What Priya Knew

They were still in the first-class galley, with the cabin door closed and the hum of the plane steady under their feet. Melanie had moved off with David, her shoulders hard as wood. Captain Hayes had not come back. That left Priya in front of Vanessa, hands locked at her waist, like she was waiting for a scolding.

“A few times,” Priya said.

“On this route?”

Priya nodded once.

“Tell me what you saw.”

She swallowed. “It’s not always the same person. Sometimes it’s seat assignment. Sometimes it’s the way someone looks dressed. A bag. A name on the boarding pass.” She glanced toward the curtain, then back down. “Melanie says people in first can be moved for ‘better cabin flow.’”

Vanessa didn’t move. “And when the passenger refuses?”

Priya’s mouth tightened. “Then someone from the front gets involved. Usually David. He tells us to keep it smooth.”

“Smooth for whom?”

Priya gave a small, helpless shake of her head.

Vanessa reached into her tote and took out a slim notebook. “Have any complaints been filed?”

Priya’s eyes flicked to it and away. “Yes. I think so.”

“I need what you know, not what you think.”

Priya let out a breath through her nose. “There were passenger comments, but they didn’t always stay in the report packet. The wording got changed in the system. If it sounded too blunt, it would come back as ‘crew attempted assistance’ or ‘seat confusion resolved.’”

Vanessa’s fingers stilled on the notebook page.

Priya kept going, faster now, like the words had a clean edge once they started. “A few attendants said something about it in the monthly meeting. One got put on reserve for six weeks after. Another lost her preferred routes.”

“Who?”

Priya shook her head. “I’m sorry. I can’t—”

“I understand what you can’t do.” Vanessa looked at her. “I need dates, names, anything you remember.”

Priya’s gaze dropped to the floor again. “I can get you one case. Maybe two. Not from here. Later.”

Vanessa closed the notebook. “Do that.”

Priya nodded, then hesitated. “Ms. Cole?”

Vanessa waited.

“This is bigger than today.”

Vanessa’s jaw set. She looked out through the open galley door at the rows of seats, the heads bent over phones, the coffee cups, the quiet faces pretending not to listen.

“Yeah,” she said. “I’m starting to see that.”