Oh puh-leeze!
Yesterday I’m at La Guardia airport getting ready to come back to FL. The flight at the next gate bound for Tampa is in and almost ready to board when I hear ground attendant begin to hawk $100 first class upgrades.
“We’re pleased to offer upgrades to first class for only $100 that is, if your class of service is any other than L Q U V or W, for only $100. Wha??
I shook my head thinking – not a very friendly invite and that $100 is a lot to pay for a short flight upgrade. I stuck my head back into my paper until the next announcement came from that gate.
“We are in an oversold situation. We need 5 volunteers. We guarantee a seat on the next flight and we are offering $400 in Delta vouchers.” Hmmm. A few minutes ago they had seats up front and now they have too many people on the plane. Curious.
Next announcement: “Once once again ladies and gentleman, we are offering upgrades to the first class cabin at only $100 ..”
My brain is engaged now and I can’t wait to hear what comes next. You guessed it.
“We are in an oversold situation and offering $400 in Delta vouchers and a guaranteed seat on the next flight.” Okay, I’m thinking, why don’t they just upgrade a few medallion members from the back – or even complete strangers – and put them up front. Then they’ll be room in the back (and a few people will be pleasantly delighted.)
I shook my head and started paying attention to my own flight announcements.
When I boarded the plane I heard that they were still looking for 2 volunteers to get off the flight and offering $400 in vouchers plus meal tickets for a dinner anywhere in the airport to sweeten the pot.
What’s wrong with this picture? At my count Delta paid out $1,200 in vouchers when they had some seats available up front. Do the math. This is dumb. Upgrade people from the back to the front and then do a head count. Maybe it would cost less. Greed makes you stupid. Or maybe, to be fair, I should said fear makes you stupid. Gas prices aside – the airlines are in trouble for a reason.
Travel sanely, oops I mean safely…
Who actually knows what class of service their ticket is in? The point? There were 5 exclusions to their offer (even if I got the letters wrong – there were 5 of them.)
