I’m not one to really follow celeb rants, but when I saw a story about actress Danielle Brooks tweeting that she was offended by a gate agent congratulating her for flying first class trending in my Facebook newsfeed, I couldn’t help but to relate because… girl, I know.
More often than not, I have been told by a gate agent to “wait ’till my boarding group was called†when I boarded in the first class line. Or that one time when I was entering a United Club, and before I even had a moment to hand over my boarding pass, the agent said, “Are you buying a day pass? You know it’s $xx, right?â€
Or that time when I was boarding a JetBlue flight with my infant son during Mosaic boarding, only for the gate agent to tell me that “no one called family boarding yet”.
My favorite was when I was number 1 on the upgrade list for an American flight. I asked when upgrades might clear, only for the gate agent to snap at me in the most condescending way with, “Sweetheart, you have to be on the list for an upgrade. That’s how these things work here”. Her face went blank when I said, “Yes I know, let me know when I can pick up my boarding pass, as I’m #1 and I know how things work here.”
Lastly, I even had a man come up to me out of nowhere in a lounge and say that I look “awfully young” to have a Platinum card.
Whether we like it are not, there are way too many stereotypes about who “belongs” in first class, and it’s something I like to jokingly-call “elite discrimination”.
Feel free to share your stories!
I’ve gotten too many condescending comments and glaring looks from lounge agents over the years to count, made worse by the fact that they think I’m conning them by using a card with which they’re unfamiliar for access…but I need to give a shout-out to an Air Berlin named Roland. He was an FA on my first ever international biz/first trip about a year ago (JFK-DUS), and he could clearly tell that my gf and I were newbies given how ecstatic we looked when he first brought us prosecco prior to take-off. Well, I think that knowledge motivated him to give us a fantastic flight, checking-in with us frequently, offering us multiple food and drink trials for each course, and talking to us about how Air Berlin runs its services and how this differs from other airlines (often with an apologetic “that’s why we call it Business, and not First”). So, thanks for treating us like full-fledged first-class citizens, Roland!
Wow! That’s amazing that people say those things to you. I sit up front pretty often and have yet to experience those situations. I hate to pull the gender card but notice that first class tends to be male dominated. I wonder if profiling exist in this arena as well.
In the last year, I have been ID’d in First class, despite being 26, wearing a suit, travelling during the week or working hours, and usually having my laptop out with my business card with major company logo prominently displayed….for my one beer.
some people just don’t understand how they sound sometimes…
It’s amazing how many times I’ve been treated badly by gate agents. As I get older the incidents keep reducing. My favorite of all time was flying UA from IAD – NRT. Granted, I was a 23 year old 1K. Anyway, I boarded a little late (during general boarding) and had a backpack and a small brief case. The GA on the bridge made me put my briefcase into my backpack as I exceeded the 1 personal item limit. It was a full flight with “no overhead room” and I wasn’t allowed to break the rules. Anyway, after a five minute ordeal and being talked down to by the gate agent she asked to see my boarding pass to my surprise she apologized and personal walked me to my seat (Business). She said I was “too young” to be in business class or a 1k. Never judge a book by their cover.
Flying DeltaOne on AMS-NYC, I, like many other people, were taking pictures of my food/ plane/ window/ etc.
One of the flight attendants came over to me and asked “Hi sweetie. Did your daddy pay for the ticket”
How rude!
Now I’m getting nervous for going to my first Centurion lounge next week. Maybe I’ll wear my platinum bling on my finger. Nah, I prefer the simple titanium band. I won’t be upfront though so probably no issues.
I get more of those comments towards and within Europe. Never towards Asia, but that might be due to the airlines I fly with. Does Cathay just see a lot of wealthy Chinese young uns?
Whenever I upgrade to business or first class for work or whenever I go on vacation (as I always use miles for 1st class flights) I purposely dress down / casual because I don’t think one should have to “dress up” to fly in a higher class on a plane regardless of how that was obtained whether it’s status, paid outright or paid with miles.
I was having drinks in centurion lounge ga Las Vegas , I was working on my 3rd drink than went for 4th drink and bar tender goes you gotta slow down – I told him what he is italing about , I am use to drink 5 drinks with out any buzz-so rude -I paid 450 buck for platinum card
I think the issue is for every one person who doesn’t look like they belong in 1st class, lounges, priority access but are entitled to it, there are 10 people who actually don’t belong, but try and get the benefits anyways. The agents are the ones who have to police people boarding when they shouldn’t be or if they have access to a lounge. Every flight I board i see people trying to board before they should. Every time i enter the lounge there always seems to be some loser trying to scam their way in.
