We’re just going to put it out there – if you’re flying first class, chances are you have enough money to buy your own pillows and blankets. Right?
Well, the pillows and blankets provided by some airlines must be really good, because they’re being stolen off the plane. Yes, stolen.
It turns out some posh passengers also have sticky fingers, and now the airlines are cracking down.
United Airlines, American Airlines and British Airways have all seen an increase in their pillows and blankets going AWOL after upgrading to luxury brands Saks Fifth Avenue, Casper and White Co, respectively.
“It is a huge problem right now,” American Airlines director of premium services and customer experience strategy Nick Richards told Skift.
“There’s the novelty of a new product, and everybody wants to take them with them. Things just tend to walk away.”
Things have gotten so bad that United Airlines has put out a memo to their flight attendants, asking them to be super vigilant when it comes to watching what passengers are taking off the plane.
“Even if only a small number of these items are taken off each flight, that can quickly add up to millions of dollars across our network over the course of a year,” United wrote in a memo, as reported by blog Live and Let’s Fly.
“To help ensure we are able to continue offering these high-quality products, it’s important to remind customers that these items remain on board the aircraft after every flight.”
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To try and combat thieves, United is now selling their Saks duvet online for $79.
British Airways is having a similar problem, with people helping themselves to their White Co bedding.
“People go, ‘Oh my god, this White Company bedding is lovely’ and they take it off the plane with them, which they’re not really meant to do,” the company’s commercial director Harry Zalk told Skift, as reported by News.com.au.
“These are not cheap items.”
This is why we can’t have nice things.
Top Comments
Surely the price of first class tickets would cover the cost of the beddings! If not just increase it. I'm sure people first class flyers won't notice the price increase of $79 (for the duvet?) on their $5k+ tickets.
Honestly, even if I was tempted to steal a blanket, the likelihood that they're probably not washed very often would stop me. There was a tweet from a comedian recently (Nicole Byer, maybe) who said she found an actual turd wrapped up in the blanket she received on her first class flight.