"This transaction is not a loss!" In 1987, an American paid $250,000 for a United plane ticket, and everyone laughed at others for stupid money, but 20 years later, the airline cried and begged him to refund the ticket, and even compensated him with several times the money. What's going on here?
In the 80s of the 20th century, the Great Depression in the United States, in order to save the sluggish operating environment, United decided to launch a special ticket: as long as you spend 250,000 US dollars, you can have an unlimited lifetime ticket, and it is first class, only need to bring ID cards, no queue, special guidance to ride, proper super VIP customers.
As soon as this news came out, someone said that this is an airline cutting leeks, who buys who is stupid! For people at that time, $250,000 was an astronomical amount, equivalent to more than 1 million yuan, what concept? Equivalent to today's billionaires.
Why not with all this money? Buy a private jet too! But someone bought it, and 66 people signed the contract. These people are rich and celebrities, brushing their sense of existence, how many times can they fly in their lives? I'm afraid I won't be able to return to my roots for the rest of my life.
One of them is Steve Rothstein, a banker who lives in the United States and has a successful career. When he bought the ticket, he was treated like a madman, becoming a typical example of "stupid people with more money". Airlines are also happy to blossom, because in a short period of time, the company will be able to recover immediately.
Steve is no ordinary person, he has a global business and many friends, and he flies out several times a week to talk business and meet friends. Sometimes I leave Canada in the morning to see the beautiful scenery and return to my American home in the evening; Or head to France for a coffee with friends or Italy for a bite to eat.
He made the plane his second home, and he had a piece of luggage in the first class cabin of the plane, ready to go. Sometimes it's even just to go to London Square to release pigeons just to release the mood.
Soon, the company added another offer: as long as you add another $150,000, you can get a supplementary card, and you can fly for two people at the same time, which is also an unlimited lifetime system. Steve thought that his daughter was going to school in England so that the family could come and go at any time, and decided to buy this supplementary card. So the airline made another big profit!
However, 20 years later, airlines can no longer laugh!
For Steve, the happiness of this ticket was overwhelming: the world seemed to be Steve's bedroom. After getting a special card, Steve felt that the airport was like his own home, and in addition to work, it was a trip around the world for the whole family. Families often fly to another country for a ball game or a certain food, and then fly back after enjoying it.
Visiting his daughter in England, flying is more like "flying" from his own home, and sometimes his daughter's belongings are left at home, and he will personally deliver them instead of checking them in. On weekends, he also takes his daughter out to play, which is really cool for Steve!
After Steve's retirement, he continued to "carry forward" this pleasure, either traveling or on the way. At the airline, Steve sees employees the most, in addition to colleagues and bosses.
Nowadays, Steve's $400,000 ticket price is very cost-effective, even if you buy a private jet, it is more than this price, and the annual maintenance fee and cost are at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, he has become a proper winner!
However, airlines also found that in the course of decades, Steve flew more than 10,000 times, covered more than 10 million miles, cost more than $20 million, and made more than 500 trips to the UK. In this way, United Airlines has lost blood.
The airline announced the cancellation of the special treatment for this ticket. However, when Steve pulled out the contract, the airline had nothing to say.
However, airlines cannot "eat huanglian dumbly", they rack their brains to take back the privilege of this ticket.
Finally, the airline caught a handle: the main and deputy cards could not be sold, and they took Steve to court on the grounds that he sold secondary card tickets.
It turned out that when Steve was flying alone, he met those who missed the plane and would kindly take them on the plane with a secondary card. To thank Steve, those people would give him money for the plane ticket, but Steve wouldn't ask for it. However, sometimes in order to balance the psychology of the other party, he will collect a symbolic few dozen dollars.
After several battles, the airline finally won the case and took back Steve's ticket!
But after this news broke, airline passenger traffic plummeted: who wants to deal with a company that doesn't keep its word? The company's losses are much bigger than Steve's.
This airline is almost repenting its intestines!
As the saying goes, without faith, integrity is the foundation of the world, but also the way of business, without integrity, the company can not operate smoothly. The same is true of being a person, "words must be followed, deeds must be resolute", otherwise, once a crisis of trust occurs, success will be missed.
Author: Mei Shuya
Editor: Xinyue
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