On our return trip from our Rotary project in Antigua I was the first one to check in and did so via a kiosk. As the machine crunched information it gave me a confirmation screen that asked if I wanted to upgrade on the first leg of the trip. I thought it was a reasonable price so I agreed.
My wife was next to me and about a minute or so behind me. She did not get an upgrade offer. The American Airlines representative said to ask at the counter when we checked our luggage. So, we did and were told that it wasn’t showing many seats and the price was so high he knew we wouldn’t pay it.
I get on the plane and I’m one of five people, out of 16 seats, in first class. I asked the flight attendant why my wife wasn’t offered an upgrade, she didn’t know but did go back and get her so she could sit with me.
American Airlines lost an opportunity to take in a couple thousand dollars that they can never again get. Not a lot to a multi-billion dollar company but one has to wonder how often this is happening.
Without getting into the discussion of “how to upsell everyone any and everything,” it should get all of us thinking about if we’re losing out on revenue, and our customers and clients losing out on our value, because we’re ignoring opportunity, have bad systems, poor follow-up or anything similar. For small businesses, a couple thousand dollars every-so-often can add up quickly.
We returned from Antigua to Seattle and guess what:
“Oh no, it’s raining again…It’s only time that heals the pain and makes the sun come out again.” Supertramp from It’s Raining Again