During the whole "United-Continental" merger a few years back, I had a Continental flight to ORD, and then from there, a United flight to South Bend, IN.    It happened to be the Monday morning after spring break, and as I sat in my seat, near the end of boarding, a young woman (freshmen at Notre Dame) stood in the aisle by my row and just started looking at me, her ticket, the row numbers above, etc.  had no clue what to do - obviously not a frequent flier.    I piped up, "What's wrong?"    She said, "Um, I;m in 12D, and um..." not wanting to be mean about me sitting in her seat.    I look at my boarding pass, and sure enough, I am ALSO in 12D.  FAAAAACK. I ring the call button and motion for the FA.  I show them our boarding passes as I am packing up my stuff.  The FA sees my Platinum Elite status thingy and says, "Oh, sir, I;m sorry.  Miss, you'll have to come with me." I stop her right away, "No way am I leaving her stranded here.  I can take a later flight or drive.  I have resources and a business travel card.  She's in college."  The FA beamed, and the nice young woman said, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!'  over and over.  She was close to tears, because she was about to get left in Chicago. So, I lost a few hours of my life.  United gave me $500 in vouchers and $28 for drinks meals.  And I was able to make not only HER day, but also the FA didn't have to deal with kicking a pissed off/dejected passenger off the plane.  Win-win.  Seriously, how hard is it to NOT be selfish?