'I left my friend in economy while I flew first class - I don't regret it'

02 August 2023 , 09:49

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The man has been silent since the trip (stock photo) (Image: Getty Images)

Planning group trips are never an easy task. One person usually has to take the lead to ensure everyone has booked the same flights, times and accommodation, but one man has fumed that he wasn't included in the upgrade to first class like the rest of his peers, despite booking on late.

The group organiser shared that they had kindly upgraded everyone's seats to a first class ticket, but the late add on meant the man couldn't enjoy the first class luxury too, as he decided just five days before the trip he wanted to join.

Venting about the scenario on Reddit, the organiser asked if they should have upgraded the bloke's airline seat, despite it costing 80K in air mile points to do so. They wrote: "My friends and I live in Hawaii and decided to see a concert in LA. I booked our tickets and paid for everything months in advance. I informed other friends as well as an invitation for them to come with us.

"Others declined or did not like the same concert as us. About five days before the trip, our friend decides he wants to go with us, which we have no problem with. All we asked was that he split the rental car and AirBnb cost with us as planned.

"He then asked what seats we had on the plane so that he could try to sit next to us. I was trying to hide the fact that we were in first class as I wanted to surprise my friends. We are co-workers as well as really good friends and I wanted to treat them to something special for their hard work as I am their manager."

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Feeling as if there was no way to keep the surprise any longer, the group organiser had to let everyone know they had been upgraded, due to the late guest, who then asked why he couldn't be upgraded as well - despite the skyrocketing increase in price.

They added: "I decided to let the cat out of the bag and inform them that I had used mileage points to upgrade our whole ticket to first class. And that unless he paid for a first-class seat, he would, unfortunately, be sitting by himself in economy class.

"As my friends were excited with me announcing our first class tickets he asked why I couldn't have used points to upgrade his ticket and I explained due to supply and demand, the airline gouges prices in first class. I used 35k miles per person totalling 140k to upgrade our tickets right after purchasing our economy tickets.

"I knew it would be unlikely that they would have seats left or that they would be far more expensive than what I paid but I did humour him and called the call centre to inquire about the upgrade and just as I expected they had indeed jumped the upgrade price from 35k points to 80k points as there were no first-class seats left on our departure day and only 1 first-class seat left on the return day."

The manager wasn't prepared to fork out even more for the ticket, but this was met with anger from the man, even though he wasn't willing to pay for the upgrade himself.

They explained: "I told him I'm sorry and that I wasn't going to dish out 80k points for a 1-way first-class upgrade. I told him that if he was willing to pay me the equivalent of the miles in cash I would upgrade his ticket as it would be far cheaper that way than using only cash to upgrade his ticket.

"He got mad at me and started to raise his voice as he is another co-worker of ours and felt entitled to something special from me. I informed him that I tried to invite him four months prior and again two months prior. I told him it was his fault for waiting until the last five days to decide whether he wanted to go or not.

"We got back from the trip and he has been silent with me and I do feel a little bad for having the ability to upgrade him. But not willing to pay the crazy price."

Asking if they were the a**hole in this situation, people have been quick to share they weren't in the wrong for not upgrading the seat, and that the man had left it too late to expect an upgrade too.

One Reddit user wrote: "He had months to say yes but waited until the last minute. That's not on you," and another jibed " It's just a flight I think he will live."