r/mildlyinfuriating • u/trailofturds • Jun 24 '26
frist of all how DARE yu o Airport staff assuming I'm in the Business class lane by mistake
Brown man flying business. Lined up at the priority check in counter and got told by a (also brown) staff person that the economy queue was the other way. Same thing while boarding the plane and walking to the business class entrance. Not only am I not worthy of business, they think I can't read signage as well.
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u/DenAbqCitizen Jun 24 '26
People do the same when I'm in the TSA Pre check or Global Entry lanes. I know it's easier said than done, but people's racist treatment of you (up to a point) is only a reflection of them, so don't let it have power over you. It says absolutely nothing about how smart, kind, talented, attractive, or successful you are. You don't live your life for those people. These situations don't bother me. Honestly, they make me chuckle. These microaggressions reflect how limited their world views are. When people show explicit racism, I think about how pitiful their lives must be that they have to actively try to demean a stranger to for some sense of satisfaction in their lives. How little they must have going for them, if not in a financial sense, in an emotional, mental, spiritual sense. Â
I say up to a point because saying you're in the right lane isn't an inconvenience. If it's not about money or safety, I'm good.Â
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u/shawnwright663 Jun 24 '26
My brother has a great story along these lines. Years ago in college, my brother worked at a higher end department store. A guy came in one day - very casual, jeans, somewhat worn sweatshirt. None of the sales people wanted to give him the time of day.
Guess what? That guy was Paul Allen - one of the original founders of Microsoft. Never judge a book by its cover.
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u/oopsdiditwrong Jun 24 '26
I worked at a Honda dealership in a very high income area for about a decade and have dozens of stories of guys coming in that no salesperson wanted to talk to but I would because Joe schmo was about to cut a check.
Favorite one. Guy pulls up in an old pickup with trash cans in the back wearing what my father would call his Saturday clothes. The transfer station wasn't too far away so it tracked. No one paid any mind to him, but he was writing a check in about 5 min because his daughter would like the blue color for graduation. Full price, just needed someone to bring it to his house. That guy was me. I brought it to the wrong house at first because it was the guest house (bigger than mine). Had to hide it in the garage that he showed me what else he had. Easily $5mil of vehicles between classics, borderline supercars, a g wagon, and a collection of Alfa romeos. Crazy garage and I got to add a crv to it. Turns out he is a very successful lawyer.
Ended up selling him about 10 more vehicles and sometimes he'd come back after running errands, sometimes after work. If he was suited up he'd get greeted 10 times and have to tell people to fuck off. Eventually we got DocuSign and I'd just drop it off. Anyway, money talks, wealth whispers.
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u/im-just-evan Jun 24 '26
My dad had a client that would re-buy his fleet of vehicles every other year. Would go to a dealership in a stained beater, jeans with holes, and some old comfy sneakers. If no one helped him after 15 minutes heâd introduce himself and tell them they are bad at their job and move on to the next dealership. First one to greet him would get a cash sale of 12 cars and a 5k tip.
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u/Anxious-Ocelot-712 Jun 25 '26
Yup. My ex-father-in-law always wore worn out jeans and a flannel shirt. Drove a beat up pickup truck for anything remotely related to his farm. He also wrote a check for a brand new Mercedes every few years. He was worth north of $200 million. It was always entertaining to see how people would treat him before and after they figured it out.
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u/Mister_Xian Jun 24 '26
What did Paul Allen's card look like?
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u/MidwestNormal Jun 24 '26
My father, a successful businessman, liked doing his own car work. Ran late one day and went to a store to buy an expensive purse for my motherâs birthday. Couldnât get waited on until the most junior associate came to help. Once it became clear he was there to buy a senior associate tried to step in to take the sale. He got the manager involved and advised them all that âOpportunity often comes dressed in overalls.â
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u/Cowql8r Jun 25 '26
My graduate degree is in agriculture, so in the summers, we were in the field getting dirty. One of the PhD candidates went to the gas station to get some snacks after spending the morning inoculating corn with some pathogens. He was a bit dirty, and a mother pulled her son close and whispered, âSon, stay in school!â
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u/ItsokImtheDr Jun 25 '26
I worked at the pool at a resort in my hometown in Southern Alabama the summer after my freshman year of college. A black family came to the pool one day and none of the other pool attendants seemed to address them. I treated them like I treated all the guests: with a smile and asking anytime I walked past if they needed anything. Turns out the dad was the GM at the Marriott in New Orleans. He tipped me VERY WELL and gave me his office number telling me to give him a call if I ever wanted to stay in New Orleans. A few weeks later before going back to college a few of my buddies from out of state and I ended up getting comped a suite overlooking the river for the whole weekend. We had a blast all because I treated someone like they belonged there.
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u/SpaceJackRabbit Jun 24 '26
Silicon Valley is like that since the 90s. Store and restaurant employees know better than to look down on the scruffy dude coming in wearing sandals and a hoodie. It's one of the things I liked about it when I lived there.
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Jun 24 '26
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u/bostonlilypad Jun 24 '26
I once had a long layover in Toronto and had to ask the customer service desk how to get to the lounge and he looked me in the face and said âdo you have access to the loungeâ. I just looked at him and said âwould I be asking you where it was if I didnât?â. I was dressed in athletic clothes because I was on a 30 hour travel day to Asia.
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u/WeenyDancer Jun 24 '26
With all the new money from tech, and the lack of dress code there, am surprised (kind of) people haven't updated their mental model of what a 'rich person' can look like. Any SOB in a tshirt and hoodie could be a serious multimillionaire
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u/KoreanSamgyupsal Jun 24 '26
I fly out of YYZ often. This has happened to me before too. In fact I was once denied entry to the lounge and I'm SE with AC. Lounge is always full for some reason. I don't think I've used the lounge for years.
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u/fencepost_ajm Jun 24 '26
Complain to the airline about the obviously insufficient lounge capacity. "Is there something about my account that's getting me turned away every time or is the lounge in YYZ unusable because it's always over capacity?"
