Do you fly economy?
You sit on the Executive Team of very large company. The company had a tough year last year. All through the business, costs are being contained and cut. You’ve got to attend a company conference a couple of continents away. You don’t travel that often, and while the business has decided that Executive members can fly business class, you decide to set an example and fly economy.
Your boss walks into your office and tells you that you can’t fly economy. Executives fly business class.
What do you do? Do you set the example, fly economy and take on your boss? Or do you fly business class?
I heard this scenario during the week. It’s not really important what happened, but it does pose some interesting thoughts.
So what would you do?
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I would fly economy. I’d explain my preference to my boss, and also explain that this is saving the company money. I’d want to know why Executives must fly business class. I’d also ask him what would happen if I flew economy – would I be sending the wrong “message” to everyone else? Would some of the executives be challenged by my behaviour?
If the message that my boss wants to send is, “Executives are more important than everyone else, that’s why we always fly business class, plus you are not allowed to downgrade yourself” that would be my cue to fly economy permamently.
As a frequent long haul traveller, I have learnt the real benefits of flying business class. You genuinely DO get a much better night’s sleep, and arrive a WHOLE lot more refreshed on the other side. SO, in the scenario you sketch, if I was required to step off the plane and into meetings, or, on my return, had to step off the plane and be ready for action on the same day, I’d accept the business class offer.
If, however, other members of my team were travelling with me and were put into economy, or if the company allowed for recovery days and didn’t need me in action immediately after flying, I’d fly economy.