Musical Chairs in the Plane

I am still in Greensboro. Since I had some free time, I thought I would post this.

This happened on our way to Greensboro, North Carolina.

We had booked our flight from San Francisco. It was an A 321 (Air Bus). The plane was fully booked. Whenever I pay for myself, I travel by “cattle class” only. Thank you Mr. Shashi Tharoor for coining that phrase. We could not sit together. My wife’s seat was 7B. My seat was 8B.

In an A 321, there are 3 seats in each row. A is window seat. B is center seat. C is aisle seat. The best is aisle seat. Window seat is second best. Center seat is the worst. We both had the worst seat.

As soon as we entered the plane, my wife sat in 7B. I went to the next row. There was a good-looking girl sitting in 8A. There was a guy sitting in 8C. Now I have to sit between them. The guy was already flirting with that girl. As soon as I approached them, the guy told me he would be glad to sit in the center seat and I can have the aisle seat. It was a win-win situation. I got the aisle seat for me. He has an uninterrupted 5 hours of flirting with that girl and get cozy.

However, man proposes and God disposes. (That good-looking girl must have been a frequent flyer with lot of points to her credit. She must have asked to be upgraded to executive class.) After a few minutes, the airhostess comes and tells the girl that she has been upgraded to executive class. She picks up her stuff and leaves saying goodbye to that guy. Now I took pity on that guy and asked him if he wants his aisle seat back. He said no and he would be happy to sit in the window seat.

However, the airlines think otherwise. Since the girl in 8A has moved to executive class, now that seat is “officially” vacant. After a few minutes, a big fat guy has been allotted that seat and comes and sits in that seat. Now our friend is in the middle seat. I asked him one more time if he wanted his original aisle seat back. Now he is embarrassed to take back what he gave me originally. He said no and I can sit in the aisle seat.

While this is happening in my row, in row 7, a guy came and sat in 7C, the aisle seat. I asked him if he would like to exchange to 8C. He said he would be happy to. Therefore, I took 7C and he took 8C. Now my wife and I were sitting side by side in 7C and 7B.

The poor guy, who gave up his aisle seat in 8C for me so that he can flirt with that good looking girl, ended up sitting in the center seat 8B, between 2 fat guys.