You've Been Upgraded

--by beastly, posted Sep 4, 2009

My life currently requires a fair bit of travel but I was definitely surprised by my latest flight as when I walked in I realized that my ticket was in 1st class! This is seldom the case and so I thought it must have been a courtesy upgrade due to frequent travel.

I was traveling with my colleague and remembering a story I had read a few months ago, I quickly decided that I was going to offer the seat to someone else. I mentioned this to my colleague and his response was to do the same! So together, he and I made our way through the plane, Smile Cards in hand, looking for an unsuspecting person to tag. Towards the back, we found a couple unsuspecting young folks and offered an upgrade. They jumped at the chance :)

Once we sat down in our new seat, the woman on the other side of the aisle looked at me and asked 'why would you give up comfy seats to strangers so you can sit back here?' I responded, 'So I could see a couple people smile, and they're not strangers, they're family!' She liked that answer :)

13.9K Reads

Posted by beastly
Sep 4, 2009
Comments (30)

Readers Comments

Titia wrote: Your answer was just what i nedeed. It's made my day!

ganoba wrote: You are so very right. There are no strangers. We are all interconnected; a family in love and deed.

sabir wrote: An inspiring and a touching story that reflects the moments to create a loving environment by creating loving thoughts and feelings. This isn't an inspiration only, it is the original living style of the life which each one of us needs to make it.

irishgirl wrote: What a great view on life - seeing strangers as family! And how gracious of you to give up your comfort for someone else's. This is the true spirit of kindness in action.

Dawood Shah wrote: Reluctant to share a luxury is quite common. Leaving it for others to enjoy is magnanimity. Your quote will definitely kindle such attitudes in people

Robert @ United Airlines wrote: Thank you for such a nice write up. And being in the airline industry this is one perk that i get to witness occasionally and i just wanted to post that i'm sharing this story with my empoyees for a briefing daily good reminder. I have signed up to add more as they come to light. Mahalo from united airlines in maui, hi.

Bonnie wrote: I once gave up a 1st class upgrade on an international flight to a young woman who was having a migraine and have been glad every since!

karthik wrote: Nice! This was good to read. I can only imagine how good it must have felt

Deepa Narayanan wrote: That was really a touching gesture by both of you. I am sure there are many people in this world who do little acts of kindness once in a while, but i really wish we could make these a part of our everyday life.

Tracy wrote: I absolutely love the answer you gave to the woman. It is great to make people happy and sends out ripples of love and happiness :) bright blessings!

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