Classy

I just checked in to my flight tomorrow evening. I usually like to do so as early as possible so I can get window seats. Yes, it's a bit childish, but they do make the trip so much nicer.

My next flight is on United, an airline only marginally better than Northwest, with a far more spastic and confusing website. When I checked in tonight, I clicked the "seats" button as I usually do, clicking my way past the pay-for-upgrade seats that I would have to pay for myself. Except that this time, something was wrong.

When the first flight came up, with its diagram of available seats, there were only two rows on the screen! Not two rows available, just two rows! I picked the window seat of course, thinking that the hotel internet was being shoddy again. My next flight seemed completely normal. I printed out two copies of the boarding pass and read them over. And then I understood what happened on that first flight.

On my first flight I was in first class.

I panicked shortly there after. "Oh no! I didn't!" Could I have clicked on some first-class upgrade without thinking about it? Was there a way to cancel it? I don't want to pay the ridiculous surcharge! Then I checked my itinerary from American Express. Clearly written in glowing LCD was "UNITED - FIRST". Further down the page on my second flight was "UNITED - ECONOMY". I didn't make a mistake, my company bought me first class tickets.

Somehow it seems less elite considering it's a 25 minute flight from Indianapolis to Chicago.