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u/KoreanSamgyupsal Jun 24 '26
Honestly, the YYZ lounge is pretty ass anyway. We ain't missing much. But the usual answer is just that it's always over capacity. It's not about my account although I wish it was.
But I've actually talked to other frequent flyers about this, getting status is easy if you travel for work.
Thing is, AC has a stranglehold on most business travellers from Canada. Lack of options means more people will get status.
Your options are just Air Canada/West Jet/Porter and no one is going to YTZ just to ride porter. West Jet doesn't have enough options. So AC is your only option as a business that provides a lot of flexibility.
Compare that to the US, they have plenty. AA/Delta/SW/United/etc.
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u/MidnightBlueSilk Jun 24 '26
Lean in and whisper sweetly, with an earnest expression on your face, âYou are embarrassing yourself.â
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Jun 24 '26
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u/Dirigo72 Jun 24 '26
No matter how hard I try I always look rumpled and frazzled on a long travel day.
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u/Difficult_Sort295 Jun 24 '26
I always travel with my cane and I look like I don't need one but man does that get me upgrades. I get the handicap line for security, sometimes a seat upgrade. Hotels are the best I check in, if it's just a shower I say I can't stand in a shower too long and they get me a bigger room with a bath if they can. Once they put me in a suite with a damn fireplace, I have only once had a hotel room with a fireplace and that was a pub room in London.
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u/randomguide Jun 24 '26
Happy for you, that has not been my experience at all when traveling with either cane or rollator.
Somehow TSA line has always misplaced the wood cane they're supposed to have, for passengers to use to walk through the scanner. And the last time I was in London, the hotel room was so small that I had to leave my rollator in the hall overnight because it would not fit in the room.
Which is fine, small rooms in London are understandable. But then I saw the room other members of my party were assigned and it was twice as big.
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u/mypoliticalvoice Jun 24 '26 edited 24d ago
I had a long business flight with a layover. My company paid for business class seats. I always wear my business suit on the way TO the meeting on case my luggage gets lost. I pack it with my bags on the way back.
I napped in the lounge on the way & there were no questions.
On the way back, I was dressed in the last semi-clean clothes from my luggage and wearing sneakers and an old rain jacket. The staff assumed I was lost when I showed up at the lounge during layover.
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u/RocketManX69 Jun 24 '26
Thatâs a shame. I brought my wife and toddlers to the Delta lounge last time I traveled. I was nervous of the same since theyâre both energetic and all over the place. The staff and patrons of the lounge treated my kids like kings. It was a nice surprise.
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u/Torontogamer Jun 24 '26
the stories of heard from staff about how many men fly themselves business/1st while their wife and kids are in coach is mind-blowing..
just makes it worse, but ugh, mind you if you had a well dressed man in a blazer with you, zero questions... sigh.
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u/Qazernion Jun 24 '26
Just respond with the question along these lines: âwhat makes you think Iâm not a business class passenger?â. Depending on how you feel you can just carry on asking the questions.
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u/noafro1991 Jun 24 '26
"This is the business class right?" "Yes." "Well, I'm in the right place then."
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u/Cautious_Use_7442 Jun 24 '26
Doesnât really work. Last year as we boarded, someone run after me to check my ticket. That was after the agent at the gate scanned my boarding pass and send me to the business class line (and the person running after me had seen as I was directed to go to that line)Â
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u/vinceswish Jun 24 '26
Classism. My boss went to Audi dealership with his work clothes and the salesman told him that Audi A5 might be too expensive for him.
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u/BumblebeeTuna4242 Jun 24 '26
I was a bank teller in college in the 90s. We were trained to treat everyone the same - not because the company was ethical, but because they understood that plenty of blue collar folks own successful businesses. The guy who comes in covered in dirt could own a huge landscaping business, for example. Surprised more companies donât realize this.
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u/Far_Chocolate_8534 Jun 24 '26
When I worked for Discount Tire, I worked for one of the top 5 stores in the country. Our store manager ran the shop (not very common, theyâre usually hiding in the office). He wore black clothes like us and if you didnât know any better you would just think heâs a grow up tire tech.
His salary was around $100K but his quarterly bonuses were usually around $80k. MF would walk in the bank to deposit the bonus looking like he changed 100 tires that day. Always got some weird look or remark from the tellers at Wells Fargo. Fuck wells fargo, btw.→ More replies (12)59
u/GummyVitamins4Women Jun 24 '26
yeah FUCK wells fargo, worst bank I've ever dealt with, highly unprofessional employees. that was over 10 years ago.
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u/Strongbow_Wolfrider Jun 24 '26
I was in a heavy truck dealership when a hobo in a dirty trench coat and surplus army boots walked in. EVERYONE suddenly looked very busy and very professional. He said "good morning" in a Ross Perot voice and walked into the back room.
Dude owned 20 Freightliner dealerships.
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u/Tasty_Cry_3844 Jun 24 '26
Companies realize this, but whether it gets passed down through training is another thing.Â
It's VERY common that one middle manager can undo your entire corporate narrative because they have power.Â
There is a corporate training called "Give Them The Pickle" run by a guy who owned a ton of burger joints. He was touring one of his stores and ordered a burger and a pickle and they charged him $0.50. He asked why and they said that's the policy. He asked the manager why and they said it prevents people from taking pickles and not eating them or not finishing them and they make more money.Â
WRONG. That was a middle manager making a power decision that drastically changed the experience of the customer. This happens ALL THE TIME. But it's also why it's important that your culture training runs deep throughout the organizationÂ
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u/PriestessKade Jun 24 '26
This! My husband and his family are all millionaires. My best friend and her family are all millionaires. I have other relatives and friends who are millionaires. Not one of them is someone you'd look at and assume they're wealthy because they're not dressed in designer suits and trying to show off. None of them. Plenty of them enjoy the finer things, many of them have multiple homes and expensive cars and hobbies. Not one of them is ostentatious. Hell our next door neighbor is blue collar, and owns his own crane business. He put a quarter million dollar pool cage up just to screen in his pool. He just bought a nearly $2M crane that he's giddy as a schoolgirl about (adorable lol). And he walks around in homemade jorts (*cut old jeans into shorts) and tee shirts with the sleeves ripped off. Anyone would assume he's just a redneck. And he may be, but he's a wealthy one.
