If she wasn't already in First, I wouldn't have been surprised. Seemed like one of her companions was her mom, who she made sit in back with her two grandkids (the other two companions). I'll be generous here and suggest the grandma wanted to spend time w/ the grandkids in coach.

I'll be even "more generous". The three of them did not want to be anywhere near the GS!

Just happened today. I was deadheading to ORD and watched an individual push past a wheelchair passenger and 2 military personnel in uniform, barking, "I'm 1K, let me through." He then proceeded to be an absolute nightmare to the GA who confronted him, but she foolishly let him board. After seeing and also hearing this turd's behavior, I boarded and promptly let the CA know what was going on, and that this "gentleman" was seated in 2B. The CA, a retired colonel in the Air Force had 2B removed. Sometimes there is justice....

What was the reason given by the pilot for removal?
Not sure how I feel about this one.

Hopefully it was a donkey reference again.

I observed an incredibly irrational woman on my flight yesterday who insisted vehemently, in an entitled manner, that she must have an entire row to herself. This was after She demanded that not only the passengers seated directly around her but also everyone within a two-row radius wear masks. To make matters worse, she began shouting that her healthcare and disability rights were being violated. I'm not entirely sure what disability she was claiming, but the flight attendant made a genuine effort to accommodate her by offering to clear a row in the back. However, this individual, whom I will only refer to as "Miss Pathetic," rejected the offer outright.

Ultimately, she chose to disembark from the plane after receiving a stern talking-to from the gate agent and a supervisor. That being said, I want to emphasize that none of this behavior would have occurred two or three decades ago. I find myself utterly appalled and embarrassed by the attitudes displayed by some of my fellow Americans. It's genuinely difficult for me to comprehend the way people behave these days, not to mention their attire on planes. Clearly, I belong to a different era.

I had a seatmate on an American flight two weeks ago ask me "Where's your mask?" when I sat down. I replied "in last April" and that was the end of that.

All of this is why I'm glad after 20 years in the passenger airlines including much of it at the airport as a station manager/hub department head, I'm on the traveler side at this moment. Even before Covid/masks/etc. would have people come up with medical reasons why they needed a row to themselves, nobody next to them, an upgrade, etc. Very easy response: You've advised us (the air carrier) that you need specific accommodation and may not be medically fit to fly as is. We will open a Medlink case and you will not be able to fly until their doctor receives medical clearance from your doctor.

Well played

The CA told 2B he should consider apologizing to the GA the disabled person and the service people. He mentioned being a 1K in a rather loud manner with a few expletives thrown in, that his travel purchases help pay the captain's salary. His empty seat went to the next person on the upgrade list, who came up from coach.

Thank you.

So sick of seeing 1K folks rushing past disabled pax and families with kids under 2. These pax are not going to take all the overhead space but rushing these pax causes stress and anxiety in what can be an already stressful situation.

Again thank you 757FO

Who does CA stand for? Captain? I want to add it to the list of acronyms I'm familiar with..

Fair enough.

Although I am still not sure what reason was given why the rude passenger was thrown off the plane. There wasn't any indication that the terrible behavior continued once he was onboard.
Just not sure in how far an off-plane incident such as this should be reason for a subsequent/later deplaning. What about if the a-hole displayed his bad behavior at the TSA check-point, or in the parking lot? Would that still justify a deplaning later on, if it were witnessed and reported by someone with enough authority to make a deplaning happen?

Maybe a good call to not let him fly, but it still doesn't sit right with me.
How this played out also seems to undermine the GA, since his boarding could have been something she could have actively sought to prevent herself, had she felt that was justified and necessary.

Yes,

CA = Captain
FO = First Officer
GA = Gate Agent
FA = Flight Attendant
WX = Weather
MX = Maintenance

Too tired to type out any others, but that should get you started. :)

Sorry, you feel that way. I understand and respect your comment. Honestly, if I did see that behavior happen at TSA or the parking lot, yes, I would seriously consider denying them boarding on my flight. This isn't a power trip for me, just decades and decades of experience that has proven 8 times out of 10 this behavior ultimately becomes an issue in the air. It's much safer to deal with this stuff on the ground than in flight. I won't risk a diversion or worse to placate someone who can't behave like a reasonable human being.

