Helping the check-in staff out of a jam. Dressing up super nice. Accruing a fantastic number of frequent flyer points. There are a lot of rumoured ways to score yourself a first-class upgrade, but few of them work.
For one lucky man, however, the dream just became a reality, and he didn’t even have to grovel at the check-in desk or do hundreds of status runs.
How? Beau Brown, who is 29, 7’1″ and a cinematographer from Atlanta, was upgraded on a recent flight from North Carolina to Georgia because he was too tall for his seat – even though he had booked into an exit row to accommodate his long limbs.
He was worried when he was asked to get off the flight, but fortunately, the airline bumped him up to first class on the other jet he was put on. He shared his experience on social media, and his story has now been viewed more than 11 million times on TikTok (it has also blown up on Instagram, as you can see above).
“Travelling is always a huge struggle for me and flying can be seriously uncomfortable,” Mr Brown told SWNS, a subsidiary of Fox News.
“When I boarded the plane I’d booked an exit row seat which is usually enough space for me, but on this occasion, I was still too tall to fit. My knees touched the seats in front of me, and I was pinned in, unable to sit down or get up.”
On TikTok he explained: “So I was not able to fit on my plane and now I have to go on a different plane and apparently they’re giving me first class because I don’t fit in any of the regular seats. Let’s see if they’re telling the truth.”
Sure enough, he got the upgrade. Even then he said, “I still don’t really fit lol.” Mr Brown has previously shared videos showing how travel can be a nightmare, explaining he often doesn’t fit into hotel beds and that even renting apartments can be an issue due to his height.
There you have it, short guys. Being tall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
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