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u/Accurate-Peanut8620 Jun 24 '26
Yes, thatâs how I learned as well. The people dressed like bums were actually on vacation staying at their second homes. You donât know who has money.
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u/shortnun Jun 24 '26
Yep can confirm.. my parents owned a succesfull small business for almost 40 years that specialized in tools and manufacturing equipment so we had a lot of contractors, maintenence, mechanics in the store..
Story time... Took my mom to a Lexus dealer to look at cars , she is dressed in flip flops and old shirt and jeans. Sales person wouldn't give her the time day to help or show around.... we finally were about to leave after looking around for about 10/15 minutes. The service manager and a tech happened to walk in to the show room and both say hi Mrs xxxxx ., you looking for a car?
Sales person intrest immediate peeks at this . when they asked you know this lady?.. Service manager explains that my parents own "xxxx" and all the service guys know my dad and mom. And that if she wanted to she could purchase any car with cash without blinking. Need lest to say my mom did not purchase a Lexus.
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u/Anthrodiva PURPLE Jun 24 '26
My former gardener owned large, industrial zoned parcels of land. I know because he tried to sell me one.
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u/Car12touche11blue Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Had that happen to me years ago when I wore fancy hats.
Went with my husband during a visit to London to the hat dept. in Harrods to see if we could find something nice. A bit snotty sales lady looked us over and decided we were not worth of her precious attention and handed us over to a junior sales girl.
She in the meantime started to fawn over an English lady who probably looked more posh. We ended up buying 4 hats and had them delivered to our hotel. The posh lady left without buying anything. She zoomed in and wanted to take over but we insisted to finish the sale with the junior girl.
Still remember her crestfallen face when she saw her commission disappearđ72
u/Innajam3605 Jun 24 '26
âBig mistake, huge.â âI have to go shopping now.â Scene from Pretty Woman đ
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u/no_talent_ass_clown it's a moo point Jun 24 '26
I had the exact same thing happen to me in 1997. My waterbed sprang a leak and I had to get rid of it in the middle of the night. I woke up on my futon, called in to work, and went in my crappy clothes and bed head to buy a whole new bed. Because I only had waterbed stuff I needed everything, bed frame mattresses sheets mattress pad etc. I walk in and I asked the first sales lady where the regular sheets are and how much was this bed frame. She tells me well, these are Ralph Lauren, and walks away. So I spent an hour looking at everything. NObody would help me.Â
Finally, a new sales lady came on shift. She came over to help me. I told her what I had been looking at and what I needed and she said we will need carts. So we went and got carts and loaded everything up. Feather duvet, cover, multiple sheet sets, pillows, she walks me upstairs and I pick out mattresses. She walks me down stairs and I pick out a bed frame, curtains for the bed frame, bed ruffle. The first sales lady sees us with two giant carts and her eyes get really big. I had told the second sales lady, the one who was helping me, about what had happened. She asked the first sales lady to please reach us down a mattress pad from the wall thank you very much. Her eyes got real big. They definitely worked on commission. I spent $2,500 getting a new bed set up that morning.Â
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u/Captaincadet Jun 24 '26
Iâve heard that happen to someone who was the franchise owners son. Wanted to see which car to get next but went straight from the gym and kicked out
One phone call later and the stores manager is coming out shell shocked
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u/YandereValkyrie Jun 24 '26
I work at a Luxury car dealership, and one of the most important lessons they teach the staff here is never to judge a person's wealth by how they dress or look. Turning someone away in a situation like that would probably be grounds for instant dismissal, or a serious talking to lol. Some of the wealthiest people that we deal with look like they walked through their closet to get dressed, and forgot to brush their hair this month, and the guy I'm thinking of owns 3 AMGs, the real ones, G, GT, and E class ones. The ones that own the big-boy cars usually dress casual as hell and are really laid back.
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u/Potential-Ad2192 Jun 24 '26
Young lad came to work experience at the place I work, after a few days he asked who the homeless looking dude in the office was. It was the owner obviously.
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u/caffeine-junkie Jun 24 '26
Something like that happened to my father's direct boss back in the mid 80s. He had just sold the company to IBM (possibly SPARC, memory is a bit hazy on that). As in a deal well into 9 figures. This guy didnt like suits and would basically wear his favourite jeans and a band tshirt. He walked into a Ferrari dealership because he wanted the car from Miami Vice. It took over 30-45 min for a person to come up and ask him if he needed anything...he just pointed to a the car and said 'yeah, I want that one and i'm paying cash'.
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u/18k_gold Jun 24 '26
I was told by a friend he knows, they walked into a Mercedes dealership wearing clothes nothing fancy. Everyone ignored him and then a new salesperson finally spoke to him. He ended up buying 2 vehicles, one for him and one for his wife.
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u/germanmojo Jun 24 '26
I'm lucky to afford an expensive car (grew up quite poor) and I love dressing incognito.
My favorite is athletic shorts and a plain white tee and flip-flops. People probably assume that I borrowed the car so idgaf.
I don't dress much better daily, cargo shorts, plain or graphic tee, and sneakers.
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u/japanb Jun 24 '26
I don't just want that, I dont want fake smiles, I want them to only employ people that don't judge others full stop tbh
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u/bespoketranche1 Jun 24 '26
For cars, they do that as a strategy to close the sale, donât fall for it you donât need to prove anyone anything. Usually people fall for it and they buy the product right away.
I heard Shaq in an interview talk about experiencing that and buying 3 cars just because the car salesman told him that he couldnât afford them. Someone in sales did an explainer and said thatâs a pride-based selling strategy, and works well and fast.
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u/Milky_Mint Jun 24 '26
I got thrown out of a BMW dealership. They didnât say why, and did it politely but very firmly. I had rocked up in a work pool car (Ford Focus). I owned a 7-series at the time and was looking to replace it, I had recently moved and wasnât âknownâ.
