We Get Upgraded to First Class

I retired from a position as Associate Professor at Azusa Pacific University in June of 2002 and we moved to Prescott, AZ. About a year later, our high school class in Pennsylvania was having its 50^th class reunion and we had booked a flight from the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport to Philadelphia International so we could attend the reunion in our hometown about 80 miles north of Philly.

The morning of our flight, we checked in at the US Airways ticket counter to have our bags loaded on our flight. I was wearing a tee shirt that had a big APU logo on the back. As we left the ticket counter and started to head out to our gate, the agent called me back to the counter. Since this was so soon after the 911 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, we were a bit sensitive about security and our first reaction was that there was some security issue regarding our boarding the plane.

However, it turned out that the agent had noticed my tee shirt and told us that there would be a US Airways employee at our gate who had attended APU and that we should watch for Roger when we got to the gate. So, we thanked the agent for telling us that and once again headed toward our gate.

Before we got to the gate, we had to be checked through the security checkpoint. While I was being scanned by the security agent, he noticed my tee shirt and said that the APU Choir and Orchestra had been at his church the day before and that they were a really good and professional-sounding group and that he had really enjoyed their concert. After getting through security, we continued our trek to our departure gate.

We arrived at the gate in plenty of time to sit down and relax before we had to board, and we kept our eyes peeled for Roger to show up. A short while later, we spotted Roger and told him who we were and began a short conversation with him. It turned out that he had been a roommate of the current President of the university during their freshman year at APU and, having been on the faculty there, was someone I knew.

Finally, it was time for us to board, which we did and headed for our assigned seats in the Coach section of the plane. We were just about to sit down when an announcement came over the PA system: would Mr. and Mrs. Eckhart please come to the front of the plane. Somewhat surprised by the announcement, we once again had the initial reaction that there was some problem with our boarding credentials, so we grabbed our carry-ons and went to the front of the plane to find out what was going on.

When we introduced ourselves to the stewardess, she told us that they had over-booked the Coach section and needed two more seats in Coach but that they had some extra room in the First Class section, so we were being moved to First Class for the flight to Philadelphia.

We were not given any explanation as to why we were chosen to be the ones moved from Coach to First Class, nor did we ask, so we don’t know for sure why we were chosen for the change. But we like to think it was because of my APU tee shirt and the connections we had made with the US Airways employees for our flight that day.

We don’t often get to fly First Class, so the flight from Phoenix to Philadelphia was a very pleasant and memorable experience. First Class is pretty nice: bigger seats, plenty of leg room, dinner served with real silverware (not just plastic), cloth (not paper) napkins, and other little luxuries that you don’t get in Coach. All in all, it was a fun experience and something to tell our classmates about at the reunion.

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