Anyone else sensing a serious shortage of niceness in the world these days? We sure are. Monarch Airlines is capitalizing on this by rewarding passengers for being polite on the phone with its customer-service representatives. You act like a decent human, you get an upgrade. (Terms and conditions apply, obviously.)
The airline, according to the U.K.'s Independent, is calling this a "year-long campaign to promote traditional values of chivalry, courtesy, and respect."
Said Monarch’s chief operating officer, Nils Christy: "We are often described as the nicer airline and holiday company and we pride ourselves on this. Our customer services staff are already nice — now they can reward those who are positively nice to them too."
Here's how it works: Customer-service staff will be able to reward travelers who are super-nice to them on the phone with extra-legroom seats (valued at £20 or £30) or priority check-in (valued at £3). But don't bet on the freebies: The airline will upgrade a maximum of 10 bookings per week, and this is only valid for those who speak with the airline on the telephone (remember those?).
The airline says it was inspired by the Pret a Manger restaurant chain: The staff there hand out around 20,000 free drinks every week as "random acts of kindness" to its customers. It pays to be nice.