The upgrade opportunities when you don’t book backward
Ask a car dealer for the latest model with a particular wheel spec, interior upholstery, exterior paint, and dashboard technologies, and the car salesman will tell you, “No problem.” That will be a bazillion dollars, and I’ll have it shipped with your custom requirements in three to six months.
If you want what you want and can afford it, no problem. More power to you. Ask for it, pay for it, and be happy. Move on to the next thing.
But there are some things in life that you can’t easily afford but still desire.
Let’s say you can't afford the aforementioned car with all its custom trappings to serve each of your personal preferences to a tee. What are you gonna do? You could ask the car dealer what he has on his lot left over from last year, right? Often, he’ll come back to you with a car that’s half the price of the custom car, perhaps with an interior color that’s not your favorite or something else less desirable. But if you get 90% or 80% of what you want for 50% of the price, that’s what many people would call a “deal.”
We’re going to stack this concept with another concept in just a moment. Hang with me, as I establish the second concept.
What You Really Want
It’s natural for humans to think they know what they want. However, having helped people book airline tickets for over 30 years, I have observed that people don’t know what they want.
Yeah, I’ve booked airline tickets for the ultra-wealthy and some of the brightest people around, as well as everyone in between. They often start by telling me they have to fly on this particular date, with no flexibility and want to fly on a particular airline — let’s say in Business Class on XYZ schedule.
They are confident and seem to know exactly what they want. But in reality, when I look at their options for this highly customized order – like the car buyer who wanted exactly everything he wanted – and then offer this person the best price available for exactly what they wanted, they often don’t like it. So I’m always quick to present another option, let’s say on a day earlier or later, or on a different airline, that’s half the price.
Think about the car buyer taking last year’s model from the distressed car lot inventory and getting it for half off. Well, the airline industry is like every other industry, with wholesale and surplus pricing for goods that management calculates will ultimately go unsold or be perishable at full price.
Sometimes, I offer a traveler a First Class seat on a different airline, even an opulent First Class seat, for a similar price as the Business Class they requested. Suddenly, they become really happy. It’s like an emotional roller coaster. One minute, they’re upset because what they thought was more than what they could comfortably afford results in a better option and within their budget range.
What’s My Point?
People often don't know what they want. Or at least, they’re not really clear on what they want. What’s worse? This lack of clarity limits their upgrade possibilities. That’s right, if they don’t know what they want or have a narrow view of what they want, then how the heck am I — someone in the upgrade business — going to get them the best possible result?
What Joe Really Wanted
Joe really wanted the most bang for his buck. But he didn’t tell me that. He told me he wanted to fly a particular airline on a particular day. And he did not even tell me his budget.
A lot of people do this. It limits how I can help them. But if they tell me that they want the best bang for their buck and give me directional guidance, that’s where I shine.
Upgrade Blinders
What are upgrade blinders? They’re self-imposed limits based on thinking you know everything, or at least know a lot.
In other words, my starting point with any upgrade pursuit, flight or otherwise, is that I know nothing.
Perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but because of the dynamic nature of life, if I act like I know what a fare or airline ticket should cost because of what it cost yesterday or last year, I’m violating the rules of the dynamics of life.
Things change. Most things change. It’s just a matter of time. Because of that, I pursue an upgrade opportunity by merely wanting the best possible outcome. And I always start out with the First Class option and work my way down.
I look for First Class for the price of Business Class, or Business Class for the cost of Premium Economy, or Premium Economy for the price of coach.
Takeaways
- Give your upgrade team more latitude.
Tell them your starting point, what we call the baseline. Tell them the coach fare, then the Business Class fare, or the First Class fare that you’ve found.
- Give them context about what you know.
Give them more general guidance, like you’d pay X dollars more if you could get First Class for that. Or you’d travel a day or two earlier or later if you could get XX class of service for Z% less.
- Tell them what you want.
You want the best possible outcome within some general parameters, and you want solid options.
Alternatively, just pay the full asking price if your budget allows it, assuming you know exactly what you want, and move on.