She nodded.
“Understood.”
Melissa leaned closer.
“If there's any difficulty with 2A, let him handle it.”
Emma looked toward the list.
Then asked, “What if the passenger has a valid boarding pass?”
Melissa sighed.
“Don't complicate it.”
Then she walked away.
Emma stared at the revised manifest.
For a moment, she considered asking the gate agent for clarification.
Then boarding preparations resumed, and she became occupied with ordinary duties.
But she didn't forget the discrepancy.
At nine-twenty, Richard Halden entered the aircraft.
He was accompanied by a younger assistant carrying a tablet.
Halden surveyed the cabin as though inspecting a hotel he owned.
He glanced toward the champagne glasses.
The folded blankets.
The polished surfaces.
Then looked toward Emma.
“You're the lead attendant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Name?”
“Emma Sullivan.”
He nodded.
“Make sure everything runs smoothly today.”
“Of course.”
His expression hardened.
“We have a passenger who may cause trouble. Seat 2A.”
Emma kept her voice professional.
“What concern has been reported?”
Halden glanced toward his assistant.
“Reservation irregularity. Possible misuse of an executive fare.”
Emma frowned.
“Has it been verified?”
He stared.
“Excuse me?”
“I want to make sure we have the correct information before addressing the passenger.”
Halden's mouth tightened.
“Miss Sullivan, your job is to serve passengers. Mine is to decide how operational issues are handled.”
Emma felt her face warm.
“Yes, sir.”
He stepped closer.
“If the passenger argues, call security.”
Then he walked toward the rear of the first-class cabin.
Emma stood still for several seconds.
She didn't like the instruction.
An airline certainly had procedures for invalid reservations, duplicate bookings, security concerns, and denied boarding.
But those procedures were supposed to establish facts.
Not begin with a decision that a particular passenger was going to be troublesome.
She opened the passenger information again.
Adrian Cole.
Seat 2A.
Confirmed ticket.
Valid boarding authorization.
No safety restriction.
No indication of fraud.
Then the system refreshed.
The seat now displayed a manual override.
But the passenger's ticket remained active.
Emma frowned.
She contacted the gate.
The agent sounded confused.
“We've had instructions from executive operations. Mr. Cole is supposed to be reassigned.”
“To which seat?”
A pause.
“That's not clear.”
Emma looked toward the manifest.
“Has he accepted a change?”
“No.”
“Then how can we mark him as reassigned?”