Luke Burbank (69:19)
I'm just always like, okay, it's, it's three people away from me. It's two people away from me. It's one person. It's now, yes, yes. It's like so much stress. But anyway, so I was like, cool. I mean, I'll take it. Like I'll take the exit row on a two hour flight. I'm good, I'm set. But then, and I didn't get upgraded and it was something kind of like seemed a little funky with it because there was a person ahead of me and I could see, you can see a little bit of information about the other people that are on the wait list. Right. So the person that was ahead of me had a sort of a specific first three letters of their last name. And then there was a person a couple of spots back who had the same last name, if that makes sense. So those people were clearly together and in fact, actually maybe what it was. No, I'm sorry. I think I was first on the upgrade list and there was two people behind me that had like a specific kind of thing going on with their last name. And I've been in this situation with Becca before where I've booked our tickets together and what happens is if you're the person that's got all the like status and stuff and you're flying with like a partner or spouse or whatever, a kid, kid, if you get lucky, and there are like two seats available, maybe Both of you will get upgraded. But if only one is going to get upgraded, you'll actually miss out because they don't want to separate you. And that's also just generally how I feel like I'd rather just stick around in coach or have me and Becca both get upgraded rather than just one of us goes up there or just I go up there. So what was kind of weird was I saw these last names. I was like, oh, those two people are together, but I bet you they're not going to. To get two seats. So probably it'll end up being me. I end up being. When the flight is. Is boarding, I'm like, the. I'm still on the upgrade list, but those two names are gone. Those two names have somehow moved up. I was like, huh? All right, well, who cares? Whatever. Short flight. So I'm now in line, and I look up at the reader board, and would you believe at the 11th hour, they have actually upgraded me to first class. I'm in seat 1F, which. Which is my very favorite seat up there at the front of the plane. It's the bulkhead of the front of the plane. I mean, it is. It doesn't get other class. It is the first class of first class, my friend. Like, it's you. You are on a window, but you also. The person next to you does not have to get up in order for you to use the restroom. You're the first row of people that the flight attendants talk to. So if they're running out of the good food, they'll probably still have some. When they're talking to you, it's like. Like everything's coming up Millhouse. And so I just remember being like, oh, that was kind of cool. I was not expecting that, but I will absolutely take it. So I get on the plane and I put all my luggage up in the sort of. Oh, that was another thing. I wasn't checking any luggage for this trip. So I've got, you know, my suitcase and other stuff, but it's all with me. So I put that all up. I get seated and listen, I'm going to be honest with you. If you're a person that flies and you are, generally speaking, not in first class, which is most of us, let's be honest. There is that moment of boarding the plane, particularly if you've got kind of a crummy seat where you're walking past all the people in first class as you go towards coach, and you just kind of like, eat the rich. Yeah, a hundred percent. And that's my feeling on the many, many times when I'm not in first class, which is still the majority of the time, I'm like, I'm like, these people are so freaking smug up here in first class. As I go back to, you know, steerage. And let me just tell you, as a person who's sometimes in first class, you're right, we are smug. I feel qualitatively different as a person when I'm in first class. I feel like all my life decisions have been good and I feel like everything is working for me. There's something about sitting up there, as you know, everyone else is getting packed like sardines into the back of the plane that does make me feel superior. I wish it didn't. Maybe now that I'm a Buddhist, as of this morning, maybe 2026 Buddhist Luke will not feel that way. But 2025, flying home from LA, Luke, I have to admit, he felt that way. And I'm chatting with my neighbor who also, I notice is a higher class person than the person I'd be talking to and coach. It's just everything is just a little more elegant up there. And so they get the entire plane boarded. And it was one of those flights where, you know, the thing that's sometimes off with the like temperature on the plane when it's just sitting, hasn't pulled back yet. Like they're not running the engine on it, so there's no, like the air's not moving. It's a particularly warm kind of moment on this airplane. I'm sitting there, I'm waiting for us to push back. I don't have a care in the world. And one of the gate agents comes down, this kid, he's like in his 20s, comes down and he's got a ticket printed out. And he's talking to the, one of the flight attendants and they're talking and they're of kind, kind of pointing in the general direction of the part of the plane I'm on. But I'm not thinking too much of it. I've got my headphones in, whatever. And then the guy comes over and in my opinion, with not enough apology in his voice, says, we had a paying customer. This is the exact term. He's holding a ticket to show me something. It's a printed out ticket and what it says on it is Canada Air, by the way, it doesn't say Alaska Airlines has something to do with a connecting flight. And it's got whatever the. It's got a Sharpie has crossed out what the Seat assignment is supposed to be on this Canada Air ticket. And it's written my seat 1F is written by hand on the ticket. And the guy says to me, there was a paying customer who needs your seat, so we need you to move back to coach. And I was like, oh, okay, well, can I go back to my old seat? And he goes, what was your old seat? And I was like. Like it was the exit row. And he goes, it's like scrolling through. He's like, no, no, that seat's gone.
