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Give Your First Class Seat To A Soldier
AMERICAN UPSELLING
Now that Virgin America has pulled out of the Los Angeles to Toronto (YYZ) market, there are no more inexpensive tickets. The best deal I could find was a one-way ticket on American Airlines via Dallas for $160. What's interesting is that the day after I purchased it, a representative from American called both my cell and home phones to try and upsell me. The agent said she saw that I'd bought a LAX-DFW-YYZ ticket and wanted to let me know that there was an LAX-YYZ nonstop available that would get me in at the same time but with a much later start. To switch would've cost just $49 extra. That was a lot cheaper than what they were originally offering online, and if I hadn't been ill and was thinking straight I would've taken the bait, but I didn't. I think it's a brilliant business move by American, don't you? In the future I just wish they would also use my numbers to notify me when there's a delay or cancellation and not just when they are trying to make money.
U.S. SOLDIERS
One thing American Airlines should be complimented for is their treatment of U.S. soldiers. I truly debated if I should even write about this good deed or not. I don't want it to look like I did it for anything other than it being the right thing to do, but I'm hoping that bringing attention to it just might inspire others to do the same. Yesterday I had a bird's eye view of boarding from seat 1E, a comfortable bulkhead seat on a 757 jet. I always look down into my travel journal once I get on early so I don't feel the envious eyes of coach passengers. But I perked up when I heard the flight attendant welcome a soldier onboard. I looked up and sure enough a fully decked-out army man was standing in the aisle. By the time I talked my conscience into giving up my seat, he was gone. I got up and asked the friendly flight attendant if it would be OK if I switched seats with the soldier, and she almost made me cry when she said, “Really? That is so nice of you, and you will make his day as he is headed to Afghanistan. He had a tear in his eye since he was just saying goodbye to his family.”
GIVE UP YOUR FIRST-CLASS SEAT
Then all of a sudden I became emotional, thinking, What if that was me? Not being able to see my loved ones for months and quite possibly ever again. I slowly waded through the plane, hoping he wasn't in a middle seat in the way back, when I spotted him on his cell in 19D (an aisle seat). When I pointed to him he immediately got up, thinking I was headed to the window seat, and that's when I said, You've been reassigned to 1E. He said, Sorry? I looked him in the eye and said, Thank you for serving our country. The older man seated behind him said, Are you giving him your first-class seat? I didn't want to bring attention to it so I just gave a little smile and a nod, but the man kept saying, That's a beautiful thing. The soldier, you could tell, was a well-mannered 20-year-old. He said to me, Sir, you paid for that seat. I said, No, I didn't, it just cost me a few upgrade certificates. He stuck out his hand and looked at me like I was the nicest guy in the world, when in reality I'm just one of the millions that had taken these brave men for granted. Not anymore.
FLIGHT CREW
The flight attendants made me feel like I was Gandhi as they kept offering me free drinks. Then when another flight attendant found out that I was the guy who had given up his seat, she insisted on refunding the $6 I paid for the turkey and cheese croissant sandwich. I actually felt bad because there was another soldier sitting across the aisle from me and I only had one seat to give. I secretly offered to buy him food, but the flight attendant said, Oh no, we always give soldiers free food. Now that's commendable. On top of that I heard one of the flight attendants, as she kneeled down next to him, say, Thank you very much for serving our country and doing what you do. Then when we landed they made an announcement publicly thanking them for their service and that they wished them luck in Afghanistan and Iraq, and most of the people on the plane clapped. Bravo American.
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