👍🏼

In the end, you have much more experience than I do, to make the correct judgement call in these situations.
I guess I am having a harder time than you correlating a plain a-hole, with someone who might actually disrupt the flight.

After almost 3 decades, you get good at spotting the ones who will be trouble. :(

I had one of my favorite DYKWIA experiences last month, and it mirrored the 1K rush past the passengers needing extra time and families with children you described above.

The GA agent was a little quick on the draw and didn't leave a lot of time between pre-boarding groups. I was the first 1K to pre-board and had an elderly couple followed by a family with an infant, a toddler, and a large stroller pushed by the mom (no dad in sight) immediately in front of me. They were all looking over their shoulders when they heard the "herd" of 1K's coming up behind them. I simply said "take your time, they're not going to run you down". I then did my best "power forward" imitation and slowed down and essentially blocked the jet way walking VERY slowly. One person yelled to "get the $%#& out of the way". I stopped and politely told him that the people in front of us needed a little extra time. He told me to go to he$$ and tried to go around me. I'm not a small guy (back in the day, people would say it was a $20 cab ride to get around me!). I cut the guy off and he stopped short and proceeded to f bomb me for about 20 seconds. I didn't say a word and once the people in front of me cleared the door, I picked up the pace and got on board.

I took my seat (2B) and the "gentleman" behind me got on board and grabbed 4E. He then continued to mouth off about my behavior and how I didn't understand how much he spent on this f'ing airline for the ability to board early. I ignored him right up until he made one too many comments about "the slow old people that should just stop traveling if they can't walk onto a plane". I took a deep breath and walked up to the galley and told the FA he had a problem with 4E and he better either get him under control or get the captain.

The FA went over to him and got a face full of the same garbage that 4E was spewing at me. A minute later, the Captain appears and informs 4E that if he can't control himself he's not taking this flight. 4E fumes and says he's being picked on "by the big A hole in 2B. Before I can even turn and defend myself, I hear a female voice from behind me say "don't pick on him you rude little turd, you almost ran me over trying to get on the plane!" It was the elderly lady that boarded in front of me a few minutes earlier. The entire FC cabin cracked up. The Captain looked at 4E and asked him "is that true? Did you try to run over this nice lady"? 4E turned beet red and didn't say a word. The Captain said, "great, keeping your mouth closed the rest of the flight is a really good plan unless you want the flight met by local law enforcement when we land". 4E very sheepishly said "yes sir" and was a model passenger the entire flight.

In the end, I still shake my head at the way some people act over the smallest issue. That said, I did get a good DYKWIA story out of the deal.

On Friday flying out of IAH gate C34. Narrow area to pre-board so lots of crowding on a Friday AM flight at a hub. GA gets to Military and a couple behind me and at least three other GS (total of 9 on the flight per the purser), says "we need to get through. Guy next to me says "are you Military"? which they clearly are not (mid-50's Gucci bags, etc). She proclaims loudly "We are Global"! and the guy replies "so are all of us" . Her response was "Well, I'm pretty sure we got here before you". They boarded at the back of the GS line.

I agree that this is DYKWIA, but its also a bit unavoidable. As a long time GS, there often isn't a good way. The 5 pre board groups are sometimes called in rapid succession and there is often a huge scrum of people blocking the area. It's a choice between waiting until GS is actually called and then having to push through quickly, often resulting in them moving to the next group before you get to the front and rude looks, or trying to make the move to the front before GS is called so that it goes smoothly.

It would be better if they consolidated groups together. Call military and GS together, then disabled or needing extra time, and then 1k.

I honestly don't understand people with preboard anxiety. My personal preference is to be the final preboarder and avoid the scrum entirely. I've never had an issue placing my bag in a satisfactory place, even when seated in row 1 bulkhead.

I was at JFK waiting for a flight to Athens to board. The gate lice were thicker than normal. There's three porters pushing people in wheelchairs trying to be polite but nobody is moving. Finally, I pipe up "WHEELCHAIRS COMING THROUGH, EVERYBODY MOVE LEFT." That got them moved. Now that this is done, we can board the 1Ks and start on the group 1 and then there are still group 4's trying to board. Another group 1 couple suggested I go ahead of them for helping get the boarding stalemate unjammed.

