There’s no secret that traveling is extremely stressful. This is especially true if your travels require you to fly to your destination. There are just so many steps that need to go right to avoid anxiety and anger. First, you need traffic to be at a minimum. After you arrive at the airport, you have to stand in line to get your ticket (and possibly check a bag) before making your way to security. Depending on where you live, the lines can be downright obscene. By this point, your stress is likely beginning to boil over.
But, even after you traverse past (the sometimes handsy) TSA you still have to find your gate. Where is your gate? Panic sets in and this inevitably leads to anxiety, stress and anger. But, you don’t explode. Somehow you stay calm and composed and you make it to your gate just as they are beginning to board the plane. You deserve a prize for that, right? What if you could even get a flight upgrade because you’re not making a spectacle of yourself? Well, Monarch Airlines is doing just that.
The Britain-based low-cost airline is giving customers a major incentive for being nice. As part of a new campaign, the airline is offering free seat upgrades for customers who are in a good mood. They decided to do this after they collaborated with i2 Media Research and Goldsmiths University professor Jonathan Freeman who found a link between the positive way people treat others and their overall happiness and health. It makes sense. Happy, positive people feel better than pessimistic people.
“We are often described as the nicer airline and holiday company and we pride ourselves on this,” Monarch’s COO Nils Christy told the Mirror. “Our customer services staff are already nice – now they can reward those who are positively nice to them too.”
That’s all you h need to do to get an upgraded seat with more legroom. You don’t need to purchase a perks card or trade in your frequent flier miles. All they want is for you to be pleasant, thereby lowering the overall stress level of the traveling process for your fellow customers. It seems pretty simple.
Customer services at Monarch will have a specific amount of seat upgrades and priority check-ins every week for cheery travelers and there’s no specific way to make yourself eligible. The best way to get one of these perks is to just be nice. Even if you don’t end up getting an upgrade at least you can feel good that you didn’t add to anyone’s stress. (Or you can start yelling about it like a maniac… your call.)
