Accidentally sitting in someone else’s seat on a plane is always a bit awkward, but for one woman, it happened twice.
With enough air miles come a few perks. For a poster on Reddit, who had hit her 1k with United Airlines, it came in the form of a seat upgrade. She had been moved from regular cattle class to first. Moving past her initial seat in 15B to 2A, she got comfortable in the seat upgrade.
However, after only a few minutes of being seated there, another woman approached. She spoke to the attendant and told her that the woman was in her seat. Asking to see the seated woman’s ticket, she informed her it must have been a misprint and moved her back to 15B.
Feeling a little put out, she collected her bags from her original seat on the plane and moved back. Once again, settling in, now on a smaller seat, she got deja vu.
Once Is Unlucky, Twice Is Annoying
Sitting in her originally assigned seat, the woman was once again approached by another passenger claiming it was hers. Again, with the attendant checking the tickets, the woman was asked to move. She was left standing at the back of the plane like a lemon, bags in hand.
Everyone is on board the flight, and the woman is still left without a seat on the plane. At this point, the flight attendants have to take notice. They begin to wonder how this could have happened. Finally, the first flight attendant decides to check the first woman’s ticket also.
It transpired that, in fact, the first woman who took the first class seat was on the wrong flight. She had been assigned the displaced lady’s seat because she wasn’t supposed to be on that flight in the first place. Finally, she was able to take her seat. But her bags had to stay at the back, with all the overhead bins filled by this point.
It shouldn’t be possible for people to board the wrong flight, with all the safety checks in place. However, it’s more common than you think, and can cause much bigger problems than simply double-booked seats.