Challenge the Status Quo

I will never forget one flight I took nearly 15 years ago. It was a beautiful Iowa fall Saturday. I had booked the trip weeks in advance to go see my significant other (sidebar: It didn’t work out.) The trip was simple and direct: Cedar Rapids to Cincinnati.

I sat alone in the terminal on a quiet Saturday afternoon in this regional airport. It seemed rather quiet as departure time approached. And as the time came to board, I found myself as the only passenger on the plane.

Yes, I had the entire passenger jet to myself.

Rohit Bhargava’s “Non-Obvious” newsletter recently reminded me of this experience as he explained the origin behind this very phenomenon; “ghost flights”. But what I didn’t know and understand was that while the experience was kinda cool, it should never have happened. The airline should have canceled my flight and re-booked me on another; even if at a loss. Because re-booking me would have been a much smaller loss than the cost to fly an empty jet 1,000 miles. But they couldn’t due to arcane regulations to meet federal quotas and guidelines.

I’m sure you are asking yourself what this has to do with marketing and business?

It is simple.

Do not let the “rules” stand in the way of doing the thing you know to be right.