What’s Your Price?
Flying home yesterday we were waiting in the Atlanta airport for our connecting flight to Albany and over the loud speaker, the nice woman at Delta asked for our assistance.
She needed three people to give up their seats on a full flight. So the first announcement came over. She said that if someone would give up their seat, they would receive an $800 voucher and a hotel night's stay to leave the next afternoon. A few minutes passed and she made another announcement. This time the offer was $900. Still no takers. After a few more minutes, the offer was $1000. I have to admit, at this point, I thought that if I was just less responsible with my job and family, I totally would have scooped it up.
Apparently someone took the offer and we boarded the plane. As we got settled in our seats, another announcement came over inside the plane. "It seems as if we would need one more passenger to give up their seat. The offer is $1300!" A nice older gentleman stood up and gave up his seat. We all clapped, partly because it was a nice gesture, but I clapped because I was jealous I couldn't have gotten that deal.
Not much after the man deplaned, a family with two small children boarded. Yes the money was a great incentive, but I thought how awesome it was that they were able to get home that night all together.
How much would it take for you to give up your seat? What's your threshold?