Over the years, I have seen a lot of people try to self-upgrade by taking a business class seat that they didn't pay for. I have never seen anything like what I saw yesterday, which caused the police to get involved.
I flew from Doha to Dallas in business class and back in the early hours of the morning. I was seated in the second row of business class. A guy from economy took the seat in the last row of business class as boarding ended.
The crew quickly approached him. He claimed that he needed to move because someone was in his economy seat and there was nowhere for him to sit. He changed his story when the crew found his seat open.
He went back and forth with the crew for a few minutes, and eventually returned to his seat in economy. I've seen situations like this many times before and it didn't bother me.
The same guy from earlier came up to business class, took the seat across from Ford, and just left his suitcases in the aisle. He didn't try to put them in a suite or overhead bin, but just left them blocking the aisle. If you are going to try to sneak into business class without anyone knowing, that is probably not the best way to do it.
The cabin manager was called after the crew caught on to it being the same person as before. He handled the situation in a calm but firm way.
The self-upgrader didn't take rejection well, and started cursing out the crew.
What will you do to arrest me? I do not give a f*ck.
The discussion continued right by my seat after Her moved his bags toward the back of the cabin. The passenger claimed that his seat was occupied by someone else.
The guy pointed to an occupied seat when the cabin manager asked where he was seated. A flight attendant told the cabin manager that he was sitting on the other side of the plane. The guy changed his story and said he needed to sit in the front of the cabin. That didn't fly.
He changed his story again.
The cabin manager stood still. The passenger told him to f*ck off once again, despite the fact that he had already cussed him out.
The cabin manager told him that if he didn't go back to his seat he would have the police meet the flight.
The guy returned to economy after the cabin manager made it clear that this wasn't optional. Four airport police officers were waiting on the jet bridge. I didn't see what happened after I got off the plane.
Airline crews put up a lot, and self-up graders are common. When caught, self-up graders usually try to put up a fight before giving up.
I saw the most self-upgrader I have ever seen on the flight from Doha to Dallas. He made up lies about his seat being empty to make up for his abusive behavior towards the crew.
Huge thanks to the crew for their professionalism in handling the situation. They stood their ground and called the police.
What's the worst self-upgrader situation you've seen?
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