Airline uses dance competition to allocate seat upgrades

Doctors, best dressed or dance competitions? How airlines should actually allocate upgrades

Everyone has a myth or favourite story about airline upgrades. Dressing up for a flight, claiming you're "on honeymoon" or even adding "Dr." to your boarding pass (regardless of actual honorifics) are among the desperate lows passengers will stoop, to up the odds of being waved through to business class.

Maybe this efford would be better spent polishing their best dance moves?

A video has emerged of a departure lounge "dance off" reportedly used to decide which passenger should be upgraded.

Last month passengers waiting for a Delta Airways flight out of Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta were informed there was a spare seat going at the front of the plane. Airline staff asked travellers to "go to gate" and bring their biggest moves for a shot at a seat upgrade.

It was clearly the moment one passenger, Britini D'Angelo had been waiting for.

"Delta Representative: 'Best dancer gets Upgraded to Comfort+'," she captioned a video of her enthusiastic entry.

Performing an supposedly impromptu routine, including such classics as 'the worm' and a full splits, the video has been seen over 1.7 million times on Tiktok. From initially shuffling start, by the end even airline gate agents were jumping and clapping along.

"So… this happened at the airport today," she said. "Anything for an upgrade!"

The dancer and social influencer had the upgrade 'popped and locked down'.

Among the 3000 comments, many viewers decided that this was the way they'd like airlines to award upgrades.

"I can't do the splits but I'll learn in 2 seconds for a free flight upgrade," wrote one.
Others fancied their odds, until they saw D'Angelo's moves.

"Me thinking, oh I could win this but then watched the rest of the video. Congrats!"
"You EARNED that upgrade!" commented Delta's social media account.

Others were suspicious that the dance star and Big Brother contestant 'just happened' to be waiting in the wings. Others said the seat scramble was fixed from the start.

Was D'Angelo a ringer?

'Sick moves for a seat upgrade' might not be a regular feature by the airline, but Delta loves its dance hall nostalgia.

In 2014 the airline launched an airline safety video with the theme: 80s dance-off.