Spot This Man in the Airport and He’ll Upgrade You to First Class

Memorize this face. Now.

July 21, 2017 9:00 am EDT

Memorize this dude’s face. Young Ed Norton? Touch of Ryan Gosling? Some Justin Bieber in the hairline? Blue eyes, scruff? 

There’s a point to this endeavor: Spot this guy spreading out in this first-class seat — and he’ll give it to you, removing himself and his highlights to that P.O.S. middle-seat in economy you’d resigned yourself to.

The dude pictured is Gilbert Ott of God Save the Points, a website devoted to the craft of fare-hacking. We like his site — it’s especially good for deals, like around $500 to Thailand

Here’s the thing: We never would have thought to suggest it — the world of travel deal websites is an overpopulated one — until Ott’s contest, dubbed the “Catch Me If You Can Promotion.” So points to him for a cheap, fun and memorable campaign. Now some big brands are buying in — like British Airways, which is offering additional upgraded seats to Ott-spotters. We hope the fun ‘n’ games continue through the end of the year — Ott says he’ll be flying regularly, with hints to his upcoming routes shared on his social

We’re finding it hard to see a downside in all this — unless you look just like him and plan to fly in biz or first class for the rest of the year, in which case we say: We hope you enjoy the extra attention. 

Meet your guide

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel

Diane Rommel has written for The Wall Street Journal, Outside, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, Travel + Leisure, Wallpaper and Afar, as well as The Cut, Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and McSweeney’s. She once drove from London to Mongolia, via Siberia.
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