If this isn’t a feel good airline story that puts a smile on your face, then I don’t know what is…
In this post:
Overjoyed seniors find themselves in Etihad’s The Residence
A couple had booked a ticket from London to Singapore on British Airways, reportedly in economy. However, due to a flight cancellation, they ended up getting rebooked on Etihad Airways. What they weren’t expecting is how they’d be accommodated.
In a video that has been viewed roughly three million times on TikTok (and even more often on other social platforms), you can see the couple touring The Residence. You can’t help but just have a huge smile on your face as you hear the wife laughing uncontrollably as she discovers just how over-the-top this product is, finishing by saying “thank you British Airways for having a knackered plane, that’s all I can say.”
While Etihad’s A380 First Class Apartments are incredible, The Residence is on a different level. It’s a private three room suite that’s a class above first class, and it can accommodate up to two passengers, with a living room, bedroom, and private bathroom with shower. It’s the pinnacle of commercial aviation.
Now, how exactly the couple ended up getting upgraded to The Residence is a mystery to me, though suffice it to say that this isn’t common. We’ve sometimes heard of couples traveling in First Class Apartments getting complimentary upgrades in situation where the flight is otherwise oversold, but to see an upgrade like this is exceedingly rare.
I have to imagine that the flight was really oversold and they were in a rush to close it up, and that’s why they didn’t end up processing upgrades in a more logical manner. If you ask me, I think airlines should do more of these three or four class upgrades, where passengers are just downright speechless when they enter a cabin. Too fun!
This reminds me of my first Emirates A380 first class flight
While not quite as over-the-top, this story can’t help but remind me of my first flight in Emirates’ A380 first class, back in 2012. At the time, first class award redemptions on Emirates weren’t really a thing outside of the Skywards ecosystem, so it wasn’t really a product on the radar for most of us into miles & points (how times have changed!).
At the time, I was scheduled to fly British Airways first class from Seattle to London to Dubai, on a ticket I had booked using Avios and a companion certificate. The Seattle to London flight was delayed, and even though we had a very long layover, we were for some reason automatically rebooked in Emirates first class from London to Dubai, on a flight departing earlier than out initial departure time.
I still don’t know how it happened, but boy, what an awesome experience it was! That’s also the flight on which I met Toby, who was working as the purser, and he’s a good friend to this day.
Bottom line
A couple (reportedly) scheduled to fly in British Airways economy ended up flying in Etihad’s The Residence, the most exclusive product in commercial aviation, after a flight cancellation. Their reaction is priceless, and so fun to see. I don’t know what exactly caused this, but I’m so happy it was captured on video!
Great content Ben...thank you! I returned from a trip that unfortunately had a rough start, so I had to take a few days to process everything after my wife and I returned to Miami. I spent 20 years as a Cruise Director and have been traveling internationally in Biz Class during that time, and traveling overall for about 30 years. I had booked two award seats on the new Lufthansa A350-900 Allegris Business Class Suites...
Great content Ben...thank you! I returned from a trip that unfortunately had a rough start, so I had to take a few days to process everything after my wife and I returned to Miami. I spent 20 years as a Cruise Director and have been traveling internationally in Biz Class during that time, and traveling overall for about 30 years. I had booked two award seats on the new Lufthansa A350-900 Allegris Business Class Suites from ORD-MUN on April 8th last month as a result of my Swiss Air canceled flight.
I originally booked these seats using LIFEMILES via Swiss Air. Swiss Air completely cancelled our flight from ORD-MUN on Swiss Air and didn't email me or my wife or have any contact at all. I checked online about 5 days before the flight and noticed that it was gone, and I was told the flight was cancelled. That was already pretty shocking and now the options they gave us didn't line up with our connecting flights and I had to change our hotel in Italy and then try and have my wife change her days off to a day earlier so we could leave on the 8th (originally planned Swiss Air April 9th). After all of that and switching to the Lufthansa flight, we had it booked and the two Suite seats, which are normally an upcharge. There was none, and we had the seats.
I checked the next day, and they were gone. And yes, I have a screenshot and a receipt showing we have those seats. I then call back and forth for the next 4 days, and they keep reappearing and then disappearing??? Ugh. Finally, on the day of the flight, we were all set, albeit in row 2, both getting window seats and not together after they bumped us again and gave it to someone else and put us on either side in the window seats..fine..whatever.
Then we flew on April 8th MIA-ORD for the connecting flight...well, guess what, that flight was delayed 3 1/2 hours. And yep, by the time we arrived at 11pm everything was closed at O'Hare and we had missed our amazing flight to Italy. Well, I tried to speak to someone at Avianca, Swiss Air, or even Lufthansa, and everything was closed. I tried to call all three of them many, many, many times. And there's nothing they could do until the next day. So we crossed the street at Ohare, overpaid for the Hilton at the Airport for $300, called and changed our hotel in Italy but couldn't, and then woke up the next morning trying to get on the next star alliance flight out of Ohare even though I was so upset after working so hard for those great seats on this newly launched plane and Biz Class, I conceded that I would take the next flight.
Well, the next one was at 3:30pm on Swiss Air, which had now apparently reinstated the original flight we were supposed to be on before they cancelled us 4 days prior???? How does that happen? Nothing was open at O'Hare for any of the 3 airlines until 3 hours prior and it was 8am and we were at O'Hare. And we couldn't do anything. I called Swiss Air in Europe, and they said they couldn't get us on any flights as the ticket was not showing available at all????
