Some people just don’t know when to stop, like the imbecile who would not take no for an answer as he tried to self-upgrade to business class on my Gulf Air flight to Bahrain.
A Portrait Of Stupidity: Self-Upgrading On Gulf Air
From Abu Dhabi, my next stop was Bahrain on Gulf Air. I was first onboard when boarding was called and settled into my seat for the short one-hour journey to Bahrain International Airport.
A man sat down behind me wearing a Nike hat.
Presently, a flight attendant came up to him, holding a manifest.
Flight Attendant: Sir, do you have a boarding pass?
Man: No.
Flight Attendant: We don’t have anyone listed for this seat. Are you sure you are in the right seat?
Man: Yes.
Flight Attendant: Sir, I need to see your boarding pass.
Man: I don’t have one.
Flight Attendant: Sir, what is your name?
Man provided his name
Flight Attendant: Sir, you are in row 10. Your seat is back here (motioning toward the back)
Man: No, I’ll stay here.
Flight Attendant: Sir, this is business class.
Man: I want to stay here. Come on.
Flight Attendant: Sir, I’m afraid you’ll have to go to your own seat.
Man: No, I’m staying here.
Flight Attendant: Sir, you must take your assigned seat.
Man: No. They told me I could have this seat.
Flight Attendant: Who told you?
Man: The gate agent.
Flight Attendant: Let me get the gate agent for you.
Rather than the gate agent, a supervisor boarded. He told the man to move back to his seat. The man again refused.
A long argument went on…back and forth with the same nonsense as above.
Finally, the passenger got the ultimatum.
Supervisor: Sir, move back to your seat or you will be removed form the flight.
That finally got the man to move, though he loudly shook his head and cursed while doing so, even vowing never to fly Gulf again…
I’ve seen self-upgrading before, but never an argument go this long (and frankly never an airline so patient with a muttonhead like that).
To the man: shame on you, punk. What makes you think that by acting like self-entitled, stubborn fool you’ll get what you want?
To Gulf: kudos for being patient, though my patience would have expired long before yours.
CONCLUSION
Some people act so stupidly in such a bold way. I was afraid at one point they were just going to let him sit there, since it was only an hour flight and the cabin was half full. Thankfully, they held their ground and the idiot did not try to return to business class after takeoff.
Simple truth: if you want business class, pay for it!
I mean, all that for a one hour flight? He should try pacing the aisle in economy before takeoff akin, ‘The Girl Who Walked To Vienna.” He was wearing a Nike cap so his Fitbit would have been happy.
And yes, I realize this will be lost on anyone who never read Matthew’s now famous (infamous?) post on the “The Girl Who Walked to Vienna.”
“What makes you think that by acting like self-entitled, stubborn fool you’ll get what you want?”
You haven’t spent a lot of time in the ME much, outside of high-end hotels, have you?
I have seen this, as well as a guy demanding they stop taxing out for departure so he could have a smoke, over and over and over again.
I don’t like to generalize, but ME people, especially men, are highly self-entitled.
What does ME stand for?
I’m guessing he means Middle Eastern (Arab).
I read this as referring to being self-centered, “me” as in first person pronoun.
Not ME men, it’s usually some Arab men from the Arabian peninsula.
Granted, we’ve also seen cases on here of people who aren’t Arab and try to self-upgrade (remember the crying Asian woman on Singapore Airlines?), so it’s just a ME or Arab men issue.
And female members of congress in the US.
Racist comment.
Blows my mind the leniency given to racist comments towards Arabs, that would never be tolerated towards any other group, just disgusting.
We choose to embrace a more liberal comments policy on this blog and appreciate when people are called out for their poor choice of words. Better to be candid about what people really think than shield sensitive eyes from hate in this world.
“I’m okay with racism”
I am okay with others expressing racism as part of a dialogue. Big difference. If that’s too hard for you to understand Brian, you’re free to go home to mommy and hide from the big bad man.
Varying degrees of truth behind ALL stereotypes/racism/et al. Problem with it? Stop perpetuating it. Like I think people names Brian are woke pansies.
Is it really a dialogue, or a normalization of racism?
Calm down, they were just stating they see this a lot from middle eastern men.
