"That's 3A," Naomi Bell said, holding her boarding pass level so the man could read it without reaching for it. "And that's my sister's 3C." The man in the mirrored sunglasses didn't look at the pass. "Seats got reassigned. Talk to the gate agent."
"We didn't request a reassignment." "Then somebody did it for you." He stayed where he was, arm draped over the console like he already owned it. Nadia stood half a step behind her twin, thumb resting on her phone's lock screen.
Their grandmother's memorial service was tomorrow evening in Denver, and a delay here meant missing the one thing neither of them could reschedule. Naomi knew it, too. A flight attendant reached them. Her name tag read D. Kavolski, scanner already out.
She checked both boarding passes, then looked between the two women a bit longer than the passes required, like she wanted to be sure she hadn't scanned the same one twice. "These seats are assigned to the Bell reservation," she said. "Gate agent moved us up," the man answered. "Ask her."
"I'll need to confirm that." The gate agent, Priya, according to her badge, arrived a few minutes later, tablet in hand. "There was one of our internal accommodation codes applied at the counter. It lets us reseat personnel who present credentials." "Were our seats invalid?"
Naomi asked. "No." "Did we request to move?" "No."
"Then what authorized it?" "He showed me his ID. I applied the code." "We're off duty," the man said like the distinction didn't matter. Nadia's head came up.
"That code exists for staffing an active assignment, not for someone who isn't working." Access control was her job day in and day out. Different systems, different companies. But the shape of a policy stretched to cover something it was never built for.
It always looked the same. "Did you verify he was on duty?" Kavolski asked. Priya hesitated. "He presented his ID.
I didn't ask further." "So, no," Naomi said. Priya's silence confirmed it. Naomi kept her voice level. "We'll move."
I want it recorded that we didn't request this, didn't consent to it, and that the code was applied without confirming duty status. She turned to Kavolski. "Can you enter that exactly?" Kavolski typed. As the twins turned toward the seats farther back, the man leaned toward his friend.