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It seems there’s a new “score a free upgrade to first class!” hack out there: book a middle seat.
Plus, a flight attendant learned a life lesson the hard way: do not mess with a cranky old lady who’s trying to enjoy a gin and tonic.
Those are some of the travel world stories that caught my eye going into this weekend.
Middle Seat Passengers Get Pity Upgrades?
Are you still wearing nice clothes so you can get a magical free upgrade to first class? You might want to leave the fancy duds in your closet (and read this post).
Why?
A travel company CEO told The Sun, “Airlines are more likely to upgrade passengers who are sitting in the middle seat as this is generally considered the least desirable place to sit.”
I’ve seen flight attendants move middle-seat passengers traveling alone to rows that are empty or maybe have only one other person. But up to first class simply because they feel sorry for them? That’s a new one.
I’m not buying it. What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the below Comments section!
Old Lady Gins Up Trouble During a Flight
A flight attendant took away an elderly (but belligerent) woman’s gin and tonic during a recent Jet 2 flight. And then the fight started.
Eagles Fly
A bald eagle decided to take the day off from flying itself — and let the airlines do the work instead.
Of course, that meant a trip through a TSA checkpoint. (No word as to whether or not the eagle is a TSA PreCheck member. #TravelNerdHumor.)
TSA officers are used to seeing an eagle on their uniform as they look over their shoulder, but I’m sure the team at @CLTAirport Checkpoint A did a double take when they saw a real one earlier this week. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/cxfbqyVok1
— TSA Southeast (@TSA_Southeast) August 25, 2022
The End of an Era
As fellow Boarding Area blog Miles to Memories reported earlier this year, Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is closing — and will become the Horseshoe.
The Bally’s letters came down this week. Or as Casino.org’s Corey Levitan wrote, “The letters B-A-L-L-Y-S were removed from the Las Vegas Strip on Tuesday with surprisingly little ballyhoo.”
I love that. Get it? Bally’s? Ballyhood? Nicely done, Mr. Levitan.
Your grandchildren are going to ask if you remember when Bally’s changed to Horseshoe. At which point you will tell them not to park their flying car on the grass. pic.twitter.com/NCICfYtLSS
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) August 25, 2022
I bet the letters could be recycled and turned into a credit card. 🙂
Here’s some dark history: Bally’s is the site of the original MGM Grand — which suffered a devasting and deadly fire in 1980.
And with that, enjoy your weekend!
Advertiser Disclosure: Eye of the Flyer, a division of Chatterbox Entertainment, Inc., is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact how and where card products appear on the site. This site does not include all card companies or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Some of the links on this page are affiliate or referral links. We may receive a commission or referral bonus for purchases or successful applications made during shopping sessions or signups initiated from clicking those links.
Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
A few days ago I as sitting in an economy aisle seat. A tallish guy tried to squat in the aisle seat directly behind me. When the correct seat-assigned person showed up, the flight attendant politely but firmly told the guy his assigned seat was next to me in a middle seat. He then asked me to trade with him. I smiled and said, “sorry, no.” He didn’t deserve it. He was fuming!
About a minute later a gate agent came on and approached me and said I’VE been upgraded (due to status and I was next in line on the upgrade list). While I was happy, I didn’t like how the middle-seat-assigned squatter now successfully squatted in my original seat.
Moral of the story, I don’t buy it either.
good article
Thanks!
We fly almost exclusively Delta and by and large, they’ve done a great job of taking care of us. However, once last year, we were “upgraded” from Main Cabin to Comfort Plus. In two middle seats. In different rows! What in the actual hell!?! Luckily, out two original seats were still available and I moved us back into them. I now only allow automatic upgrades into first.
Never believe anything written in The Sun. It is a rag not worth even lining the litter box with.
The only time I’ve ever been upgraded to a different class while already on the plane was when there was a technical issue. I recently flew JFK->AMS (one of two legs to a beautiful Athens vacation I’m still on!), and when my IFE didn’t work in Economy, they moved me to Premium Select. I saw them move people from perfectly functional middle seats to empty space in the same cabin, but not to another section.
This actually happened to me last year on AA from JFK-LAX on the A321T! I was upgraded to business class presumably because I had asked earlier if there were any non-middle seats left but was told this was a full flight. After boarding was complete, the gate agent came onto the plane and handed me a new boarding pass!!!!
Do you have status with the airline?
I call bull on the middle seat thing. Airlines that have complimentary upgrades also have a pecking order, and the poor guy in the middle seat on a basic economy ticket isn’t in the roster.