While airlines might service millions of customers with neutral feedback, all it takes is one passenger’s sour experience to be publicized online before reputation starts to take a hit. One individual traveling from Costa Rica to Seattle, Washington, reserved a first-class seat on Alaska Airlines, and it was quite a big deal for them as it was the first time they were traveling after a serious medical recovery. Unfortunately, airline staff couldn’t care less about one of its countless passengers and kicked the poor person out of their seat.
The reason was that two pilots were deadheading the same flight; with there being no more available seats in first class, the passenger was bumped down to economy. “I was told my status was low and that’s why I was moved,” they explained on a r/AlaskaAirlines post. But the disappointment didn’t stop there. The staff also refused to give the passenger their selected meal or a Mediterranean snack pack since they didn’t preorder them in advance, despite having had a first-class seat initially. On top of this, they’re vegetarian but weren’t provided any proper meals for the entire flight.
“I’m stuck on an 8-hour flight starving and haven’t been offered any food besides 1 biscoff cookie or ham and wasn’t offered any special drink or snack,” the passenger sadly recalled. “Why would I ever pay for first again if this is the treatment I’m being given?” they remark, pointing out they did their best to politely cooperate with staff. “I know it’s not their fault. But this feels really crummy. ☹️”
While a proper refund for this poor passenger might be something that comes to mind, one Reddit commenter points out how the economy seat given to the passenger at the time of flight was probably more expensive than the cost of the first-class seat’s reservation done in advance. Everything done months prior is always unquestionably cheaper. Still, many commenters encourage the cheated passenger to contact Alaska Airlines for an exact refund of the difference, plus a courtesy compensation.
In the end, though, the airlines are still responsible for mistreating a passenger, choosing staff to deadhead a flight over a valuable customer. Granted, Alaska Airlines has tens of thousands of customers, but just one sour experience and complaint left online can put a lot of eyes on the company in a bad way. One user is definitely right with their comment: “I wish Alaska management read these posts. They need to do better for folks who do everything right but get treated so poorly.”
