Today is the Freddie Awards in Seattle, and I am flying on Virgin America for the very first time. I booked this flight for just 6697 elevate points back when there was a transfer bonus with American Express Membership Rewards. It was a great redemption, and I was excited to try the airline out since so many people have raved about how hip and fun it was.
I’m not going to lie, I was a little ticked off at first because I was assigned boarding group E (aka the bottom of the barrel – now I know how Dad felt), and I was forced to gate-check my carry-on bag since all of the bins were full.
My connection was extremely tight and we were already delayed, so the “over-entitled elite” in me started to go into panic mode, nervous that my bag would not make it to Seattle. Some other things to add to my grouchiness were that the flight was at the crack of dawn, and I had already spilled a scolding-hot cappuccino on myself on my way to the airport. I was starting to believe that today was just not my day…
Things took a change for the better on my SFO-SEA flight though! One cool thing about Virgin America is that you can order food and drinks right from your in-flight entertainment center. Not only will the flight attendants “deliver” your selections to your seat, but there’s also an option to send the items to another seat. I guess it encourages in-flight flirting… nevertheless, it’s pretty neat.
When I boarded the plane, I scurried to my seat – 11C, an aisle. I was on the phone at the time when a pair of college-aged friends asked if I was willing to switch to a window seat across the way so that the two could sit together. Since I was on the phone, I was hasty in denying the request stating that I liked aisles better. Then it hit me. I was being incredibly selfish – after all, I was traveling alone without any bags – what difference would it make? The flight is a little over 90-minutes long, and If I were in their shoes, I’d want to sit next to my friend too.
As soon as I got off the phone, I apologized for quickly shooting them down, and I gladly gave up my seat. Once we were airborne, a flight attendant came by and handed me a mini bottle of champagne. I was perplexed. “It’s from the two girls across the aisle”, he said.
Nevertheless, that random act of kindness totally made my day. I am now sitting in seat 11F and I’m beaming with an ear-to-ear smiles. It’s the little things, I swear…
Have you ever been a recipient of an in-flight surprise? Have you ever sent one? Would love to hear your stories!
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Aw, very cool gesture from them and thumbs up to you for switching seats!
I never got it but saw one guy getting a pretty nice one. I was on business class on AA flying BOS-LHR and the guy on the same row but in the center was sitting next to a woman. As soon as the plane doors closed a well dressed guy came from first class and asked the guy sitting next to the woman if we would mind switching with him and seat in first class since he wanted to sit next to his girlfriend that was in business. Easy choice!!!!! The guy was all smiles when he moved to first.
A lady who made boutique fudge gave me a box of it after I helped her put her bag in the overhead bin. My brother was given a seat in first class after he gave up his seat for another couple to sit together. And this was on a flight to Europe. Lucky Duck!
@Santastico, Hilarious that they were seated in different cabins.
I was upgraded on an AS cross country flight. Since I had an iPad with plenty of stuff to view and read I sent my comped DigiPlayer and a drink back to a uniformed military guy in coach. (Yes, I thought about offering him my seat, but I’m 6’5″ and I just couldn’t do it on a 5.5 hour trip!) He passed up his thanks via a flight attendant.
On an MSP->SLC flight, a very tall man sat in the seat in front of me – one that didn’t recline. I couldn’t bear to see him folded up like that for 3 hours, so I offered him my exit row seat with much more leg room. Just seemed like the right thing to do. Later a flight attendant let me know that she’d credited me with 15K miles – completely unnecessary, but it was already done. Turned out the man was a member of the Timberwolves on the way to join the team. He kindly offered to comp a seat at Target Center when next in MSP, but not being a big basketball fan, I declined.
crack-of-dawn champagne never tasted so tasty
Virgin America is my favorite domestic airline! Btw, there’s a way to get group A if you check your seats before boarding and 24 hours before departure, if your flight’s not full, you often get the main cabin express seats with a group A assigned for boarding! This trick works for me most of the time.
Ahhh, but what’s really going to bake your noodle is if you would have still received the champagne had you switched seats when requested. :)
Ok it’s not exactly the same as the matrix but kinda (~0:30)