California woman flies first-class from Aruba to Washington, D.C. Then a ‘rude’ United flight attendant starts giving out her information willy-nilly
A woman took an international, first-class flight with United Airlines from Aruba to Washington, D.C. after a vacation. Then she had a mixed experience after she tried to confirm her identity with a flight attendant, even as she later confirmed her pre-selected meal for the flight.
According to her, the flight attendants “ fell very short on their customer service,” with one in particular “waking up on the wrong side of the bed” before her first leg.
Bailey (@baileyneedscoffee) recapped the entire experience in a video with over 1,000 views.
Bailey’s experience on board United Airlines
Bailey specifically booked first-class tickets so that she would have a breezy, easy experience on board with United Airlines. She noted that she has family members who work for the airline, so she knows a little bit more about how the airline traditionally operates and has relatively high expectations. But, she was surprised when she got on board her first leg with United, a flight to Washington D.C from Aruba, only to have a very rude flight attendant.
When Bailey first sat down at her seat, she noticed that there was a family who had swapped seats right before she got on. She didn’t consider this her problem and fully intended to get sucked into a book for the flight. But a flight attendant noticed that the family had swapped seats. That led to her individually questioning people in the rows as to what seat they were in and whether they were part of that group to confirm their pre-selected meals.
Then, the flight attendant proceeded to ask members of the larger family in a different row whether they were Bailey, giving out her first name, last name, and other information she shared.
Bailey steps in to confirm her booking. Then she gets a rude response
Because of what she was hearing across the aisle, Bailey quickly confirmed that she wasn’t part of the family’s group that switched spots. That’s when the flight attendant spoke to her in a way that Bailey found rude.
The flight attendant emphasized that she had to confirm each person individually by name to make sure the right groups were in the right seats, apparently saying the information in a stern and tense way. Bailey apologized and said she was simply trying to make sure the flight attendant knew she was in the right place. But the flight attendant continued, saying she needed booking information, not a general confirmation that Bailey wasn’t part of the group.
She fully turned toward Bailey and quickly asked her to confirm all of her booking information, an annoyance considering she wasn’t the one who wanted to switch seats and hadn’t at that point.
After that, Bailey tried to avoid a conversation with her. On her second flight to California, Bailey found that her experience was generally better. She even allegedly saw Kamala Harris on board, something that she noted in her TikTok.
Was the video worth posting?
Some viewers thought that Bailey had every right to post her experience and discuss the negative impact it had on her. Others, though, pointed out that her first leg wasn’t necessarily that bad. They added that it didn’t really sound like anything actually happened on the plane, and the story didn’t have enough weight to constitute a nine-minute storytime.
“I don’t really understand what the point of your video is,” one viewer said. “You want to potentially, maybe not fly with United Airlines again because for meal confirmation, a flight attendant spoke to you more sternly than you expected? Sorry, your video was very long and I guess I don’t really understand what the objective is here.”
Bailey replied to the comment and said, “It’s just me sharing my experience. When you pay for first class, you expect a certain level of service. That wasn’t my experience, so I talked about it. That’s it.”
Further clarifying her intent in posting later in the comment chain, Bailey reiterated that her experience on the flight from Aruba to Washington, D.C. felt particularly tense and that she didn’t enjoy the experience. She added that there were other factors she didn’t mention that contributed to a poor flying experience, including another flight attendant for that leg.
Another commenter added their own perspective, saying, “This story was giving nothingggg.” Bailey again replied, adding, “Thank you for commenting and favoriting this video of ‘nothingggg’ appreciate you girlie.”
Other commenters tell her they understand where she’s coming from
Other commenters immediately got where Bailey was coming from, especially considering the fact that she was flying first class. Generally, frequent fliers who take first-class trips may not expect deeply advantageous benefits, but they at the very least want to be left alone on their flight. This wasn’t the case for Bailey, who, while clarifying that she wasn’t part of another group, heard her name get loudly discussed across the aisle only to receive a rude response when she tried to stop it.
Plus, the flight attendant apparently gave out Bailey’s first and last name. She also mentioned her line of work, something Bailey discussed in her video. For that reason, a few commenters agreed that Bailey had every right to share her experience on board.
“Honestly, I understand you. I don’t know why people are trying to tell you that you don’t have a right to feel the way you do. Don’t get me wrong, it can definitely get overwhelming when people switch seats because of preorders and you’re trying to figure out who’s who but that’s still no excuse to talk at you that way,” one viewer added.
@baileyneedscoffee My United Airlines experience—the good and the ugly. Don’t know if I’ll be flying with them again after the experience I had coming back from my birthday trip on the first connection, but the second leg back home was a unique experience itself. #unitedairlinestiktok #unitedairline ♬ original sound – Bailey
The Mary Sue reached out to Bailey via TikTok direct message and United via press email for comment.
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