Note: This article was originally published on Friday, May 30, 2014 at 11:04 in the morning and has been updated.
Unchanged: One of the ways in which business travel has changed significantly over the years is that due to more passengers aboard airplanes and increased restrictions pertaining to benefits with frequent flier programs, enjoying complimentary upgrades seem to be almost impossible for many people in 2025 — so if you are traveling on a business trip with your boss and you are fortunate enough to be awarded a complimentary upgrade, should your boss get the upgrade instead of you?
Should Your Boss Get The Upgrade Instead of You?
When I first asked the question “You are Upgraded. Your Boss is Not. What Do You Do?” here at The Gate With Brian Cohen almost nineteen years ago, I wrote that a situation in which the resulting consequences of your decision could be significant depending on the relationship with your boss, you have a minimum of four choices of which to ask yourself. Do you:
- Deny the upgrade and sit with your boss in the economy class section of the aircraft?
- Give your boss your upgraded seat in the premium class section of the aircraft and sit in the seat in the economy class section where your boss was assigned?
- Try to get an upgrade for your boss to sit with you in the premium class section of the aircraft?
- Show your boss who is boss as you sit comfortably in your premium class seat while your boss saunters by on the way to the economy class cabin?
The word boss itself had become somewhat obsolete and passé until 2025, when executives, managers, and supervisors are reportedly not being as easy going and as lenient with the people who report to them as they had over the past 20 years or so — which could result in occurrences of awkward situations such as the one this article is addressing.
One of My Experiences
Years ago during one business trip when I worked for a company and held the highest level of elite status with Continental Airlines in its OnePass membership program, I was upgraded to a seat in the premium class cabin; while the person to whom I reported did not. As I watched him walk the “walk of shame” down the aisle aboard the airplane towards the seat he was assigned in the economy class cabin, I simply smiled at him from the comfort of my seat while sipping on my pre-departure beverage.
In response, he sneered at me while mumbling a few expletives under his breath.
We had a great relationship where we joked around with each other all of the time. He never acted like he was my superior. We worked very well together, laughed a lot, and had a great time on the job. We were quite productive as well. I still miss that interaction which we had — but I also never let him forget about that upgrade.
Do not feel bad for him: he never let me forget a lot of things either — and that was just fine with me. I could take it just as well as I dished it out…
…but more often than not, many people unfortunately do not seem to have that kind of relationship with their bosses. That can lead to some awkward scenarios — such as when you get an upgrade and your boss does not.
What do you do if you find yourself in that situation? Would you have given up your upgrade to the chief executive officer? What if you had a higher elite status than the person to whom you report at the company where you are employed?
Matters are only worsened if you are unfortunate enough to report to a person who is simply jealous. What if you were outright ordered to give up your upgrade to your boss?
Final Boarding Call
If I were the boss and a subordinate secured an upgrade when I had not, it would be of no issue to me at all, as that person most likely earned the upgrade. Likewise, if I were faced with being forced to relinquish my upgrade to a superior, I would most likely quit that job.
As naïve as it may be, my rationale is that you should enjoy working for a living — whether you are employed at a company or operate your own business. You should not have to deal with politics and allow a hierarchy to dictate your happiness — or lack thereof. You earned that upgrade by traveling on your own time for company business — even if the company paid for your travel.
Some people are of the mindset that because the company paid for your travel, they get to dictate how you travel. That is true to a point: I can understand why a company would purchase a seat in the economy class cabin instead of the premium class cabin to save money; although some companies will approve the purchase of a seat in the premium class cabin when minimum standards of its travel policies are met in order to ensure that the value of the productivity of employees exceeds the cost of the upgraded travel. That concept is known as a return on investment.
However, if you earned elite level status as a result of the frequency of travel to which you had already committed and endured — and that upgrade did not cost a penny to the company — then you should not be denied that upgrade, in my opinion. If your boss wants that upgrade so badly, he or she can pay for it out of his or her pocket if the company will not approve the expense.
How many times have you traveled on your own time for company business? Can you count the number of times company business took precedence over your own personal business which would be considered important to you? Think of all of the times you traveled in discomfort due to allergies or illness; experienced the irregular operations you have endured due to weather or mechanical issues or labor disputes; suffered from the kid who kicked your seat from behind dozens of times as the baby next to you cried during the entire flight; sat in the middle seat where you had to wrestle for an armrest; had the back of the seat in your face when the passenger in front of you decided to recline his or her seat; or when you argued with someone who poached the seat you reserved months ago.
That is correct: you earned that upgrade, my friend.
If you are at your job because you need the money but are unhappy, I would suggest as a certified managerial coach that you should consider rethinking your priorities and set goals to get you from where you are now to a position where you feel like you are stealing money because you enjoy the work that you do so much. A boss should be supportive of you — not jealous or vindictive…
…but we all know that that is the ideal situation and not always the way it works, unfortunately.
Work should be fun. You should wake up in the morning raring to go — not dreading the day which lies ahead for you. For some people, travel — and its perks, which seem to be more difficult to earn and enjoy these days — is part of that fun when working. You should not have to worry about someone taking your fun and what you enjoy away from you.
Am I wrong here? Is there something which I am missing? Please express your point of view. Thank you in advance.
All photographs ©2008 and ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
