 flights a year I had never personally witnessed someone skipping into a higher cabin, until last week. I was in my usual 11 J which on the typical EK B777,is the most furthest back right seat in Business class.

This seat next to me was empty as were the three seats in the middle. Immediately after take off this around 60 year old well dressed man popped through the curtain and sat himself down. He looked ever so at home. As soon as the staff started their first drinks service he was questioned and asked to go back to his seat. Around one hour after the dinner service he appeared again, this time in a different seat around 10B on the opposite side from me. He lasted around 15 minutes this time before again being asked to move.

In Scotland we call this type of character a "chancer" � Ive been surprised to read here just how many chancers get away with it

I'm sure that I've been thought of as someone trying it on in first class.

I was travelling as airline staff from Miami to London just after Christmas one year. The flight was almost full and I was given a first class boarding pass. I was sitting enjoying my pre-take off drink when the gate agent came on, knelt next to me and said that a last minute revenue passenger had turned up so I needed to move back. There were no J seats available so I ended up in Y.

The entire F cabin watched as I handed my champagne glass back to the FA, collected my bags from the overhead and moved down the aircraft.

I could tell from some of the looks that people thought I shouldn't have been there.

MSPeconomist- She could see the empty BE seat from where she was sitting. It happened to be in the last row left side of the plane. We were all in EC/C+. She and her family were in the middle section of seats. At first she moved to the first row in EC/C+ but the at some point went to that BE seat. She came stumbling back to EC/C+ right before breakfast.

Amazing that they could boot you out as you were enjoying a pre flight drink.