My negotiation fu is strong
One of the ways in which I can tell I'm all grown up and not turned into my mother is my powers of negotiation.
Yesterday, checking into my flight back to Australia at KL airport I was asked to move to another counter. People in the queue alerted me that the flight had been oversold and we were being bumped to the 10pm flight. Not happy, Jan!
I'd specifically paid for an extra night in KL out of my own pocket so that I could take the daytime flight. Malaysia Air's economy seats are uncomfortable by day. So no way was I going to do an overnight as a start to my first proper holiday since 2006.
Anyway, despite not having breaky and beginning to feel very grumpy. I reigned in my Aussie tendency to get aggressive and was merely insistant and pretended to be more confused than I actually was. When an upgrade to business class on the overnight flight seemed not to be a going concern. I mentioned that I was concerned that the 10pm flight would not get me to Sydney on time to meet my flight to Auckland. The airline rep was quick on the uptake and she offered me a direct flight to Auckland leaving at 21:20. I pushed back a bit more but became visibly calmer and she caved to the business class upgrade.
So a breakfast voucher, a day with access to a 5 star hotel room with free internet access, meals at the hotel's buffet all day, 400 ringit (~A$180) in my pocket and a boarding pass to a business class flight, I was appeased. True that the airline would have given me the hotel, cash and meals anyway. But so glad I held out for the upgrade. Only downside is that leonhard got stuck in Syndey for the night by himself. (The only reason he wasn't flying direct to NZ from Melb was because of my flights.)
It's interesting how much self awareness good negotiation takes. My mother often got her way but at the cost of crushing the other person and leaving them fuming. I think that the airline staff felt that I'd let them of fairly lightly (even though I'd been a total princess) because the tour group and another family travelling were still giving them a hard time about being mucked around. I was pretty much their favourite person of the people that the bumped from the flight.
Yesterday, checking into my flight back to Australia at KL airport I was asked to move to another counter. People in the queue alerted me that the flight had been oversold and we were being bumped to the 10pm flight. Not happy, Jan!
I'd specifically paid for an extra night in KL out of my own pocket so that I could take the daytime flight. Malaysia Air's economy seats are uncomfortable by day. So no way was I going to do an overnight as a start to my first proper holiday since 2006.
Anyway, despite not having breaky and beginning to feel very grumpy. I reigned in my Aussie tendency to get aggressive and was merely insistant and pretended to be more confused than I actually was. When an upgrade to business class on the overnight flight seemed not to be a going concern. I mentioned that I was concerned that the 10pm flight would not get me to Sydney on time to meet my flight to Auckland. The airline rep was quick on the uptake and she offered me a direct flight to Auckland leaving at 21:20. I pushed back a bit more but became visibly calmer and she caved to the business class upgrade.
So a breakfast voucher, a day with access to a 5 star hotel room with free internet access, meals at the hotel's buffet all day, 400 ringit (~A$180) in my pocket and a boarding pass to a business class flight, I was appeased. True that the airline would have given me the hotel, cash and meals anyway. But so glad I held out for the upgrade. Only downside is that leonhard got stuck in Syndey for the night by himself. (The only reason he wasn't flying direct to NZ from Melb was because of my flights.)
It's interesting how much self awareness good negotiation takes. My mother often got her way but at the cost of crushing the other person and leaving them fuming. I think that the airline staff felt that I'd let them of fairly lightly (even though I'd been a total princess) because the tour group and another family travelling were still giving them a hard time about being mucked around. I was pretty much their favourite person of the people that the bumped from the flight.