I’ve been biting my tongue on this one . . . but if you owned the airline do you think you would derive more future benefit from upgrading a fare paying passenger and delighting them to the point they automatically come back next time they are going to travel (and tell all their mates about it) OR upgrade staff and extended family who already travelling on a heavily subsidised ticket?
And further, another argument I saw a little while ago was ‘we are only using unused seats’. Not true! Are you aware that most customers actually value not having anyone next to them? The presence of someone (staff and extended family included) devalues the offering for the full fare paying punter, especially those who pay premium fares. Sure they could pay for two tickets . . . or maybe they too would be willing the pay ‘staff rates’ to keep the seat free?
But I am not going to get anywhere this . . . subsidised staff and extended family travel benefits are clearly a negotiated and accepted practice (and cost) of ‘full service’ airlines and nothing will change anytime soon. I know many members of the community would love to have a similar scheme and I genuinely wish everyone well in maintaining these fringe benefits because they are amazing – so long as there are enough customers willing to subsidise them!
Best to all
Cheers
Pedota