{"id":88670,"date":"2015-08-10T14:35:36","date_gmt":"2015-08-10T18:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=88670"},"modified":"2015-08-10T17:03:40","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T21:03:40","slug":"the-fruit-basket-routine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/10\/the-fruit-basket-routine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fruit-Basket Routine"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"firstclasslounge\"<\/a>

The first-class lounge on a seventies-era American Airlines 747 Luxury Liner.<\/p><\/div>\n

The veneer of civility is always thin on a red-eye. But somehow, at the airport, it seemed that the news playing on the screen overhead\u2014the shootings, the civil unrest, the human tragedy\u2014had forced some perspective on this particular group. Or so I was thinking as we waited to board, stoic, carrying pillows and eyeshades and cranky children.<\/p>\n

And then a guy sidled up to the kiosk. \u201cI see there\u2019s one first-class seat left,\u201d he said in an undertone to the agent. \u201cCan I go ahead and grab that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a waiting list for that seat, sir,\u201d the agent, a man in his fifties, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there \u2026 really<\/em>?\u201d the passenger said, raising an insinuating eyebrow. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there really is,\u201d said the agent, whose name tag identified him as Justin.<\/p>\n

I deliberately shot the insinuating gentleman a reproving look. People were dying, after all. Besides, we\u2019d all be in first class if we could.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut come on,\u201d said the passenger, shamelessly. \u201cWouldn\u2019t you rather<\/em> give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

As a display of chutzpah, it was impressive. It was a level of entitlement I\u2019d previously observed only in beautiful young women. In the case of this guy, it was a wholly quixotic enterprise, and in its way kind of heroic. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that. This American Life<\/em> ran a memorable segment<\/a> on the concept. I once read an article in a long-forgotten magazine that told you how to wheedle your way into a better seat. One woman swore by the following trick:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2013Buy a large fruit basket.<\/p>\n

\u2013Go up to agent at check-in and say, Wow! Someone just sent me this large fruit basket! I can\u2019t take it on the plane! Will you accept it as a present?<\/p>\n

\u2013Promptly receive an upgrade.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Even at the time, my first thought was how galling the inevitable failure of this stratagem would be. I imagined stony-faced agents surrounded by Edible Arrangements from gullible readers, staring them down with contempt. I imagined paying out of pocket for the fruit basket and having to dump it somewhere before getting in line for coach. I mean, if I had the money for huge fruit baskets, wouldn\u2019t I be rich enough to upgrade, anyway? And the other passengers! Seeing! Knowing! Despising!<\/p>\n

And yet, here was this guy, resolutely unashamed: \u201cWouldn\u2019t you rather<\/em> give it to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

I saw the agent steady his features in some act of containment. I hoped he would say, No. Not particularly. But instead, he said, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, sir. There is a line.\u201d<\/p>\n

I admired his approach. The veneer of civility, he seemed to say, will not crack on my watch. But the smarm veneer\u2014I guess that\u2019s just stuffing?\u2014is apparently even thicker.<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The veneer of civility is always thin on a red-eye. But somehow, at the airport, it seemed that the news playing on the screen overhead\u2014the shootings, the civil unrest, the human tragedy\u2014had forced some perspective on this particular group. Or so I was thinking as we waited to board, stoic, carrying pillows and eyeshades and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[19089,218,15225,19092,19091,18004,18003,19088,19090,19093],"class_list":["post-88670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-air-travel","tag-airplanes","tag-airports","tag-business-class","tag-civility","tag-coach","tag-first-class","tag-fruit-baskets","tag-red-eye-flights","tag-upgrades"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn a Red-Eye Flight, Civility Is a Fragile Thing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sadie Stein on a particularly insistent fellow traveler.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2015\/08\/10\/the-fruit-basket-routine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Fruit-Basket Routine by Sadie Stein\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 10, 2015 \u2013 The veneer of civility is always thin on a red-eye. 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