A man boarded his flight before his girlfriend who was in a later boarding group than him and she’s slamming him for the move. Is she justified or should she slow her roll?
The popular subreddit, /AmItheAsshole, strikes again, posing an intriguing travel question. In a post by a user named /Anchordwn, a woman shares her recent travel story that left her fuming after her boyfriend did the unthinkable and boarded with his boarding group – ahead of her. She was fuming.
“My boyfriend (26M) and I (24F) travelled by plane to go to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving. We checked in together and had different boarding groups – he was group 1, since he is active duty military, I was group 3, for being a platinum card holder on the airline. This is significant since both groups are considered priority boarding.”
She describes her and her boyfriend’s travel expertise and opines for a bit before getting to the heart of the matter: she’s pissed because he boarded before her (full post, below).
After she joins him a few minutes later, a mild argument ensues, and the trip continues (although she’s fuming).
You can read the full post here:
So, dear reader, was she the a-hole? Was she in the wrong here? Let’s unpack this.
Despite being a seasoned traveler, as she claims, boarding groups very much matter. Not only are they where you are supposed to board (an airline will rarely let you on before your boarding group), but the earlier you board the better chance you have to score prime real estate in the overhead bin. And, if you are flying Southwest, it could mean the difference between your preferred seat and something far less desirable.
Boarding after your group has been called is permissible, and fine. The man easily could have waited until her group was called and simply boarded with her. However, more information is needed.
It sounds like they weren’t traveling on an airline that didn’t have assigned seats so that element is likely off the table.
But, did they have luggage to stow in the overhead? I’ve seen couples switch bags during the boarding process before so that the person with the higher boarding priority takes the larger bag and stows it. Was that an element here?
Was he flying an airline where he misunderstood the boarding rules and mistakenly thought he HAD to board during his group because he’d identified himself as military?
What airline were they traveling and are there any unique factors that play into this (e.g. board from front to back, or by status, etc)?
All things being equal since the woman’s boarding group wasn’t that far behind his, and assuming they had assigned seats and no real luggage problems, it certainly wouldn’t have hurt the man to board with his girlfriend. Why not put a few points in the girlfriend bucket and build up some house credit? We’ve all had relationships before and understand the value of this.
On the other hand, this is a super petty thing for her to be upset about and the man just learned some valuable information about his girlfriend. Our official position here at the C Boarding Group is this young lady needs to relax. This is not a big deal. And for the man? Eh…hope she’s worth it. File this data point away for safekeeping.
Finally, the general consensus in the comment section of the subreddit suggests that this woman indeed was the a-hole.
1 comment
The guy should have been a proper gentleman and boarded with his significant other. His selfishness is not unlike the parents who bring crying babies into club lounges. Just because you have something doesn’t mean it’s not inconsiderate to others when you use it. While the woman shouldn’t have started an argument about it, she should be the one taking notes about the situation.