The flight attendant tried to throw me out of First Class for a “VIP passenger”—then she discovered whose $4.2 billion deal was keeping her airline alive.

Three weeks after the Northstar restructuring was finalized, a confidential internal report landed on Amelia’s desk. It was compiled by Vantage’s operational compliance team, detailing the sweeping cultural and procedural reforms implemented across Northstar’s entire domestic and international network following the incident on Flight 909.

The report made fascinating reading.

Not only had Northstar rewritten its entire automated seat-allocation algorithm to prevent arbitrary tier-based overrides of advance purchases, but they had also instituted mandatory retraining for all gate agents and senior flight attendants. The focus of the retraining wasn't customer service scripts; it was unconscious bias, de-escalation protocols, and strict adherence to ticketing integrity.

Furthermore, Linda Marlow had not been fired—much to her initial, panicked expectation. Instead, following a private, frank conversation with Northstar’s newly restructured executive committee, Linda had been promoted to Senior Cabin Service Director for Northstar’s flagship transcontinental routes, tasked specifically with training junior flight crew on equitable passenger treatment and zero-tolerance policies for elitist harassment.

Amelia read through the audit notes with quiet satisfaction. Corporate turnaround wasn't just about balancing balance sheets, slashing debt, or injecting four billion dollars of senior secured liquidity; it was about fixing the broken human infrastructure that allowed inefficiency and institutional arrogance to fester in the first place.

Her phone buzzed. It was Sarah Donovan.

Hey, Amelia. Quick question. The Board of Directors at Vantage is putting together the advisory panel for our next major target—Trans-Global Airlines. They want you to lead due diligence.

Amelia leaned back in her ergonomic leather chair, spinning a silver pen between her fingers.

Trans-Global? Amelia typed back. Aren’t they notorious for terrible customer service and archaic reservation systems?

Horrible, Sarah replied instantly. Their first-class cabins are basically a battleground of entitled executives and stressed-out crews.