The correct response is "Great, I'm glad I'm a paying passenger then!" said with a friendly smile. Being livid, well, just shows your age and helps validate his comments, however rude they were, about younger passengers in J/F. And what other people said about measuring your worth by what cabin you're in...

That said, I think the only time I've ever gotten a look was on an intra-European C class flight on AF. (You know, the ones where they just block off the middles of a few rows of coach. Makes US domestic F look nice!) Mid 20s, usually fly in jeans and a t-shirt or polo with a messenger bag for my laptop, sometimes looking a bit scruffy. It's all in your attitude towards your fellow passengers and the cabin crew as to how you are perceived, especially if others are prejudiced for whatever reason as in your example.

What has happened to me more than once was being initially denied use of an elite check-in line that I probably would have had no problem walking up to if I was clean-shaven and wearing a suit. Just a friendly "Yeah, I'm flying business/first today" or "I'm in coach, but I'm a Delta medallion" sorts that out. The one bad instance was in SCL about a week ago�after the friendly DL agent blocking the line asked if I was in business class, which I told him I was, he asked to see my itinerary, which I didn't have. Then he asked me WHY I didn't have my itinerary. (I knew my record locator if there was some problem, though I do try to always carry a printed itinerary for international travel.) By that time I'd pulled out my Delta GM card which appeased him.

Of course the correct response is "And the paying passengers should be served before the rude ones".

Great, and now he thinks even less of you.

If you had told him, something along the lines of "Great! Then I get the first choice, and you get to choose after me!" that would not only make you feel better, but other pax would also chuckle at that and nobody gets insulted.


I may be in your position within the next few months, as I get my first SL on DL (I would be GM this year if I had known about FT earlier ~60K mi flown ).

Dude (the OP), if there's one thing I've learned in the past 4 years (I'm 22 and just graduated in June). There are lots of losers out there. Losers are everywhere and they'll try to bring you down. Don't let them. You can do what I would have done in the situation and just kept quiet (maturity, poise etc), or talked back to him (instant gratification and putting the guy in his place).

As for Sadiq Hassan, dude don't worry about flying in J. I've only done it once, on an upgrade on UA and loved it, but if you feel more comfortable flying in Y (I would obviously prefer to fly J), then that's what you feel and no one should bug you about it, fly Y. I have read that the King of Norway still flies in coach, as do plenty of people who are loaded beyond belief, so no big deal. Don't feel guilty or anything though. There are far more important things to worry about then where you are sitting on a plane, its seat pitch, the wine selection, lounge access etc etc etc.

.. and if there's a possibility of a plane crash.

I believe I read somewhere that those who are seated in the tail section have a greater chance of surviving a plane crash

John Gilmore, EFF co-founder and privacy activist apparently worth around $30M, refuses to show ID to fly domestically due to the secret ID-requirement directive and takes the bus for trips within the US, even cross-country. That's Greyhound, not Airbus.

Well, you can't control what people think so you're either going to continue to get upset or you can let them grumble as you enjoy your flight. Some people get angry that little children sit in first class. Others get upset with the casual nature of some people in first. People get upset....put on your headphones and ignore them.

Our daughter went through a strange phase where she refused to fly in first class. When she complained about it, we told her to switch seats with someone else, which she never actaully did.

Fortunatelyl, she has out grown that strange phase and now comlains about how tight and uncomfortable coach seats are, just like a normal human being.

Your seat is your seat, no matter how you got it. As long as you are polite and don't smell bad, your seat mates have no need to know anything about you or how you got yourself planted in your seat.

Yeah, but then you land on the other side of the island, and get picked off by "The Others" first.

here often. How are people finding out that information? Good for him
for standing up to a very rude passenger.

He could have taken it further and told this passenger that choices were not guaranteed and it was the flyer's status that was the deceiding factor.

Thanks alot Sfo-Dub-Commuter

Mrs. kaukau and I will gladly switch meals with any fellow F pax who requests so for the following reasons:

1: We fly often enough to burn through the 3 offerings so as to bored with them until the next menu change.
2: We are subsequently showered with service for being so magnaminous.
3: The FA's avoid eating the stuff, mostly. Even the F meals. They know that airline caterers are notoriously in violation of local health department regs.

Documentation:
Federal Disease Control Officers raided GateGourmet's Honolulu facility in early 2006 and came within inches of shutting it down for the most disgustingly egregious violations in recent memory. Seriously. Too gross to repeat.

Awwww. C'mon. Pleeeeease.

Honolulu Advertiser article. Vermin everywhere. Gnaw marks on cutting boards. Droppings in food. Roach infested. Chickens thawing on a counter dripping into a box of lettuce on the floor. Filthy kitchen!