'The golden rule of flying': Airline passenger gets surprise upgrade for being kind and patient, while fellow passengers who Karen-ed him get secretly downgraded

Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor

Aug 23, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

You might have heard from a wise person once that the golden rule of life is: "Don't be a jerk." Well, we agree with that person and is applies to many other life experiences. For example, flying. When you are going on a trip and have to fly, going to the airport can be stressful for everyone involved. You don't know the situation of each passenger or employee. So, it's best to approach it with kindness and patience, or else everybody, including yourself, is going to have a bad time.

A perfect example of this rule ringing true, is this story from Reddit user Personal-Listen-4941. This guy was traveling a few years ago by himself. The lines to get checked in were long, but c'est la vie, that's just how the airport rolls. He waits patiently for his turn, and when it comes up he goes to grab his luggage to get to the counter. But before he could even look up, a Karen couple had cut in front of him. The desk clerk looked at him apologetically, but he simply let it go. (A concept Karens do not understand.)

When he got up to the counter he kept his cool and stayed kind, the clerk apologized and he told her it wasn't her fault. Then, hours later, as he's boarding his flight, he gets a surprise that he was upgrade to a much better seat. As he boards he peeks the Karen couple who had Karened him early—they were sat at the very last seats right in front of the bathrooms. Lol You gonna Karen, you gonna get karma-d.