This happened to my boyfriend and me in 2000 when we were traveling from the US to Ecuador for a vacation with a group of friends.
The airline had overbooked economy class but had quite a few first class seats available, so the airline crew started walking through the cabin and (maybe it was just coincidence) selecting the most light-skinned, Anglo-Saxon-looking passengers, including my boyfriend, to be upgraded to first class. My boyfriend looked on with despair while being shunted away and it was clear that I had not made the cut. He told me to go up in front in his stead, but I declined.
After the initial wave of upgraded passengers left economy class, a very tanned, weathered-looking man whose appearance looked like he’d been labouring hard all day seated himself beside me where my boyfriend had previously sat. I was glad that my boyfriend got an upgrade (his legs could use the space) but couldn’t help feeling a little smarted. Instead of cozying up with my boyfriend for a romantic plane ride en route to a dream trip to the Galapagos, my boyfriend was hanging out in first class with our (also upgraded, also Anglo-Saxon-looking) friends and I was in steerage seated next to a stranger. Oh well…
Not even a few seconds had passed when I realised that the man next to me was standing up again. To my surprise, my boyfriend was asking him (in Spanish) if he would be willing to switch seats with him. My boyfriend explained that his seat was in first class. The man couldn’t believe his luck!
“Why didn’t you stay there?” I protested. “I’m fine here.”
My boyfriend said, “Why would I want to be in first class if I could be here with you?” I married him later that year and we celebrated 17 years of marriage yesterday.
Funny how, with a simple gesture like that, my boyfriend made three of us think we’d won the lottery.
-Natalie Tarnopolsky
No comments:
Post a Comment