A class apart

Have you ever wondered why most tourists travel economy class while corporate employees with much less salary fly in a higher class on airlines? Well you’re not alone. You say that’s because their companies pay for their tickets, I respond why do the companies buy “business class” tickets while “economy class” tickets would come at a cheaper price-tag.  You are smarter and you retort, “That’s because the company is in a non-price competition for employees with other corporates”. Well done, but why can’t the company just pay higher wages? What’s so special about flying your employees in style?

The answer is employees like comfort. And when they’re comfortable, they work better. Giving them a permanent source of comfort such as a nice cabin would incentive them to work harder and be more loyal as they are unlikely to find a better job with similar comfort elsewhere. But temporary comfort provided by a class upgrade on a flight has a similar albeit more immediate effect. My mom was always given “economy class” tickets for domestic flights but “business class” for international ones by her employer. This might seem bizarre, as domestic flights are cheaper. But first-class travel/business class travel on international routes with several hours of flight time tends to be more comfortable. But what does her employer gain? Well her company gets an employee who lands fresh after a long flight for a meeting. But my mom too now has greater incentives to want to attend such meetings for they entitle her to business class travel. While a good cabin would have made my mom more loyal on the long run, business class travel makes my mom more willing to go on foreign trips to attend meetings. Since travelling for ten hours or more is a real discomfort, my mom’s company effectively compensates her by offering a better service class on the airline. Unlike other benefits a company offers, business class travel has immediate effects on an employee’s productivity because the employee can now travel more comfortably and arrive fresh for a meeting. The employee also has an incentive to travel and be away from his/her family.

Instead of having disgruntled and/or tired employees attending your meetings at a foreign location, it is better to buy them a “business class” ticket. An employee is more likely to look forward to a meeting when he is flown in and out in style! Business class is the “efficiency wage” model of our times. Now, surprise yourself. Next up, why do you study right before exams and not earlier despite several self-promising resolutions made to the contrary?