Janet returned with an expression Marcus recognized from other difficult meetings. She no longer looked as though her main goal was to make him leave. "Mr. Chen," she said, "we located a modification made to your reservation before boarding. Your original purchase was confirmed for 1A. It appears the later change was not properly communicated or authorized through the customer consent process."
"Who made it?" he asked.
"We're still verifying the user account and the reason."
"Then I appreciate you saying what you've verified," Marcus replied. "Can you put that in writing?"
She nodded. "Yes. And I apologize for telling you the documents were invalid before I reviewed the entire history."
Marcus noticed that the apology was narrower than what had occurred on the aircraft. That was appropriate as far as it went; Janet could not speak for every other employee. But it also exposed a gap between a correction in the system and the personal treatment he had received. "Thank you," he said. "Please include the reason I was offered economy after you saw the ticket was valid."
Janet held his gaze. "I thought the crew's decision had already been checked."
"It hadn't," Marcus said.
"No," she answered. "It hadn't."
Her phone rang again, this time displaying Patricia Vance's direct line. Janet asked whether Marcus would speak with the CEO in a quieter office. Marcus agreed to a call but not to hiding the basic outcome from the people affected by the delay. He wanted the passengers told the correct status of the flight and the reservation, not drawn into a public board meeting over sensitive employee records.
They stepped into an unoccupied gate-side consultation room with Santos, Lisa, and a gate representative present. Patricia introduced herself on a secure call and began by asking Marcus whether he was safe, whether he needed medical assistance, and whether anyone had physically mistreated him. Marcus told her that he was not injured and did not want to exaggerate the experience. What had happened was serious enough when described accurately.
"I held a confirmed ticket for 1A," he said. "Your crew didn't read it carefully, described me as a scammer, called security, and offered me a downgrade after a priority override changed the seat record without my agreement. I want to know who authorized that override and what controls allowed it."
Patricia listened without interrupting. When he finished, she said she had already ordered a preservation hold and an independent review of the immediate incident. Her tone was less confident than it had been in their investment meetings, not because she had lost her position, but because she understood that a fellow executive had just described the weakness of procedures she was responsible for maintaining.
"I'm sorry," she said. "An authorized booking should not become a dispute over whether a passenger looks as though he belongs. We will correct the seat record now and examine the conduct separately."
"There is something else," Marcus replied. "I need to know what happened to passengers without my name. I won't accept a review that ends at gate 23."