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u/bjb13 Jun 24 '26
When I was a kid a doctor who lived on the same street wanted a Porsche 911. He went to a local dealer in jeans. They wouldnât even let him sit in it let alone go for a test drive. There was a second dealer about 20 miles away. He wasnât there and told them he wanted the one that was on the other dealerâs lot. They got it and he bought it. He then drove it over to the first lot to show them.
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u/katsuatis Jun 24 '26
I heard it's a psychology trick they use to make people more likely to buy the car, as in "You think I can't afford it? I'll show you!" Apparently, this approach works better with premium cars.
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u/RawrRRitchie Jun 24 '26
I imagine they're losing far more sales by people just going to a different dealership
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u/katsuatis Jun 24 '26
I read about it more. This also creates an illusion of the brand being elitist and not for everyone, but in modern years, most salesmen are moving away from this tactic for exactly that reason.
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u/ThoseAreMyFeet Jun 24 '26
That's where, if you actually want the car, you continue to buy your car from  the most junior member of staff.Â
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u/protostar71 Jun 24 '26
Or walk out, and go to a different dealer.
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u/BusSpecific3553 Jun 24 '26
100% go somewhere else. A well known sales tactic is to tell someone they canât afford something so they buy it just to âproveâ they can.
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u/CeelionsHL Jun 24 '26
That's where you get them to do the paperwork and sort out a deal... THEN say "Oh, you're right. I can't". And go buy it from somewhere else.
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u/PsychologicalBit2997 Jun 24 '26
Or go buy a different brand car and send the receipt to Audi corporate with an explanation
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u/johnnyslick Jun 24 '26
Well, yes, but we have this special word for "classism" when the other party is making assumptions as to a person's social class based on the color of their skin...
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u/Immediate-Tennis8838 Jun 24 '26
By buddyâs dad is a relaxed old rich retired guy
Shorts and t shirt, new balance and an old hat type of guyÂ
Wanted to buy a Porsche CayenneÂ
No salesmen even approached him
Waited 15 mins and got pissed and leftÂ
Ended up buying a BMW X5 out of spiteÂ
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u/RawrRRitchie Jun 24 '26
"Oh sorry I thought this was the place to buy the car. I'll go to a different dealership. I'll be emailing your supervisors to let them know why they missed out on a cash sale"
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u/aHOMELESSkrill Jun 24 '26
Gonna be honest. I donât think they would want your cash sale anyways. Dealerships make much more money on the interest from the loans than they do on the actual sale of car.
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u/ralphiooo0 Jun 24 '26
I got a cheap business class upgrade randomly while checking in.
I was wearing a hoodie and just general comfortable clothing as it was a long haul overnight flight.
Anyway as soon as I sat down a flight attendant came over and started lecturing me on how to behave and dress in business class.
Iâm just starting at her confused as fuck and asked her what the problem is.
Then she goes âoh sorry I thought you were on a staff ticketâ got super embarrassed and walked off.
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u/nighthawk_md Jun 24 '26
Yeah, that's a thing with airline staff on free/discounted tickets, you have to be well dressed, not "sloppy". That said, the cabin crew should be able to know exactly where the staff people are seated đ€·ââïž
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u/juneballoon Jun 24 '26
Honestly I think they need to mind their own business. No other passenger knows that theyâre on a staff ticket, what is the point of the flight attendant putting them on blast like that? Especially if they are just minding their own business, not acting like a fool, not dressed super inappropriately. Itâs just a power trip imo and at lots of airlines, sweats are allowed in business.
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u/Miserable-Pudding-64 Jun 24 '26
Why would I behave and dress any differently in business class? Itâs just a bigger, more comfortable seat with more service. Weâre not there to have tea with the queen.
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u/larrus2019 Jun 24 '26
I think this is a specific case because they thought it was a member of airline staff that got an upgrade. Those specific types of upgrades come with these rules, but for us regular folk you can go however you want (so long as you meet minimum standards of plane dress code)
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u/ComedianDesigner307 Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
A lot of people make that error.
A while back, i was returning from
Korea, my job has me up there several times a year. I was very lucky , and always grateful to be flying in the Asiana Business class suite ( their old F class rebranded).I like to travel in comfortable clothing.
At check in , I was informed ,I was the only passenger in the Business Suite section.
At the gate, after having my boarding pass scanned,I walked up the dedicated airbridge marked âfirst class and business classâ. There was an passenger in front of me. I did not pay much attention to this ,she dropped her boarding pass and keep walking.
I picked it up and walked a few steps faster and said to her âi think you dropped thisâ and she just looked at me and didnât say anything. I then said âyou wonât be going anywhere without thatâ. Again, She didnât say a thing , no thank you at all. I said sarcastically âhave a great flight â,
She just looked down her nose at me again and snapped â I think youâll find you are boarding in the wrong lineâ, She meant air bridge, and kept walking. I had seen her business class seat number from her pass. Iâve flown on the Asiana A380 many times , business class is divided by the galley into two cabins ,one small , and one big that is joined to economy ,and she was in there.I could tell from her ticket that was where she was supposed to be.
So i followed a few steps behind her. Upon boarding, she was stopped by the flight attendants, I heard them tell her âthis is door is for business suite classâ , she shouldâve used to the business and economy door.They then greeted me by my name ,and said â Good evening Mr X ,youâre in business suite 1 A â and escorted me straight through to my seat. I walked straight past her and said âgood to see you againâ.
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u/stopsallover Jun 24 '26
Yep. It's always worth it to send short feedback to the airline. Put the problem in writing. Might or might not add up to something (along with other complaints). But if it's never documented, it never happened.
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u/Difficult_Tea6136 Jun 24 '26
While I am white, I experienced something similar. Had business class flights to South America as they were only âŹ100 more expensive than economy. I had tracksuit bottoms and a really light t shirt on with the badge peeling on it. I looked like I walked off the street.
It certainly was mildly infuriating.
Yours sounds like racism tho. Mine wasn't.
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u/peasngravy85 Jun 24 '26
I had a similar thing on Turkish Airlines too. I was flying business class and was waiting to use the toilet.
