Are you ‘One of Them’ or ‘One of Us’?

Across my years as a cruise travel consultant I am often told by prospective customers that they do not want to sail with Cunard because of their class system. Cunard offer a tiered system whereby  the Princess and Queens Suites customers dine in their own restaurants and have dedicated relaxation areas. This is said to create a ‘them and us’ situation and has led to Cunard being criticised by many people and possibly loosing potential customers.

Cunard though are not alone in offering a tier system and ‘segregating’ their customers. In everyday life there are all sorts of companies displaying this kind of behaviour and yet they are not criticised. Here are just a few.

Rail Companies – on the rail networks customers can travel first class or economy class. First class customers have their own seating area, bar and restaurant service.

Airlines – British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and the majority of scheduled airlines offer business class or premium seating. The business class customers are given their own lounge at the airport away from economy class customers and are seated in their own section on the flight.

Nightclubs – here VIP areas exist for those with the money or celebrity status and again a dedicated area is provided. The same goes for concert goers with ‘gold or VIP ticket’ customers receiving their own viewing area which is close to the stage and less crowded than the rest of us.

Theatres – you can pay to sit in a box and ‘look down’ upon the rest of the theatre going public

Football Clubs – I was once invited to watch Birmingham City play in a VIP box, here we were clearly segregated with our own viewing area, there was even a specific dress code with jeans not being allowed.

As a general rule we all accept these differences in status and are accepting of the fact that if you pay more you are allowed to be treated differently. I can’t say that I have ever heard of someone refusing to travel on a train or a plane because they separate their first class or business class and economy customers, so why do we criticise Cunard for doing this?

Cunard’s suite customers only account for a small proportion of  all customers on board  and Cunard really do have some fantastic late prices, so my advice would be to not be put off by this perceived class system and just accept that as with all aspects of life, the more you pay, the more you get.

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