So, I was so upset at this point that I just went online, overpaid $2500 each for my wife and me for another Biz Class seat that was leaving at 11am and we then went to the lounge, and then jumped on that flight. Ugh...Nightmare and I were now out another $5k after already working so hard for weeks on the original flight. I was finally able to get a hold of Avianca and get the 160k miles put back into my account but I was not out the $5k and didn't get the flight we wanted and had the loss of night in Chicago at an extra expense and the lost night of our hotel in Italy and tours. So..it was bad. What can we do? I will approach Chase Travel Interruption first but where is the responsibility of Avianca or even more, Swiss Air, for the original cancellation or Lufthansa for not allowing us to take the next flight, or even contact anyone about this???
It was an American Airlines flight out of MIA that caused all of this, and then a huge customer service issue with Avianca, Swiss Air, and Lufthansa as each of them kept telling us to call the other after we missed the original flight out of Chicago???? Please help! Complete nightmare....ugh. Thank you!
We got upgraded to the Residence in early January between AUH-LHR because my husband cleaned the business class toilet on the previous leg from BKK after he went in and found someone else had sh*t all over the place. The crew couldn’t have looked after us any more and needless to say we were poured off the aircraft in both AUH and LHR.
Difference? We didn’t blag about it on social media
It's a lovely video, but I am doubting this was an upgrade from economy on a last minute cancellation...
1- He is a little too well dressed for the part to be flying economy that day
2- It is their very first Tik Tok video on the account, and manages to get millions of views
My guesses include 1) they were on a BA First or maybe Club World ticket and rebooked into first, or...
It's a lovely video, but I am doubting this was an upgrade from economy on a last minute cancellation...
1- He is a little too well dressed for the part to be flying economy that day
2- It is their very first Tik Tok video on the account, and manages to get millions of views
My guesses include 1) they were on a BA First or maybe Club World ticket and rebooked into first, or 2) they booked this from the start and set it up to get the views.
Any other guesses? It's just not quite adding up.
Now they're ruined for anything less. After reading this blog and fun and games points accumulation, 10 years ago I took my first first class flight from Dallas on an Emirates 380 using only 100K Alaska miles. It was quite a delight. After my 3 day stopover in Dubai, I continued on the same award to Colombo in 1st on a 777. It was already a let down. What?! No shower?
This definitely put a smile on my face. Congrats to the couple.
They confirm in the comments that they were due to fly First on BA.
While that will make the return flight less unbearable than BA Y, they're still going to be wildly disappointed on the return in BA F!
A great story, and lots of free PR for Etihad!
My 1st F trip was Hong Kong to Vancouver on a CX 747/200 from Kai Tak.
With the world currently on fire...it's such a delight to see really cool things happen to "average Joe and Missus" that the never ever would come close to experiencing "in real life". I know that some of our jaded F Class friends are saying... " well they won't appreciate or understand the level of upgrade they just recieved" Oh I disagree.
Lucky, thanks for the story and today's smile !
I got an unexpected, free upgrade to The Residence from AUH-LHR in January 2024...was booked in Business with cash, and talked to the lounge attendants about an instant upgrade with points like Emirates offers. They said 350K, which was crazy, but we had a nice conversation. 5 hours later as I board the flight they print me out a new boarding pass in First. Was a fun trip!
Talk about Surprise and Delight
The trip home in BA economy class is going to seem unbearable now!
this isn't gonna make that other guy feel any calmer
Some people have all the luck and good for them too. Nice to see their joy.
Not wishing to take anything away from their joy and good fortune.
After enjoying the experience of both 3&4A as well as 1&2H, my wife has said that she would not like the French bed experience of the residence. I agree if only on cost grounds alone. We much prefer the closeness of adjacent beds with the independence of easy access to all of the other facilities.
It’s definitely an error by BA When rebooking, BA didn’t book the correct class and etihad didn’t reject it. In most cases the revenue management system would verify it and reject the sale. BA will get billed.
I'll bet it was because they dressed nice like all the "travel influencers" suggest. ;-)
I think all passengers who misconnect for operational reasons should be upgraded to the Residence. To do anything otherwise would mean they're not being given dignity as humans.
Superyachts are a human right
Or maybe they are too shy to admit they were originally booked on BA First. When they got rebooked into Etihad First, they were assigned the Residence to free up two seats for individual travellers.
Very possible. He is quite well dressed for a long trip in Economy class.
I recently flew SNA-JFK in Flagship Business next to a someone who had never sat in any premium cabin whatsoever. She told me she recently applied for the AA credit card, achieved Gold status, and was upgraded for free on this flight. She was downright giddy about everything from the powered seat adjustments, the amenity kit, the way the tray table slides out from the...
I recently flew SNA-JFK in Flagship Business next to a someone who had never sat in any premium cabin whatsoever. She told me she recently applied for the AA credit card, achieved Gold status, and was upgraded for free on this flight. She was downright giddy about everything from the powered seat adjustments, the amenity kit, the way the tray table slides out from the center console, the multi-course meal.
And don't we all remember the first time we flew First ? Me... Western Airlines 1980 SLC-SFO....hooked forever !
Such an upgrade is definitely not common at all. I am interested in knowing what BA booked for the reaccommodation. I can't believe BA did a from Y to the Residence. If someone at BA did, all hell will break loose when that ticket is sent to BA for payment.
That's so awesome, what a great surprise for them.
An elderly couple on TikTok.
Seems to defy odds just like being upgraded to The Residence.
Lucky indeed.
Just might be as lucky as all those YouTube TikTok people staying in Presidential Suites paying only $10.
At least this couple's excitement looks genuinely adorable.
That was very fun to watch.