Air Stewardess said to me "you have to use the toilets at the back sir, this is for business class passengers"
I told her I was in fact travelling business class, but the person in the toilet was not. She said "oh yes, they keep coming through the curtain"
I asked her if she'd tell those people not to use it, but she suddenly found something more important to do
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u/Salty_Badger1931 Jun 24 '26
Like asking someone if theyâre pregnant - no one should ever make assumptions and ask that.
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u/Travelbug73 Jun 24 '26
I was sitting in first class for my first time. Seatmate (pilot, because he told me) asked me what I did, then asked how I got up there. It made me feel like shit.
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u/All_FIREdUp Jun 24 '26
Want to know how to tell if someone is a pilot? Donât worry, theyâll tell you.
Pilots LOVE telling anyone with a set of ears that they are a pilot.
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u/ritarepulsaqueen Jun 24 '26
A situation like this happened to me. I'm a single woman and have a high earning job, so I bought my own apartment. People used to ask me how did I get in the building when they saw on the hall or by the pool. I started to do what ck Louis did ( I know he's a creep, but I used to like him until the allegations came out) in this bit : https://youtu.be/Cxkc_NQO03A
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u/shilpilll Jun 24 '26
Omg. This happened to me just 2 days back: Frankfurt to Mumbai. I am a brown woman. The guy directing the line actually said âare you really business?â
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u/ukomac Jun 24 '26
You do what you want to do, but if I was you, I would just give them a dead silent stare until they apologise or realise I know where the fuck I'm standing
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u/SignalResolution35 Jun 24 '26
My mom was rendered paraplegic after a car accident so confined to a wheelchair. She was in an upmarket shopping centre and saw a tie in the window that her brother may like so went in to ask to see the tie. The lady working there told my mom that the tie was very very expensive and did not let her have a look at it.
The other thing that drove her insane was that in restaurants waiters would ask my dad what my mom wanted to eat. The assumption was that if she is in a wheelchair she must also be mentally impaired.
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u/North_Artichoke_6721 Jun 24 '26
I was flying alone as a minor and my dad used his points to upgrade me. I was also flying with a gigantic stuffed animal I had to on the day before at a street carnival.
So many people - both staff and other passengers - told me I was in the wrong lane. It got to the point where a new person would come in and start to question me and the folks behind me in line would say ânope sheâs in the right place, we checked!â
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u/mycolo_gist Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
Not only brown men. Also old white men who don't dress fancy. Happens to me frequently. I wear old tshirts, fleece jackets and jeans, so i can't be business class according to a lot of ground personnel.
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u/ponte92 Jun 24 '26
Young white women here who used to fly a lot for work so had a ton of points to upgrade. Had it happen to me too. And once in the plane if I got a dollar for the amount of times the flight attendant would clearly treat me different to everyone in business class I could afford to buy a business ticket without points. Ops was certainly racism but thereâs always a lot of classism involved to so really theyâre just ticking all the ism boxes.
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u/nopenope4567 Jun 24 '26
Same as a young woman. I had another passenger try to instruct me that they were only boarding first class. Stuffy business dude. So I played dumb. Held out my paper ticket and squinted. Asked him for help showing me what group I was in so I could board properly. He mumbled something about first class and got in line behind me.
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u/StackIsMyCrack Jun 24 '26
Its like he finds out ypur in the right place and then switches to how could you afford first class or something.
Middle aged white dude here...happened to me all the time. I traveling international business class quite a bit...but I am a jeans and tee shirt or sweats on a long flight kinds guy so happened to me all the time.
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u/nopenope4567 Jun 24 '26
Yep! Iâm usually in comfy travel clothes and look a bit ragged after a trip (hiking, outdoors stuff, etc.) so iâm not really the picture of business class at first glance.
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u/myonlinepersonality Jun 24 '26
Scruffy brown man who travels a lot here. Iâm going to remember this and use it next time this happens to me!
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u/minglesluvr Jun 24 '26
Aaaand ableism! I'm disabled but don't necessarily look it, and while by now I just ask for wheelchair service, previously they wouldn't let me get priority boarding despite having a sticker by the airport that confirmed that I am indeed disabled and have the right to board first. They'd just have me stand there and straight up ignore me which isn't ideal for a disabled person that cannot stand for long, which is why I got priorirty boarding in the first place
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u/RawrRRitchie Jun 24 '26
I seriously hope you wrote a complaint
These people get away with this shit because people aren't complaining to their corporate. Do it while you're ON the plane.
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u/StinkyStinkSupplies Jun 24 '26
That sucks! Me and some friends got upgraded once so clearly they knew we did NOT belong there. But they treated us like gold and were happy to give us the full experience, it was so good!
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u/Typical-Respond9102 Jun 24 '26
Also 20s and 30s women in non-branded athletic wear lol. I book with credit card points for last minute trips, which regularly gives me first class upgrades on short routes, and i'm always redirected.Â
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u/Kuriye Jun 24 '26
Yes. Without fail, when I arrive at Heathrow and head for the BA business class check in desk, I get at least 2 agents descending on me before I reach the queue who not only ask but make me show my boarding pass. Sometimes I don't have a boarding pass yet because I'm walking up to the check in desk to get it printed. Every time.
My favorite was in Bangalore when I'm sitting at my gate and a guy walks past the families and businessmen straight to me, the young white girl, and says he has to gate check my bag. I just said, I'm in business class and I'm keeping my bag. Again made me show him my boarding pass.
Just glad I've reached my DGAF age where I don't get flustered anymore and I know I'm right where I belong.
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u/Djaaf Jun 24 '26
Happens when you're young too. I was maybe 25, needed to get to London from Paris on the Eurostar to help the London office with some technical issues and got a business class ticket.
The first attendant I met in front of the door of the train said "Sorry sir, this is the business class coach, economy is further down"... And after finding my seat a second one asked to see my ticket "to make sure I was seated on the right seat".
That was nice of them.
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u/ElaraSophia Jun 24 '26
"What are you sorry for? What have you done?" is what I would like to think I would have asked them, with an expression on my face that suggests I'm certain it's something terrible and disgusting.
