Dear Quentin,
Remember me? I wrote you two weeks ago about the mother and daughter who sprinted to two premium economy seats without paying. I told you how sad I was that I had to pay $70 while these people took free seats without any objection from the flight attendants.
I heard from American Airlines AAL. First, the airline acknowledged that they never responded specifically to my issue. Second, they apologized. Third, they said they would give me a partial refund of my frequent flyer miles because I agreed to the seat-grabbing passengers.
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It’s a very ugly American trait and one that is entrenched in American history: spoiled land-robbers who show no charitable spirit, like asking an elderly or obese person if they might want one of those chairs. It just doesn’t fit into the American mentality.
That woman and her mother were selfish and selfish and believed they were entitled to those seats. I also think your comment about me paying for a “guarantee” of an upgrade instead of an upgrade is a bit off because when we buy a seat, that's what we buy.
I think most people would be furious if someone ran from the main cabin to first class, grabbed an empty seat and got away with it. I'm glad they finally showed me some respect. I have a sneaking suspicion they saw your column.
Via La Complainers
Dear Viva,
Comparing premium economy newcomers to early settlers is a leap forward for this first-world problem. Not all historians or anthropologists will agree with you. But I agree with your underlying point: just because a seat is free on a plane or in a restaurant or theater doesn’t make it ours.
It would have been polite if the jumpers had asked the flight attendant before changing seats. Musical chairs at 30,000 feet is stressful, but so is criticizing the airline for their jumping. An eye roll from you would have solved the problem just as well.
Still, the airline was smart to share the cost of the upgrade with you, since you are undoubtedly a valuable customer. Given the often restrictive change policies that airlines impose on customers and the wildly fluctuating dynamic pricing, it is also a refreshing and welcome change.
It is possible that an airline representative read the column, as it is our policy to contact companies to give them a right of reply. But they did not have your name, so it is less certain that the decision to give you a partial refund was because you went public with your problem.
Choose your battles wisely
I understand your point that flight attendants and passengers should give priority to passengers who need more legroom, but I (still) don't believe you would revert to economy if you were upgraded to first class if a first class passenger complained about it.
Flight attendants have the authority to move passengers to empty rows or nicer seats if it makes their journey more comfortable, especially on long-haul flights. They want to get you from A to B safely; the rest is goodwill. Ultimately, this is not a consumer rights hill you want to die on.
They are there primarily for your safety, and it is not always possible to monitor the seats and ensure that a basic economy customer does not occupy a premium economy seat. If there is an empty row on a long-haul flight, sometimes it is just luck.
Frankly, flight attendants have to put up with a lot, especially when dealing with the general public. A series of studies examined the health status of cabin crew “and found significantly higher rates of sleep problems, depression, anxiety and fatigue than the general population.”
“Fatigue is promoted by night work, very early starts to work, long flights, long shifts and disruption of the biorhythm,” it added. Their working day starts with a drive to the airport, and being stuck in a plane for several hours means they are always “on”.
Irregular working hours
Don't ignore the east/west coast jet lag. “In the case of domestic flights, very early starts or very late ends of the shift, as well as irregularly structured schedules, have been identified as problematic,” according to this review of a series of studies from the past three decades.
“In general, irregular working hours, due to shift work and/or night work, can increase the incidence of physical and psychological problems,” the paper said. Add to that the problems that passengers who misbehave have caused staff since the COVID pandemic.
And they’re not exactly overpaid for having to put up with all the quirks and questions of tired, emotional, and, let’s face it, often cramped passengers. The average annual salary for flight attendants hovers around $68,370, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On the positive side, this is a profession in demand. Flight attendant job growth is expected to average 11 percent over the next decade, significantly higher than the 3 percent growth for all occupations, in part due to workers moving to other industries and/or retiring, according to the BLS.
Raising the flag for hardworking people
Yes, once again, the Moneyist is flying the flag for hardworking people. Maybe it’s because we need to remember the emotional labor, health risks, and endurance it takes to be a service worker, especially one who works in a box of titanium, steel, and aluminum in the sky.
We can all be that grumpy passenger or premium economy princess who expects to be treated a certain way. As I mentioned in my original answer, I fought with a standby passenger who wanted to take an aisle seat in my row, preventing me from being able to stretch out and sleep.
Sometimes “we” are the problem: whether we’re sitting in our local restaurant and staggering because we didn’t get our favorite seat, or telling our Uber driver to stand in it, or blaming overworked nurses for a medical system that is severely underfunded and overburdened.
Ultimately, it's important to distinguish between the problems we have with an industry, which can have frustrating and confusing policies, and the people in that industry. For the most part, it seems you've done that, and for that, you deserve a Consumer Complainer of the Year pin.
It is an invisible pin, so you can wear it with pride.
More columns by Quentin Fottrell:
'I'm not jealous, I'm just genuinely curious': How can a woman work from home and babysit her 3-year-old at the same time?
'I Made a Really Stupid Mistake': I Spent $50,000 Remodeling My Fiancé's Kitchen. Now He's Backing Out of His Promise That I'll Buy 50% of His House.
'I'm Shocked': My grandfather co-signed on my cousin's student loan. After my grandfather died, he left town. Should the estate pay the debt?
