Negotiation at the Airport

As of the end of April 2011, I have been in California for a year. At this time last year, I had a lot of things to do.

-       Apply for a Social Security number

-       Open a bank account

-       Find a house for rent

-       Purchase cars for my wife and myself

-       Buy car insurance, health insurance and home insurance

-       Get my driver’s license

-       Set up gas, electricity, water, home phone, cell phone and Internet service

-       Sign up cable TV

-       Buy furniture

To me, even going to a gas station was an adventure at that time. I was exhausted from setting my life.

Nowadays, I am settled. I’m enjoying living in the U.S. However, I still feel uncomfortable about air travel. I don’t like connecting flights because they are often delayed. When a flight is delayed or cancelled, it’s still hard for me to negotiate for an alternative flight or a hotel for an overnight stay. Even though the delay is not my fault, I need to explain the situation to the airline over and over again. I hate that.

Recently, I realized that my way of negotiating was wrong. In the past, when I requested flight change or hotel compensation, I used to explain my situation first and then asked for compensation. I think it was the wrong way of negotiating. Furthermore, I’m not a native English speaker. The airline staff needs to know first what I want. I should request first what I need and then explain my situation.

When a fight is cancelled or delayed in Japan, if I just show my flight number to the staff person at the boarding gate, he/she knows the flight status and offers an alternative proposal without negotiation. The airline culture and the number of available flights are totally different in Japan.

Now, when I need to negotiate something at the airport in the U.S, I give my request first. Since I changed my way of negotiating, the outcome has gotten a huge time-saving.

To me, an air travel is still high adventure. I hope that no schedule changes will happen to my flight.