I think there’s an issue with conflating race with culture. Granted, the two can be tightly coupled at times. What’s being pointed out here is definitely a cultural stereotype, correct or otherwise. It coincides with men from a particular geographic region, which also has little racial diversity.
If the comments were more about how they appeared and less about where they were from, I would be more in agreement that it would be a race thing.
Still bigotry, then?
Yep, unless you can prove the assertion as factually true.
Very intelligent observation. I’ve also observed that the left continually conflates racism with culturalisn, and many on the right pander to that bad logic as well. Cultural differences exist. Pointing them out is not a bad thing. Eg. A cultural norm of throwing gays off of high buildings, to their death, exists. To point it out, as well as condemn that behavior, is not unreasonable. This principle is no different than disagreement with any other type of behavior that is observed to be common within a cultural group. If this group happens to all be of one ethnic or racial origin, this does in no way diminish the truth or validity of the observation. To deny what exists plainly in front of your face is one of the hallmarks of the new and improved Democratic party. A belief that everything and everyone must be completely equal in outcome and calling out obvious differences is discouraged.
Not everything is racist. Bad of you to suggest that you know what a person is thinking. He did the wrong thing.
What nationality was this man?
It is ridiculous how some people act to try to get their way, but it is surprisingly common especially among certain people.
Nah, it happens all over the world.
It happens all over the world but people’s ‘negotiation’ strategies tend to be regional. Step into a market in Japan, India, china, turkey, small town or big tow and then try to say everyone is the same or that some is racist for some people’s display certain behaviors.
“he loudly shook his head”
Gives a clue as to what was up there.
Lol.
Its funny when you’re a rich prig and not the poor slog with a Nike hat
Amusing typo. “Man: No. They told me I could have this eat.”
A 3 month stay in the Abu Dhabi prison will will do wonders for him. Then a deportation order and lifetime ban would be even better.
My first thought reading the headline was “not again Stuart”, but the man in those pictures looks nothing like him. Nonetheless, I applaud the Nike man for his hustle.
I would have at least said, “But I’m traveling with the man in front of me…Matthew.”
oh yeah what he did was so wrong. but why took his photo to post on this site instead of just writing about it? after reading this tabloid the guy clearly did nothing on you personally. or maybe the airline has the right humiliate this guy publicly instead of you? i don’t get it, it must be the clout.
Why are you protecting this jerk? Break the rules, suffer consequences. He is in public, there is no expectation of privacy. The world needs to see his picture to know what a cretin looks like!
Morons like this deserve to be thrown out of the plane. Let him be in “time out” for miss-behaving and take the next flight back next to the bathroom and he will never do this again.
+1
I pity the fool.
Agree that he should be thrown off the plane, but wait until it’s in the air (yes, I know it’s physically impossible to open the doors to actually do that).
Right, because nowadays, someone trying to self upgrade deserves being murdered via being thrown off a plane that is in flight. Your comment speaks volumes about you.
Self upgrade? Don’t be a moron. You want an upgrade? Go about it the right way
How many minutes did this go on for?
“Simple truth: if you want business class, pay for it!”
That got a LOL from me. This blog is mostly about finding ways to get upgraded due to status or promotions. I seriously doubt that Matt paid “retail” for his seat.
Well, you can pay with cash, miles, points, vouchers, etc… but you can’t simply sit there because you feel like it.
Who cares what specific medium Matthew used to pay for his flight? The fact is, he paid in a manner acceptable to the airline. What that specific tender was is irrelevant.
True, but the whole point of gaming the system is to get points and status by paying as little as possible for it…or even (next to) nothing if going the manufactured spending route.
Fair enough, although I don’t ms and personally don’t view trying to get great value to be gaming any systems. If your local supermarket offers 12 packs of Coca-Cola for $2.50, limit 4, are you gaming them by taking what they offer?
Christian, this is my bi-weekly shopping trip:
1) To Costco/BJs (depending upon my mood, I belong to both). I get some bulk items I know to be a good value.
2) Onward to Aldi.
3) I hit Korean grocery store for produce, some other meats, and spices.
4) Finally, I hit a normal supermarket for the rest. Supermarkets have the best soda loss-leaders I’ve found better than all three above.
