- A woman traveling on an American Airlines flight from New York to Los Angeles allegedly left her own seat and took a sleeping passenger’s first class spot after finding out her own seat would not recline, according to the passenger she confronted.
- Justin Escalona, 27, said the incident happened on his flight out of JFK on Monday, just before the 6 a.m. departure.
- Escalona said he was dozing off in his seat when the woman woke him up and asked if he would switch seats with her.
- He said he agreed at first, thinking she wanted a better view for the five-and-a-half-hour flight.
- Escalona said he only realized what was happening after the woman had already settled into his lay-flat seat.
- He confronted her in seat 6A, which was assigned to him, saying, “You gotta get out of my seat, this is crazy,” in a video he recorded.
- The woman stared at him without responding for several moments before saying she was headed to UCLA.
- Escalona replied that he had gone to USC, which he said made the situation 'even worse.'
- When he again asked her to move, she replied, “You were moved sir,” without looking up from her phone.
- Escalona then showed his boarding pass on camera, saying, “My boarding pass says 6A, yours says 3F,” and displayed a photo of his ticket in the video.
- Following that exchange, he said the woman gathered her things and got up.
- As she left, she was seen starting to say, “You are just such a…” before stopping and shaking her head.
- A nearby passenger was heard laughing and telling him, “You almost got robbed!”
- The video drew a large response online, with many commenters calling the woman’s actions entitled.
A woman traveling on an American Airlines flight from New York to Los Angeles allegedly took a sleeping passenger's first-class seat after discovering her own wouldn't recline. The incident occurred on Monday morning, just before the flight's 6 a.m. departure.2
Passenger Justin Escalona, 27, was dozing off when the woman woke him up, asking to switch seats. Initially, he agreed, thinking she wanted a better view for the five-and-a-half-hour flight. However, he soon realized she had settled into his lay-flat seat, which he had been assigned.345
Escalona recounted, “I thought she wanted a better view but no, hers won’t recline and somehow it’s my fault. She won’t get out of my seat; she’s just in it.” He confronted her, filming the exchange as he pointed out that his boarding pass clearly indicated seat 6A, while hers was 3F.
Despite his insistence, the woman remained unresponsive, stating, “You were moved sir,” while focused on her phone. Escalona noted that the situation was made worse by their rival university affiliations, as he had attended USC and she mentioned UCLA.810
As the confrontation continued, a nearby passenger laughed and remarked, “You almost got robbed!” Eventually, the woman gathered her belongings and left, muttering something before departing. Escalona, who was upgraded to first class for free, highlighted the absurdity of the situation, stating, “She bolted into my seat without thanking me for agreeing to swap seats.” The flight departed on time and arrived in Los Angeles shortly after 9 a.m.14
“The sleeping passenger, Justin Escalona, initially agreed to switch seats but said the woman 'bolted' into his lay-flat seat without his consent. He filmed the confrontation, during which she said she was headed to UCLA, and his joke about attending USC went viral.”
Metro.co.uk
