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Ann Curry recalled a moment when she was sitting in first class on a plane and "wanted to put a bag over [her] head" on Wednesday's "Today."
Harvard professor Michael Sandel was on the show to discuss his new book "What Money Can’t Buy." In it, he asks whether people should be able to pay their way through certain situations. The show's co-hosts sat down to debate moral dilemmas, including whether they thought it was fair to be able to pay more money to get through airport security faster.
Al Roker and Natalie Morales both agreed that paying extra money should afford more perks. Curry disagreed, saying that there was "an inherent unfairness" to the situation.
"I'm not sure I think it's fair," she said. "It's something I've done, and I have to say that I always feel guilty about it."
She drew on a past experience. "I mean, you are paying for a service — but one time, I came out of a plane and I was in first class, and they stopped everyone who was in coach from even exiting the plane until we all got out and I just wanted to put a bag over my head. It just feels, there's a sense of, I'm kind of better than you are. And I don't — I don't think that is right."
Lauer pointed out that even though people can enroll in programs to go through lines at the airport faster, everyone still has to go through security.
Curry maintained that there was "something fundamentally unfair" about it. "But it's still question of money," she argued. "It's about those with money having an easier life than those who don't."
"But don't we also teach our kids, in a sense, life isn't always fair," Roker suggested.
"No, but until America becomes fair in terms of how able people can be to make money, until the playing field is fair, it is unfair," Curry said.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated Natalie Morales' name as Natalie Guthrie.
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