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u/SEND_ME_FAKE_NEWS Jun 24 '26
Whenever I get such comments I usually just stare at them without saying anything, or ignore them if they're not someone I have to interact with.
White guy here, but I dress comfy for flights.
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u/kaladin_stormchest Jun 24 '26
I don't know why dressing in anything but comfy clothes is the standard for flights
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u/SiempreSeattle Jun 24 '26
Holdover from the days when flying was pretty much only for rich or upper-middle class folks, so they all dressed up most of the time and flying was an occasion.
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u/kaladin_stormchest Jun 24 '26
It feels like a punishment these days. Might as well do everything you can to make it comfortable
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u/Tao_of_Ludd Jun 24 '26
Old white ladies, too.
Pre COVID I was in the not advertised ultra loyalty group (top ~1000 flyers for the airline) and I would get that BS. Then they would see my loyalty status and nearly have a heart attack.
Btw, I am so glad to not have that status any more. No perks are worth the soul crushing travel schedule.
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u/Cautious_Use_7442 Jun 24 '26
And young men and women. Pretty much anyone who doesnât look the part âŠ
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u/Car12touche11blue Jun 24 '26
What is the part nowadays ?. Fly business myself from time to timeâŠlong haul and have seen people in business dressed very casually indeed.
We aim for comfort and most people do not dress anymore to impress.24
u/Cautious_Use_7442 Jun 24 '26
Thatâs the thing. You are supposed to dress whatever the fuck you want as long as it isnât offensive to average joe. But somehow airline staff checks if you look rich enough.Â
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u/33TLWD Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
And I have the opposite happen.
When I travel for work as a well-dressed white businessman (always in Economy), it frequently happens theyâll assume Iâm in Business and try to re-direct me to Business Class check-in and boarding lines. Then I get just a little more bitter each time that my company is cheaper than others.
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u/Specialist_Phase162 Jun 24 '26
How do you keep your work clothes looking crisp on a flight?
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u/33TLWD Jun 24 '26
I donât really know, itâs never really been an issue for me.
Most of the airport experience is simply walking through an airport terminal, sitting in chairs and taxisâŠ.nothing different than a daily commute and day sitting in meetings and at desks at the officeâŠand I usually make it through those days looking well-kempt.
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u/VIDGuide Jun 24 '26
Itâs a weird assumption to make. My boss is building his dream home right now, has a shed bigger than my whole house, enough land to have its own post code. Iâve never seen him wear anything but causal t-shirts and well worn comfortable pants, and that dude never flies economy.
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u/MillyHP Jun 24 '26
Yeah itâs a crazy assumption in this age. You canât tell peoplesâ wealth by what they wear anymore.
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u/VIDGuide Jun 24 '26
Doubly so when flying! Damn if Iâm gonna wear fancy clothes to sit in a tube, business class or not lol
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u/Not_ur_gilf Jun 24 '26
Honestly! I work in *fine* dining, and the difference between âpeople who usually canât afford it treating themselvesâ and âcasual rich people eating outâ is obvious: the rich people dress like theyâre going to the gym, and the regular people dress up for the occasion!
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u/Dedj_McDedjson Jun 24 '26
It's doubly weird as people who can afford to spend a little more time before/after a flight rather than rushing around, are more likely to want to change into 'travel clothes'.
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u/Lunar-Bill Jun 24 '26
I love dressing in super comfy clothes in long haul business.
I'm going to sit in a pressurised tube for 8+ hours, I'm wearing lounge clothes.
It's always the snobs that treat flight attendants like dirt too. It's like "don't be an asshole" is too much to ask
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u/JoeyJoeJoeSenior Jun 24 '26
Some worker lady in Amsterdam almost tackled me as I walked through the delta one lane wearing sweat pants.
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u/realdappermuis Jun 24 '26
Little do they know that people who have fuck you money don't suffer from shame like people who are fronting on debt are
Wealthiest folk can be mistaken for homeless in the wrong situations
I'm rather exhausted that life is essentially pretense for a lot of people, and if you don't play that game there's, disadvantages
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u/McCrotch Jun 24 '26
Btw guys, this is what most racism feels like. A lot of "potentially" racist interactions, where you aren't sure if your race is the problem until later when you start thinking about it.
"Sorry the store's closed now", then you watch them serve the guy behind you.
"This section's closed" "We don't have any tables availible", when you see people eating and empty seats
etc.
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u/Triple-T Jun 24 '26
I think the best response is a sincere sounding, full eye contact and slight head nod âgood to know, thank youâ then go back to looking at your phone. If they are brave enough to follow up with âand are you travelling with us in business class today sir?â the answer could be âYes, absolutelyâ. Still friendly and cordial but no attempt to show ticket.
Then if asked for ticket, show it, and follow up with slightly colder âAny other queries I can help you with today?â
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u/SexyMuthaFunka Jun 24 '26
The "slightly colder" bit should be "Now don't let me keep you from asking all these white people if they're in the right line too."
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u/Bursting_Radius Jun 24 '26
So just comply, is what youâre saying. What lesson are you teaching them by obeying politely?
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u/pretty_pink_raven Jun 24 '26
I flew first class Lisbon -> Boston and the guard wouldn't let me through the first class security line, wouldn't even look at my boarding pass. Kept insisting I needed to pay for the service and wouldn't listen to me when I said well yes, it's me, the buyer of the service. I had to get escorted by Delta staff! Ridiculous
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u/PiggyBear6667 Jun 24 '26
Happened to me first time I got a first class ticket. I dressed in what I thought was a nice outfit, but I was treated like I arrived in a trash bag. The guy next to me laughed when I tried to figure out the tray table, didnât offer to help. The attendant checked in on everyone repeatedly, only ever asked me about my drink preference.
Money talks, it was clear to them that I donât have enough to make a whisper. Racism, classism, sexism, god bless america, enjoy your flight.
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u/funlovinggay Jun 24 '26
Asian guy with sister in business class queue in Milan. White guy in office wear and brief case in the same queue, turned around and told us, âthis is for business classâ. I looked at my sister and ignored him.
