A Little Generosity + Some Luck Can Go Far!

I was flying from LAX-SFO on United this past weekend. I was flying with my girlfriend, and she and I were not on the same itinerary. Thus as a 1K, I was upgraded. And as a Premier, she was not. We wanted to sit next to each other so I just decided to plop down in the middle seat in E+ next to her, and I figured that whoever got my seat, I’d just offer them 3D up in first class as the alternative.

Oddly enough, as the plane started to fill up, I became curious who the lucky soul would be. Then he came... straight from the Jersey Shore - hair slicked bag, toothpick in mouth, affliction shirt on tightly, and biceps the size of my thighs. He looked at the FA and was doubly confused. 1) Why was someone (me) in his seat? 2) “What kind of upgrade is that?!” He had paid $14 for the upgrade to Economy Plus, and they put him in a middle seat. The flight attended tried to console him, telling him it was 6” extra leg room and blah blah blah. Luckily before that conversation got too far, I told him to go take 3D and enjoy a few drinks on me. The guy didn’t think twice about it and looked as happy as a pig in... well... you know... 

Later in the flight, the flight attendant came back from first class and told me how generous I was to give up an upgrade. I thanked her and told her it wasn’t that big deal as it’s only a 30 minute flight or so. She corrected me and said, “52 minutes today, sir” :-). She was so appreciative and stopped to get to know my girlfriend and I for a while. I won’t give her name as I’m not sure if the next part would get her in trouble, but it’s great to see that UA has some of these flight attendants left. She then said, “When drinking wine, do you prefer red or white?” Before I could answer, my girlfriend jumped in with “White!” She said, “Great... let me bring you back a bottle of white wine for your generosity. Thanks for being such a great customer.” Thanks, _____! You made my Sunday that much better.