Originally Posted by
meester69
He is profiting (in the form of an upgrade) by buying a ticket that costs more than the minimum (so that it is upgradeable). He shouldn't do that. The company is not benefiting from that extra spending - he is. He is effectively finding a more expensive supplier for no other reason than self-enrichment. That's definitely unethical - if you switch stationery suppliers to a more expensive supplier because the more expensive supplier buys you lavish gifts, that would be corrupt, this situation is little different, the lavish gift in this case being the ability to upgrade to J.
Assuming that he is authorized to travel on paid J, anything that doesn't cost the company more than that should be fine.
An example: J ticket is $6000, the cheapest Y is $1500, and upgradable Y is $3000. Options include:
1) Buy J at $6000 - allowed by company policy, director arrives at destination more rested and ready to be productive than he would in Y. No ethical question.
2) Buy $3000 ticket, upgrade with SWU, take $1500 TSP payment = $4500, company saves $1500, director arrives at destination more rested and ready to be productive than he would in Y. I see no problem with this, but this seems to be where the difference of opinion here lies.
3) Buy $1500 ticket, sit in the back, take $1500 TSP payment = $3000, company saves $3000, director arrives at destination more travel weary than he would have in J. No ethical question.