I’m a young looking 35 and have gotten the look like, you don’t belong here. I think it’s something people should shrug off b/c I think a 95% of the time the agent is just trying to protect the integrity of the product. The other 5% the agents a jerk :)
She was complaining because airline employees don’t think black people should be flying in first class. You’re white. You’re privileged. You’re not allowed to complain about this. #Kony2012.
You know you’re getting old when you have to Google the name of the actress being discussed :)
I’ve never had anyone comment on my appearance in first class, or in a lounge, but that’s probably because I’m no longer a spring chicken.
I look young and i’m a woman… a single woman. I get questioned by other passengers as well. I was waiting in the first class ticketing line and this couple behind me tapped me on the shoulder to make sure i knew i was in the first class line… SERIOUSLY? OR i’ll get asked “just you” as if i can’t pay for first class or be AA exec plat without a man!! AND NO my parents don’t pay for me either and haven’t since i was 14!!
Thanks for letting me rant a little and bringing light to this… This is way too common..
My son is 13 but he is a Silver Medallion. He was 1 on the list and was pulled up to first class with me last minute due to a no show in first class. He was not issued a boarding pass, and we did not think this would be an issue. (He was 1 and only on the list, even after he was pulled up) We were forced to deplane and reboard a new aircraft (of the same type) and were told to take our same seats. About 15 minutes in to boarding, a lady came up to the first class to talk to the flight attendants. I saw her boarding pass 7B and a little seat assignment change ticket 1C, my son’s seat! We tried to explain, but when my son tried to talk they rudely shushed him and said ‘ Go back to your seat!’ He was the only one on the upgrade list! Why did they give the seat to a random person?! They were very rude to my son. This is not the first time I have seen Delta discriminate my children.
Flew LAN business class LIM-IAD last month. Economy passengers were lined up (60+ people lined up, easily) 10 minutes before boarding was scheduled to start. Since I had priority boarding, I sat down and was reading some blogs on my phone. A LAN agent came over to me and suggested I get in line with the rest of the passengers. I told her no thank you. She requested to see my boarding pass and shockingly didn’t even know how to properly read the boarding pass. She kept pointing to the gate number and telling me that was my seat number and to get in the queueing line where my seat group was. I kept pointing at my actual seat number and to where it said “PREMIUM BUSINESS”. It took three tries before she realized she was wrong and was completely embarrassed. She then insisted on taking me up to the priority boarding line, checking my passport, and letting me board before boarding was supposed to kick off. I suppose it didn’t help that I was carrying my tortuga backpacking backpack…
Last week I was flying BA club world LHR-IAD. Got to the boarding gate after boarding had started and they had begun general boarding. My girlfriend and I went to the priority line and as we were passing by the line of passengers, an American man in his early 50s told us in a very stern voice “hey, the line starts back there!”, pointing at the line of 50+ people and glaring at us at the same time. I smiled at him, informed him that we would not be going to the back of the line as we were flying in business and to enjoy his flight. The look he gave us was priceless.
I have more of these stories as I’m only 27 and there is definite age discrimination going on — both from airline employees and other passengers. These are only two that I remember from the past month and a half.
Flying business class from ORD to FCO last month (October BA flash sale). The chatty couple behind me struck up a conversation with a family with teens and included ” flying business class on frequent flyer miles and for the first time, right”? Thought it was a bit presumptuous.
Who is Danielle Brooks?
I’m waiting for something like this to happen to me. I have an Admirals Club membership and am AA gold. For now, I’ve only gotten looks, but the moment someone says something rude I won’t be a happy camper.
There are respectful ways to phrase your questions in certain situations. If you’re in a customer service job, you should learn how to do that!
From reading the comments it sounds like most people are more proud than annoyed at such comments. We all should count ourselves fortunate we can ride in the front of the plane and visit the priority lounges rather than complain about a few unthinking or rude people.
People who fly in the front are some of the most pretentious people I have met. Wondering “how dare anyone challenge my position” is indicative of this.
