Busted: Spirit Airlines Passenger Tries To Swap Cramped Seat For First Class Comfort—Ends Up In Walk of Shame

A Spirit Airlines passenger discovered someone else occupying her front-row seat, 1A, which she had paid extra for. It’s a “Big Front Seat” and starting next week the airline will try to turn it into a ‘real’ first class.

Today, I get on the plane last… someone is occupying my seat 1A so I show the flight attendant.. the girl is obviously with the person in the seat 1C next to my seat but claims she doesn’t know where her boarding pass or seat is… the flight attendant offered to look it up she says oh I’m in 18b she can take my seat… ma’am audacity is on clearance but you need to go to your seat I’ll be taking my seat!! Like blame your gf for not booking you with her cause I know I can’t look that nice or dumb

The woman assigned to the seat showed her boarding pass to the flight attendant for assistance. The passenger occupying her seat then claimed to be seated in 18B and suggested swapping seats – a big, first class-style seat for her, a cramped middle seat for the woman who paid for the premium product. Not happening. The woman in 18B winds up doing the walk of shame to the back of the (Air)bus.

Finally ensconced in her Big Front Seat, she calls the Spirit experience “very classy, very demure!” And I actually know what this means!

Post by @barbzinthecity
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This is a passenger who loves luxury, who clearly loves air travel, and who also… loves Spirit. They seem to be exactly who the airline has in mind trying to move upscale in order to generate more revenue, as they face increasingly higher costs in the face of -30% margins. She’s not who we used to think of as a Spirit Airlines passenger.

Spirit Airlines is launching free bags, Wi-Fi, priority check-in and boarding, and snacks and cocktails for customers buying these seats – ending the trend of a la carte pricing and fees for everything. This begins August 27th. Ironically, Spirit only has these bigger seats at the front of the aircraft because when they transitioned to an ultra-low cost business model it was too expensive to take them out.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Say to the seat squatter or poacher, “Hey, you’re in my seat as verified on my boarding pass. I paid a premium for this Big Front first-class type seat to Spirit Alrlines. Since you want to swap seats with me in exchange for your ultra-crappy middle seat in 18B, I’m happy to accommodate your request for a $3,000.00 cash payment before departure.”

  2. At least the squatter had a boarding pass!!
    As of late, too many stowaways boarding sans a pass with no detection by the gate agents.

  3. Spirit and Frontier attract the bottom of the barrel human beings. Yes they can be found on all airlines but these two airlines are like fly paper. You couldn’t pay to fly these two airlines.

  4. Good for her getting the squatter kicked out of her seat and good for Spirit doing the kicking out of the squatter.

  5. @ George N Romey. “Spirit and Frontier . . . these two airlines are like fly paper.” PERFECT.

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