There is a man who, in the span of the past twelve months, has attempted to buy American Airlines, tried to drive American out of its Chicago hub, emailed the entire United Airlines customer database about what a great idea it would be if he personally ran the merged airline, and lobbied the President of the United States on the matter. That man is Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines.

That man also, as of last week, was spotted in American Airlines first class, en route to Dallas, by a flight attendant who took a selfie with him and posted it online.

He was described as “pleasant.”

Kirby left American Airlines in 2016 under circumstances the industry generally describes as being “fired,” which Kirby has declined to dispute with any meaningful vigor. His severance agreement included approximately $13 million and, crucially, a clause that entitles him to unlimited personal travel on American Airlines for the rest of his natural life, in any cabin class, worldwide, with Admirals Club access included.

He walked out the door of American with the keys.

He then walked into United, became its president, became its CEO, moved (theoretically) to Chicago, and began a decade-long project of arguing, loudly and in public, that American Airlines is an inferior product. He has suggested that American loses $800 million a year at O’Hare. He has told his own pilots that American might simply need to leave Chicago. He has held press conferences about this. He has sent emails about this. He flew to Washington and told the president about this.

And then, when he needed to get home to Dallas, where he still lives, where his kids go to school, where he spends an amount of time that raises interesting questions about what it means to be headquartered somewhere, he opened the American app and booked a seat.

Not a middle seat, either. First class.

In fairness to Kirby, the terms of his agreement explicitly prohibit him from using the benefit for work travel. This was a personal trip. He is, technically, following the rules.

The rules, in this case, are: Scott Kirby may fly American Airlines for free whenever he wants, as long as he is not doing so in a professional capacity. Scott Kirby may not fly American Airlines if he is, at that moment, the CEO of United Airlines doing United Airlines business. Scott Kirby may absolutely fly American Airlines if he is simply a man who needs to get back to Dallas, which is something that happens to him regularly, because Dallas is where he lives, and he is the CEO of United Airlines.

United, for its part, has not commented. American, for its part, has not commented. The flight attendant who took the selfie said he was great.

The question “why doesn’t he fly his own airline?” has been raised, and Kirby has an answer, which is that his severance agreement pre-dates his employment at United, the benefit is non-transferable, and it would be financially irrational to pay for a United ticket when he can ride American for free. This is correct. It is also the most technically-defensible argument you can make for flying the airline you have publicly compared, on multiple occasions, to a lesser version of yourself.

It is possible to hold two thoughts at once: that Scott Kirby is operating entirely within the terms of a legally binding agreement, and that Scott Kirby’s relationship with American Airlines is the most committed situationship in the history of commercial aviation. He can’t buy them. He can’t beat them out of Chicago. He can’t get them to merge. But he can, apparently, always get a seat.

The planes he was not on were United planes.

The airline he does not fly, for personal travel, is the airline he runs.

The airline he does fly, for personal travel, is the airline he has spent a decade arguing should either be absorbed into his own airline or removed from a major American city.

He was pleasant about it.

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