Sometimes life hands you an opportunity to do something nice for people, and all you can do is stand back and watch it unfold. Barbara and I were returning home from California last week and were upgraded to first class. What a blessing! But that blessing lasted just a few moments before we saw an opportunity to do something even better. Better than first class? You bet.

As we waited to board our American Airlines flight from Dallas/Ft. worth to Tulsa, we heard our name called over the speaker, requesting us to come to the check-in desk. The agent told us that they would like to move us to first class in order to keep another family together on the plane. I said to the agent, “Alexis, you are our new best friend.” She smiled, handed us our tickets and said we could board the plane. Yep, first class, folks! We’re flying First CLASS!!

I can now tell you that, after spending the previous three hours sitting in the economy section with our backs against the restrooms in the tail of the plane, the first class seats are amazing. They are wide, comfortable leather seats, big enough to accommodate both of us in one seat if we wanted, and leg room for someone and a foot and a half taller. We sat down a little dazed at our amazing luck.

Now it was us who got to feel like rich, important people as the remainder of the poor economy class folks boarded the plane, looking us over to see if we might be a celebrity or a famous sports figure. At least, that’s what I do when I walk through first class.

We were in our seats for less than a minute when two servicemen walked by in their digital camouflage fatigues. As we watched them walk past us to the economy class, Barbara turned to me and said, “That’s not right.” I said, “I know. Wait until everyone is on board and we’ll call the flight attendant over.”

When the aisle cleared, I called over the nearest flight attendant and said, “We’d like to trade seats with those servicemen. They should be in first class.” Continue Reading