Have you ever received a complimentary upgrade only to start voicing your dissatisfaction about the seat right away? Right, me neither, but that’s precisely what I observed on my recent SWISS Senses A350 first class journey.
An unappreciative recipient of an operational upgrade
This past weekend, I flew the new SWISS A350 first class from Zurich (ZRH) to Boston (BOS). Until just before departure, I was the sole person booked in first class. However, the economy cabin was overbooked, leading to numerous operational upgrades across all classes, from economy to premium economy, premium economy to business, and business to first.
It was going to be a vacant first class cabin!
In first class, I saw the other two passengers receive their notifications of an operational upgrade from business class to first class. A complimentary upgrade to international first class? That’s somewhat of a dream, right?
I occupied seat 1D (the middle “double suite”), and then eventually, the gentleman seated opposite me, in seat 1A, arrived. The flight attendant warmly welcomed him and inquired if he had flown SWISS Senses first class before. He responded that he hadn’t and his first remark was, “I dislike it.” He continued with, “it’s like a box.” He then spent a couple more minutes just complaining about the seat.
Afterward, he called a family member and… began lamenting about the seat. Eventually, he exclaimed, “enough complaining,” and they switched topics.
As we neared landing, the purser came around to ask how the flight was, and as soon as she uttered those words, I thought, “oh, you’re going to regret that!” When describing the flight, he raised his wrist and shook his hand back and forth (as one might do to express “meh” or “50/50” or something similar). You can imagine what he complained about (while simultaneously not mentioning anything positive about the fantastic crew we had).
Another passenger wasn’t fond of these new seats!
People have a right to their opinions, but…
I recognize that some individuals may not appreciate the shift towards more private premium airplane seats. Ironically, he still closed the privacy doors when he went to sleep, so if one doesn’t want to feel “boxed in,” that seems like something they would avoid.
Ultimately, people are entitled to their opinions, whether they paid with cash, used miles, or received an operational upgrade. But when you receive a complimentary upgrade right before departure and then immediately start grumbling, it does seem to fall into the “looking a gift horse in the mouth” category.
A moment into his complaints, I was very tempted to interject and suggest that I’m sure someone in a non-privacy seat in business class would be thrilled to exchange seats with him. But of course, I refrained.
In fairness to this passenger, it served as a good reminder of how we all have differing expectations from seats, and that no first class or business class seat is universally regarded as good.
Most individuals lean towards the trend of more private premium seats and see it as a significant advancement. However, there are also some who don’t share that sentiment, and that’s perfectly fine.
I’m sure someone would’ve happily swapped seats with him!
In conclusion
I traveled the new SWISS first class across the Atlantic, and the other two seats were occupied by last-minute operational upgrades, due to overselling in lower cabins. Generally, people are thrilled when they receive operational upgrades, but the gentleman across from me was not at all satisfied with the seat, repeatedly complaining to the flight attendant, the purser, and his family, about how the seat felt like a box, and he was not impressed.
Of course, people have a right to their opinions, but being so upset about something you were upgraded to for free seems a bit excessive, as I’m sure someone in one of the most “open” business class seats would have been happy to trade.