I know I can’t fully relate because I’m a white male, but I dress casually and normally just have a backpack as my carry-on, so I’ve gotten a (tiny) bit of the same treatment (mostly from other passengers). I take it as a compliment!
Like “yes, that’s right – I’m 20 years younger than you, wearing a t-shirt, carrying a backpack, didn’t sell my soul to some corporation and spend 30% of my working days traveling to sit in business class, and I’m not awkwardly wearing a suit on a 5 hour flight – aren’t you jealous?”
Seriously, it gives me great pleasure. Sometimes when I’m in the lounge I’m almost disappointed if I don’t get any strange looks from the businessmen!
When I was 20 I was traveling in an exit row the flight attendant asked me of I was old enough to sit in the exit row (which you have to be 15) and when I told her my age she didn’t believe me until I showed her my ID. I do know about snarky remarks when flying in F or C, last week I was flying domestically and knew my upgrade wouldn’t clear with 2 seats available she first said that no seats were available and then when I showed her the app that said only 6 were booked she said ‘well I will look but you probably can’t afford it’ the upgrade ended up being $150 and I handed her my credit card. I don’t mind when people think I am younger than I am, it makes me mad when they think I don’t know what I ma asking for when I ask a direct question.
I look young for my age and only a handful of times has any made a comment. A DL skyclub agent made a comment that I was so young to be a diamond until I told her I was 36. At least it’s been a few years since I was carded on a plane, but that’s probably because of my gray hair.
I don’t know why these agents would make these assumptions. I have two friends whose children have been DL diamond elites since they were 9 or 10. If I know two, there must be thousands.
These are just families in which both parents travel a lot for work and pleasure, and have nice incomes, and like to take their only child on nice trips.
Now that I think of it, I know a 3rd such kid, but he’s from Jersey, so his elite status is probably with aa.
I really can relate to this one, I’m in my late 20’s but I got an Amex Platinum when I was 23 and I was with my fiance when I went to an airspace lounge at BWI. When I get to the attendant to check in I was met with a “You know you have to be a member or have a credit card affiliation.” I said “yes ma’am let me grab my card.” Before I could grab it in a very condescending tone she said “Amex platinum only” to which I responded “Yes miss, I’m aware.” After that it was all smiles and Mr’s.
I have to say the absolute worst though was last year on a first class flight from IAD to HNL. It was a full first class flight which we booked several months in advance and one of the gate agents gave me and my fiance weird looks as we boarded. A few minutes later after we got settled the gate agent came up to us and asked for our boarding passes (which she already scanned). Of course we looked at her like she was lost. After that she proceeded to claim we were the wrong people and and were didn’t belong in first class (even though our boarding passes verified it along with our FF account #’s) of course she went back and checked and apologized for her mistake where we just casually smirked and went on with our vacation.
I’m sure it won’t be the last time but I won’t let it ruin my travels. I consider it a privilege to help people move from ignorance and realize that you shouldn’t judge or make outlandish claims towards or about people without fact checking.
I don’t know, maybe I live in a different world, but I have never encountered anything of the sort. When I was a child, I travelled a lot ( mostly to Europe, but other continents as well) with my parents -always in business or first. Have been traveling alone since adulthood ( in my early 30s now) – very frequently, both for pleasure and business, almost always in upper cabins. And have never encountered this kind of behavior. Maybe the agents who are making assumptions are new or inexperienced. Ditto for the passengers making assumptions. While traveling, I see lots of families with kids and/or young passengers in upper cabins, it seems a norm rather than exception. So have no idea what the ado is about; maybe you experienced a new agent or flew through a small airport…
Personally, I’d love to be that person. Because I’d enjoy putting them in their place after such condescension. I have witnessed this with an older lady getting cut in front of (and incidentally us being cut in front of as well), by a guy and his wife who presumed she was in the wrong line.
I experienced something of sorts when I was boarding for Flight Deck business (suit and tie, but not with the airline itself) as previous crew was de-boarding. They asked if I forgot something, and I advised them I was boarding for the Flight Deck. One of the women exclaimed “You’re so young!!!”
Angela…You should have told the gate agent “Oh really? I’m sorry, I didn’t know that!” and just wait for her to call you on the upgrade list. She will probably be puzzled and as she verbally questions her judgement you can reply with a snarky comment like “I just wanted to see what your face would look like after you thought you were being so clever”