I flew back from Salt Lake City last night and was having trouble with the iOS Delta app on check in. I thought I moved my seat to an exit row, but the boarding pass didn’t indicate so when I was finished. So after getting through security (always go through security first and work it out at the gate) I went to the gate agent to make sure everything was OK. He was super cool, and verified the change, but then had me move to a different exit row seat since the one I picked didn’t recline. While I almost never recline my seat (seems unfair to the person behind me), I appreciated how nice he was to do this, and he pointed out the seat next to me was unoccupied. I think of this as “low budget first class”; lots of leg room, no one next to you to spread out.
After sitting down and when the door to the plane was closing there was some commotion as the person with the exit seat was in the wrong row and I got up to let people move about. As I was going to sit down another passenger asked if I wouldn’t mind taking his first class seat so he could sit with his son. Not quite sure what the story was – maybe he already had the first class seat and grabbed a seat for his son at the last minute, or maybe he was hoping to upgrade two seats and only one was available. But, he clearly knew his way around traveling and was working a deal to get the exit row to himself and his son, and who was I to not take the first class seat and ruin his plans.
The earlier flight out was unpleasant; the window seat in the very last row on a slightly turbulent flight with a fully packed cabin. I felt like the universe was balancing out karma for the day with this good fortune.
I felt like waiting around to thank him, but I was in a hurry to get going and for all I know I was doing him more of a favor than he was doing me. But, I do appreciate the offer and feel like I had some good luck at the end of a very long day.
Thank you fellow traveler, and may all your future travels have the fortune that I had yesterday.