Do you mean EWR (instead of JFK)?

You’re lucky. I’ve boarded a 319 late in the process and on more than one occasion, there was no OH space in First, thanks to early boarders dumping their bags before taking their seats in coach.

I dont think it has anything to do with overhead luggage.

For me there are a few factors...although none are a big deal. Mainly it's to get out of the scrum...im standing in a crowd of people, holding my phone, with a rollaboard behind, waiting for them to call the right thing. I have to pay attention to announcements, boarding, other people etc. If I'm traveling with family, it is my responsibility to make sure they are all good. Once I'm boarded and sitting in my seat, I'm fully relaxed.

Beyond that, they often go through the preboard groups quickly before going to group 1. I hate trying to go around group 1 when they are already boarding. It feels like line cutting. And once you get even to the end of the preboard, on hub to hub, you are sometimes backed up in the jetway. I also don't like waiting in lines.

Of course!🤣🤣

I think part of the problem is the 1-size-fits-all approach. On a RJ it makes sense to call all preboards together because the odds of having many of any are fairly small (similarly with bus gates -- if the bus is getting to the plane at the same time does it really matter if GS gets on the bus before or after military, etc.) -- I've actually seen this done at some stations recently. On narrowbody mainline some "collapsing" makes sense, but on an widebody that could be chaotic. (Admittedly I'm also not sure why under-2 is a separate group than "needing more time down the jetway"

For me as soon as I get on he plane and in my seat my work is done and I can finally relax (and unless in a bulkhead my bag is under the seat in front so bin capacity isn't even something I think of) and for some reason queueing on the jetway while people figure out how a plane works raises my anxiety level -- so moving fast (when it it my turn, of course) means I'm less likely to be stuck behind someone slow. Though this is veering into boarding process territory.

None of that excuses the behavior of 757FO's gem, but also in EWR boarding JNB the agents didn't help at all -- originally "due to catering safety" disposing of the boarding order entirely and ONLY boarding Polaris... Then further clarifying only rows 1-8, but then switching to the normal boarding order as soon as catering was finished... This meant Polaris passengers in rows 9+ were awkwardly gumming up the works -- most seemed to get the clue and allow the wheelchairs through but for the GS/1K calls a little more jostling that I would prefer was required to get from the "preboarding" line which had disintegrated into chaos to the gate agent. I at least tried to be polite with "Excuse me, pardon me" when the 1Ks time had come

I have boarded late group 1 or mid group 2 a few times and had to put bag back in Y because F was full. That makes sense, though. But late in the preboarding process, i.e. before group 1 still? I've never had that happen, and I don't think I'm lucky, as I routinely do it. I also don't understand why someone in Y would put their bag in F when preboarding and Y is still wide open.


I relate to some of that, in that I share the desire to spend as little time waiting on people cluelessly fussing about, but I find that last preboard is a good way to do that — let whatever tiffs arise about wheelchair vs DYKWIA or whatever play out before I get there. I've had lots of experience boarding at lots of different times in the process, due to IRROPS, the stupid EWR bus gates turning a 1h connection into a 20min one, what have you, but I've found in general that if I get in behind the scrum and ahead of group 1, it works pretty well. IKWIA and that's enough for me. :)

I don’t either, but I’ve seen it happen on more than one occasion where the GA makes announcements about the the flight being full. I’ve sat in F and watched passengers using the F bins on their way back to their seats, because in most cases, there is no FA ensuring that this doesn’t happen.

Happens all the time. Watched a guy board late to sit in 5B but he had no overhead space because rows 7-10 had taken all the F overhead. FAs non-existent

Yet somehow on Frontier or Spirit I can have row 1, board toward the end, and still have room above my seat. Why? Their flight attendants are instructed to shut the first few bins and only allow those sitting in those seats to use them. Once row 1 is full, then it's fair game. I'll open the bin to put my bag up, and after I sit, the F/A will immediately shut it back if I haven't done so. People wanna call those of us who frequent Spirit "kettles" but you know what, those folks understand the meaning of "bag over your own seat."