My wife gripes about me going to four different stores, but it’s a huge benefit.
I’m not sure that’s the best analogy…
SOMEONE got my joke/point.
I tell people all the time that for the past 7 years, I’ve only paid for 3 flights and the rest via credit card bonus miles and promotions. It shocks me that folks don’t get excited and grill me for tips on how they could do it too. I suppose most fear it will be “too much bother.”
Consider the democratization of lounge access with millions having access to delta lounges due to AMEX. So… they “paid” for lounge access too and now they’re unusable in that instance.
Ignorance is bliss…
I’ve had multiple experiences like you describe. It’s almost as if they don’t comprehend what I’m talking about.
Not everybody has, wants or needs a credit card.
Not everybody can afford one.
Numerous spelling errors. Just saying.
Yeah, when you’re trying to put one over on “the man”, there comes a point at which you’re clearly busted and can not win. At which time you try to gracefully accept defeat as if it’s no big deal, merely a “misunderstanding”.
This was painfully slow for Mr. Nike Hat (who is clearly sloooow on the uptake) to realize. Based on the story here, he’s blown past that point a good 10-15 minutes prior to being forced into the walk of shame to row 10. LOL
Regarding their patience with this guy. I see no reason why they shouldn’t have established that he was in the seat against the rules and, after he refused to go to his seat, immediately informed him that he was flying in his assigned seat or not at all. You can still be calm but I don’t see a good reason for drawing out the process.
Nothing makes me more mad than people that break rules and laws and getting away with it. This is however par for the course in liberal america and more generally was par for the course in white america until people start calling it out.
“like the imbecile who would not take no for an answer”
Popular culture, and even women themselves, celebrated romantic men that refused to take no for a no, until the #metoo movement came around. Talk about a bunch of hypocrites or a sudden change of culture.
There is nothing wrong in pushing hard against boundaries to find where the boundaries are and how seriously they are taken. Donald trump did it many times and many american imbeciles still kiss his ass. It’s much easier to accept a white guy pushing boundaries than someone else. In any case its the job of the agent to make sure boundaries are respected, which they did in case.
Again cops in america used to let whites get away with pushing boundaries but stopped/shot non-whites when they did it. Pushing boundaries is the only to expose hypocrisy.
Hey Jimbo –
Do you find those comments from this ‘Debit’ jackass guy here as offensive as you’ve found other comments on this post to be?
Just wondering . . .
“Haggling” is an art form and touchstone of culture in the Middle East. This an extension of it, maybe that’s why the agents handled it in such a drawn out way.
Haggling is like bartering, it isn’t trying to get something for free.
If he was haggling he would have tried to negotiate getting into business class monetarily.
“vowing never to fly Gulf again…”
I suspect the FAs will lose no sleep over that threat …
I couldn’t agree more with this article – thanks Matthew! In fact it reminds me of those entitled types that book fares they know are mistakes, but then feign innocence, despite extensive expertise in this area, that the fare is obviously a mistake. You can even see from their subsequence utterances they have an eye to the legal angle. Some of the entitled so-and-sos then even launch legal actions.
To paraphrase Matthew: Simple truth: if you want a product, pay for it!
sick burn!
Some comments here about ME men and certain cultures etc.
Given the fact that the 2 conversations took place in English, is it possible the man wasn’t an ME man? I can’t imagine both the flight attendant and the gate supervisor not being Arabic speakers.
@Matthew I hope you finally got to fly the Gulf Air 787 long haul. If I remember correctly, you were supposed to do that a few years ago, but it never happened.
I’ve only seen one self upgrader, who took his seat in F next to me at the end of boarding. A pilot came back to our row, looked at the full seats then walked forward. A fa comes by a minute later asking to see boarding passes and the guy gets up to do the walk of shame…
Matthew, are you calling for him to do some form of “hard labor” as you did with previous attempted self-upgraders (United Tel Aviv to Newark)? Believe that couple (poachers as you called them) had a physical altercation with the crew and flight was diverted……yet this guy verbally assaulted the flight attendant/supervisor according to you. Either way his conduct is unacceptable and apparently he deserves the harsh names you called him: “imbecile…muttonhead…idiot”….perhaps he demonstrated just a more overt version of “Don’t You Know Who I Am?!” through his selfish actions.
https://liveandletsfly.com/united-airlines-business-class-poachers/
He should do hard labor. Would do him some good.
