Originally Posted by
gooselee
I used to work for a company with this policy, and yes, we were supposed to decline upgrades. They made us submit boarding passes with our expense reports (which obviously doesn't address BFUGs, but they thought it did). As with what you described, it was 100% an image and perception thing - they didn't want anyone to be seen enjoying anything that could be seen as elite or luxurious. This even ended up costing them more $ sometimes since a free upgrade would sometimes mean one less meal I had to buy.
I stopped working there for many reasons, travel related and not.
This is just it. UG's can actually SAVE money...and they certainly don't COST money. If I get to eat in a lounge, and I get meals served in-flight, that's less meal expenses. I just submitted an expense report for a trip to Thailand last week, and I had two meals to submit for the whole week. On the way out I ate at the OW lounge at LAX, then ate on the plane. On the way back, the CX lounge on the HKG stop. Lunch. Then meals on the flight back to LAX. Then dinner in the OW lounge there between that and my connection. In Thailand itself my hotel had free breakfasts, and my business hosts there took care of my lunches and dinners, as it was Asia they felt they had to take me out every night
The two nights they didn't I expensed my own dinner. But compared to a domestic trip in Y and 3 meals a day at a conference or other trip, I spent nearly nothing on food thanks to flying in J.
And policies that restrict employees to just one carrier, hotel chain, rental car company etc are always a bad idea. Inevitably you end up paying more..even with a corporate rate..when competitors slash their prices for whatever reason. I worked for a company that was all about WN because they thought it was cheapest...it's not. I have had the conversation too many times...I save the company a few hundred (and in once case, 2k) and get asked why I didn't spend more to stick with their preferred vendor. Yeah..maybe there is another contractual incentive somewhere..but my bottom line is my budget, and that's my responsibility.