A few weeks ago on a United flight someone who boarded probably in the first 1/3 of my flight out of ORD to TVC (A319 or 320) had row 1. Nowhere to put her bag. F/A was less than sympathetic. "Overheads are shared space and first come first served."

I have newly acquired preboard anxiety, but not on United. I flew BA IAD-LHR-BCN last month in F (J on the short leg). On my BCN leg, I got to the crammed boarding gate at T5 (how did BA build a hub terminal that was too small from the get-go?) about two-thirds of the way through Group 1. I made it to the front, just before the automated boarding-pass reader, when I was held up by a man with a BP issue. After the gate agent pulled him aside, she stopped me and two others next to me from going through the automated gate. She told us that the bins were now full on our A321 and that the three of us would have to check out bags.

Now, I was traveling to a wedding, and that bag contained both my suit and my tux. I'd also just spent months wrangling with another carrier (incidentally, BA cousin Vueling) over the laptop that someone stole from my parent's bag while it was in Vueling's custody. So I wasn't thrilled to have my bag checked. I also wasn't thrilled that it took 10 minutes for the gate agent to tag it, while I stood off to the side next to it. That left me boarding toward the end of the line, with an enormous backlog of people trying to get onto the plane.

Fortunately, the bag did make it, though the bottom was, for whatever reason, drenched. Of course, there were multiple empty bins in Club. But, as a result, I may become one of those people you make fun of, standing around at the front of Group 1 with my carry-on 15 minutes before the agent even starts preboarding.

Are people conflating preboarding with general boarding? :confused: Anxiety about the latter (hence lining up in the early groups) makes sense, but I still don't understand about the former (barreling over wheelchair pax, fighting with other preboarders).

Anyway, I suppose further discussion of that is going off topic. Back to the salacious DYKWIA stories please.

I got an upgrade on my most recent flight DEN-FRA. I think I was 3A, boarded toward the head of group 1 only to find my overheads completely full. The lady in 3D had apparently used both overheads over my seat as preferable to the ones over her seat. That left me putting my carry-on over 4D and inconveniencing that poor woman every time I wanted something out of my bag (but at least I didn't have to trot my carry-down to row 12 or something). I later discovered when we landed that she took my overheads because her daughter in 2D had stuffed HER overheads with her 2 carry-ons and she had done that because United chose to put all the spare bedding in the overhead above 2D.

Totally off-topic, but I was in LHR T5 for the first time last week for LHR-MAD, and that terminal is the most miserable, unpleasant, sensory-overload airport experience I have ever had in my life...

And that's what causing lion share of gate conondrums. If FA enforced 'bag on your row' policy a lot of gate drama would cease to exist.

The overheads are not big enough to accommodate a "bag on your row" policy.

Well, than people should be allowed as much carrion as possible to accomodate. Why is this controversial?

I bit my tongue flying out of BNA last month when person in row 1 made a stink because they had to put their bag over row 2 (but I have a 40 minute connection!). I was in row 2 and my seatmate told her she would personally ensure she had her bag back before the door even opened on landing. I wanted to say that if she didn't have 4 items to stow, that might also help. To be fair half the front bin too was taken by emergency equipment. At least it wasn't crew bags.

Years ago I worked for AirTran in management. We had a prohibition against flight crew putting their bags anywhere in Business Class (except for one small tote that had their required emergency items, if there wasn't room in the "spare" galley cart). They were to evenly distribute their roller bags throughout the airplane. There were though several instances of bag theft, whether on purpose or innocently enough (I remember following someone into the men's room who was in shorts and a t-shirt towing a bag with a crew tag asking if it was theirs - it wasn't... and we didn't allow non-revs to wear shorts or a shirt without collar unless they were under 12 years old). The company got Coca-Cola to sponsor (pay for) giving every flight attendant what amounted to a bicycle chain/lock to secure their bag to the overheads. The union wasn't too happy about that as they didn't think of any solution other than getting to put bags in the front/back, but it solved the issue.

I've only seen it once or twice on UA, but sometimes the overhead space above rows 1 and 2 will be full of crew baggage and/or items like first aid kits or the props for the safety demo. Much more common on intra-EU flights though.

Wow, you just came up with the perfect solution :p