A few years ago on a United flight from Athens we had a passenger self upgrade. It took nearly an hour before the Captain got him to his assigned seat. So inconsiderate for everyone else. A couple of us volunteered to assist in relocating the jerk!
Lucky they did not hack him up with a bone saw!!
I am wondering why we fly and support gulf airlines which severly abuse human rights with horrible work conditions
Everybody knows it, there is good reason why they are able to provide service, above and beyond european and us carriers
maybe you mathew can step up to the plate and ban these slave owners
Should have told him that only economy goes to Bahrain, business goes to mosciw
World going to crap and yet there is such concern about one seat on an airplane.
Selfish, inconsiderate weirdos like this guy should have to reimburse all the other passengers for the value of their lost time due entirely to the selfish weirdo’s actions.
It seems to me the point of “article” was, “How dare a commoner think he can sit up here with the elites. I shall publicly shame him for it.”
@McB – If you pay for front row seats to [infamous band and expensive, difficult-to-get ticket] and someone decides they are going to sit next to you, in the same row, without paying for it – is that ok?
Reminds me of the couple that self upgraded and thought the blue blankets in overhead bins would match perfectly with the FC seat cushions so they sat down quietly and motionless in FC with the blankets completely covering their heads, shoulders, and bodies in an ill conceived plan to avoid detection. It was the only time in my flying career I asked an entire inanimate row of seats to move back to coach.
This entire column seems to be about men and their insecurity and fragility. What a world.
Wait til Sunday comes along.
I don’t understand why it went on for as long as it did. First time ask him to return to his seat. Second time ask him to return or else he will be removed. No messing around, get straight to the point.
Exactly. It’s a security issue. We ask you once and you refuse, we’ll ask you a second time. You refuse again and we get security ASAP. You’re off the flight. Period. Can you imagine if he got away with this? In the U.S., it would be the end of first class – just a bunch of drunk Karen’s carrying pizzas and hamburgers in and sitting wherever they want.
Eh…typical Arab fool. Seen too many entitled rich dad’s pricks on Gulf flights. A whack on his bottom would fix the tantrum.
Haven’t you previously admitted that you attempted to self-upgrade when you were younger? Seems that anyone that was in the cabin probably had the same thoughts (“shame on you, punk”) you did in this situation. Sure he probably put up a better fight, but seems rather ignorant for you to call him out when you have done the same.
Awww….poor wittle rich man wanna be is so distraught at almost having to sit next to a fellow commoner that he had to go rant about it online.
They should have deboarded him when he said his first “No”.
Agree.
Mr Klint, I’ve came up with a saying a few years ago: some people seem to not only be stupid, but stupid with an attitude. Thank you!
As a gate agent I’ve had a few self upgraders in my time.
One time a woman pretended to be asleep. As soon as she saw me come on she closed her eyes. Her little trick didn’t work and she was doing the walk of shame to main cabin.
Sometimes I get a feeling when someone is gonna do that. Sure enough I go down and the person did in fact think they were going to just slide into first class. Of course they told the FA I told them to sit there.
Ever since the pandemic I’ve seen an uptick of people seeing a seat not occupied when they board and they just sit down. This one guy looked at me like I had two head when I informed him his seat was in row 34. He acted truly stunned. I told him that he had a basic economy ticket and not a first so he would have to go in the back of the plane. Sometimes it embarrasses people to put them on blast with their BE ticket and they are trying to slide into first. He grumbled back to his seat.
No boarding pass…why wasn’t he immediately removed from the flight?
Loudly shook his head…hmmmm. Not only was this guy an idiot, he apparently had floppy ears, too.
Some people can only be taught with violence, sadly.
Oh heaven forbid someone get a slightly better seat than they paid for, right, OP?
If the seat was empty – who cares?
So glad the author feels the need to ‘fight’ for the airlines who truly don’t give a shit about his comfort. Billion dollar corporations that would leave you at the gate in a heartbeat, but feel free to jump on their side.
First time I’ve seen any article from you (gee thanks, Google) and all it did was piss me off with your entitled fucking attitude.