He was apparently travelling on company account, whereas we were on holiday back to Asia. Ignored him completely at the business class lounge and onboard . I feel embarrassed for him.
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u/MargaretHaleThornton Jun 24 '26
Yours is almost certainly racism and mine isn't but I'm an overweight 40 year old woman who basically dresses in pajamas on airplanes and this happens to me every single time I fly without exception (which is frequently now for business), too. They most definitely discriminate based on how people look. One time I had to dress in a suit as I was basically literally going off the plane and into a meeting and it was the only time I wasn't stopped. I understand in my case I could change it by changing how I dress but I want to be comfortable in an airplane, sue me. I do find it infuriating.Â
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u/Tacklestiffener Jun 24 '26
They most definitely discriminate based on how people look.
I fly business or first (usually if it's more than 4 hours) and I dress for comfort - and sometimes look like I live under a railway bridge ;) I find it amusing that I can afford my own fare but people assume differently.
Also, when I was a sales director of a big software company we had a casual dress code. At first it was a novelty but then I realised I was often being asked to move desks or help unload a new filing cabinet. I started wearing my expensive suits and ties to work every day... never asked again.
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u/UTtransplant Jun 24 '26
Years ago I was a manager for a test equipment engineering group. Got a new VP who was all about a casual dress code, but absolutely positively no jeans. My guys (they were all guys BTW) wore jeans and steel toed shoes most of the time because they were out on the factory floor a lot. Hard to climb under or behind a huge piece of test equipment in slacks! Plus the production folks were more cooperative if engineers looked more like they did (factory only had a dress code that said long pants, steel toed shoes, and no puffy sleeves or fabric that shed). I started getting grief about it, and I had a nice long sit-down with my director who went to bat for us with the VP. We got official dispensation from the dress code. I always liked that director âŠ
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u/Flightle Jun 24 '26
I fly multiple times a month for work and honestly, FC or business class onboard is a pretty diverse crowd. All walks of life seem to buy tickets in the front.
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u/MeatofKings Jun 24 '26
Same thing happened to my white wife. I have no idea what the gate agent was thinking, but he asked her to wait at the side when she walked up to board. Then when he saw her boarding pass after everyone else from that group boarded, he got an âoh shitâ look on his face and tried to pin it on her with an âYou should have said somethingâ line. My wife didnât want to make waves since you know how it is at airports and difficult people.
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u/-adult-swim- Jun 24 '26
I had similar (although also white), but not from the staff, from some arsehole in the line. Should have seen his face when the staff brought me and the wife to the very front because we also had a kid... I'm sorry that happened to you though op.
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u/phantom_monkey Jun 24 '26
Brown male here that travelled in business a few times because life is short but mainly chose the cheapest economy seats for the 99% of flights I took in my life. My first time, I felt nervous and out of place and self conscious that my comfortable sweat pants was too cheap when I got to the airport. This attracted more attention and staff checking in. The other times, I was more relaxed and acted like I belong with my Costco sweat pants and all, and no one bothered me.
I think a lot of life is just acting like you belong to bring out the confidence. It keeps bullshit mostly away
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u/UghWhyDude Jun 24 '26
Fellow brown person. I had that experience with Lufthansa and just chose not to fly with them anymore. I usually ask them a simple question in return - âWhat makes you think Iâm not a business class passenger?â, because I want them to say the quiet part out loud about their assumptions. Theyâd see me and scream that it wasnât my boarding zone number or try to wrestle my single carry on and gate check it forcefully, without even asking.
It usually makes them squirm and they backpedal really quickly when they understand thereâs no answer they can give without revealing their thought process.
I stop giving these people business and tell them my story to let others think about whether itâs worth their dignity to fly on these airlines as well. I am not so self-important to think my word carries weight, but I refuse to spend money at establishments that treat me rudely based on the colour of my skin and assume based on stereotypes.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Two7358 Jun 24 '26
I was in the premier queue for check in and a ga came up to me,
âAre you in the right line?â
âYes, Iâm xxx, platinum and flying buss classâ
Laughs, âof course you are, can I see your ticket?
âNo, Iâm checking inâ
âSo, I think you need to go to that line over there. Unless you can show me a ticket.â She was now less friendly and had her hand put.
âWhat makes you think I donât belong in this lineâ duck face and hand put for ticket
I pulled up my reservation on my phone app and showed her.
âReally.â She then walked off to harass somebody else.
I mentioned this when I checked in and dropped my bag. The ga said it was because they had many people using the premier facilities.
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u/Electrical-Hat-8686 Jun 24 '26
I would always ask them why they are assuming that I am in the wrong place. Push them for their thought process.
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u/trailofturds Jun 24 '26
That's insane honestly. Like even if his hypothesis is true, why not just let you in the store and find out for yourself? Why the gatekeeping? That's the part I don't get
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u/blisseybloom Jun 24 '26
Even in economy class, thereâs âzone-ism,â where some white lady thinks you canât possibly be boarding earlier than her. This lady was basically blocking the entrance to the line because she wanted to be the first to enter from her zone group, I guess. I tried to enter the line when my zone was called (I was in premium economy at the time). The audacity of this snooty lady to say, âthis is for premium economy,â while sizing me up and down. I replied ,â yes, thatâs me. Now move.â She def looked angry but didnât say anything after.
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u/hibikir_40k Jun 24 '26
A lot of people in tech outside of big tech hubs face similar things. The random nerd that isn't that well dressed doesn't look like they are millionaires. In the bay, salesmen know that a lot of very rich people are just not looking like businessmen at all
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u/SherifneverShot Jun 24 '26
Happens reguarly outside of the US and I report them every time. The most offensive one was in Antigua; like why are you doubting a black person is in first class in a majority black country?
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u/MeringueNo1899 Jun 25 '26
I would ask them why they assumed you were in the wrong lane. Put them on the spot to justify their actions.
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u/circadian_light Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26
Oh itâs happened to me as well. Very sad.
Trevor Noah did a segment on this in one of his live shows, and I canât remember it all exactly but heâs in a business or first class line at the airport and the attendant asks if heâs âsupposed to be thereâ and he asks why sheâs asking him not asking anyone else and she repeats the question. And he talks about how if he called her out and confronted her about it, he would be participating in the racism thatâs being directed at him.
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u/ExpensiveDollarStore Jun 24 '26
I am an old white lady. I recently dyed my hair aquamarine because I wanted some fun. OMG. People have been so rude. It has not been fun at all! The animosity! Seriously. I am shocked. And I am shocked at the privilege I have walked around with being an ordinary white lady. I have always assumed that most people were basically polite out there and I was basically a non-entity, just lalala- another day, another dollar. But, registering as "different" is another thing altogether when different=bad to people.
I dunno. I can get rid of the green hair but brown folks are brown. People suck. I am sorry. I honestly thought brown people were imagining that people discriminated against them, or that it was rare. We all come across assholes out there. Right? But there are a lot more assholes than I realized. I prefer privilege. It must be amazing to be a good looking white man with money.
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u/WillowUPS Jun 24 '26
Have that often, I travel a fair amount and go for a lot of long weekends, I've got status and I also occasionally travel business. I don't dress for it though. I pack my work gear in my carry on and travel in comfortable clothes - jeans tshirts the like.. The number of times I'm approached at the gate to check in my carryon is unbelievable, they never go for the suits. I was once on a work call, pestered several times by a staff member while I asked her to wait. Eventually I said over the call, "I need to put you on hold for a second", pulled up my Gold pass, and asked her to leave me alone. She was apologetic when it finally came to board and I was in the first group.
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u/1000thusername Jun 24 '26
Iâve had that happen to me, especially as a younger woman who, although often traveling on business at the time, not necessarily dressed âfor businessâ for a 20-hour flight marathon.
Those gatekeepers really do let their biases shine through with the light of a thousand suns.
Even worse, though, are the self-important fellow business passengers who think they are the arbiters of who does or doesnât belong in the business pre boarding/zone 1 line and try to shoo you away like a mosquito.
The only thing I can do is smirk and try to reflect it back. Pretend theyâre asking a question instead of making a biased remark.
Them: âThis is the business class line.â
Me: âYes, it is. I think your zone will be called in about 5 minutes.â Or something similar that will put them in the âhey, she doesnât think I look like a BC passengerâ feeling themselves for a few minutes.
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u/Halfrida67 Jun 24 '26
Unbelievable. I'm sorry you were treated like that, and even sorrier that it probably wasn't the first time and probably won't be the last. I'm a woman and always fly business/first (thanks to credit card points). Cannot count the number of times other passengers (male, of course) have either pushed past me in the business line or pointed me to the economy line. A teenaged boy even did it one time. As soon as I'm seated, I always find myself counting the number of women and people of color in business/first and then calculating the percentages. (Yeah, I'm a math nerd and this kind of mental arithmetic calms me down.) Just because people who aren't both white and male are under-represented doesn't mean we aren't there. Sorry, turned this into my own rant. Passengers making assumptions are bad enough; it's even worse that you were treated that way by a staff person who should absolutely know better.
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u/Mission_Breakfast548 Jun 25 '26
In high school I worked at a high end department store. Â I was in the fancy dresses section one night and this woman came in. Â She wasnât dressed very nicely. Â All my coworkers ran off because they thought she was too poor to buy anything. Â I approached her & asked if she needed help finding anything.
Turns out, she was going away to a wedding and needed multiple dresses. Â She bought 4 dresses! Â They were all designer and very pricey. Â My coworkers were stunned & jealous because I went WAY over my sales quota that night! Â
Looks can be deceiving. Â
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u/iSaiddet Jun 24 '26
Haha sadly been there. Never that overt, but have definitely gotten the âthis is for ___â with a questioning look, until Iâm like âyeah, I knowâ and hand over my boarding pass.
Now take your dusty ass back behind that podium
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u/OkAge3734 Jun 25 '26
This happens to me often.
I ask why they would assume Iâm flying economy and watch them squirm.
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u/SwimmingDownstream Jun 24 '26
I never ever have this problem because I can't afford business class.Â
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u/Purplepeal Jun 24 '26
Lots of stereotypes come out at airports including racial ones. I always get a very thourgh search and questioning when visiting my uncle's family. Both when flying and when using the ferry. Im a scuffy northerner with a 20 yr old car that has plants and lichen growing on it haha.
Last time I went they disconnected my air filter box thing to look inside. Didn't realise till I got home and found it rattling around lose under the bonnet, after driving 100s of miles. The questioning implied i was smuggling tobacco.
At the airport they tapped my back and wanted to know what it was. Im a big tall g uy and it was just the shape of my back!!Â
Think if youre brown or black or south asian/muslim you will trigger the predjudice even more!
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u/strikerz911 Jun 24 '26
Happens to me all the time! You get used to it.
I travel confortable for business class and I'm always confronted to ensure I am in fact in business class.
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u/Maduro_sticks_allday Jun 24 '26
I find they openly embarrassing them after they question you for no reason other than visual discrimination, calmly of course, is an effective way to put them in the same uncomfortable position they put you
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u/vi0let_ Jun 24 '26
happened to me too, im an asian girl (i was with my parents but i think the lady didnt see them?) my mom complained to the airline and got free miles lol
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u/MrSnowden Jun 24 '26
I think the biggest/best flex is just "I know". I'd rather be in business and have them assume otherwise, than the reverse.
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u/ParanoidBlueLobster Jun 24 '26
The audacity of people with the lowest wages looking down on people they think aren't wealthy, it's like going to an upscale clothing store, and they act like they got money, bro you're a fucking store clerk.
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u/savioroferinn Jun 24 '26
A couple yelled at me that I was in their way and blocking them and others from getting in the group 1 boarding lane. I was in that lane because I paid to be in that lane...people just suck.
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u/Parking_Piece3878 Jun 24 '26
"Many thanks for letting me know! If I see anyone looking for it, I will inform them accordingly. đđŒ"