invisible

(Checking today's flight from Singapore to Zurich...) just wondering - did you or any of your colleagues did something at work on a remote site ("oh, no, no, noooo.... sh$t, sh$t, sh$t!!!!") which as a result ending up jumping on next flight to fix the issue over the weekend?

Tchiowa

I spent half my career jumping to remote sites to fix something someone did. I was fixing something in Kuwait once and I was called to go to Perth the next day. 1 day in Perth and back to Kuwait. I was in Bangkok once and got a call to immediately get to Cairns. Usually I got more than one day's notice. But more than once it was "I don't care what it takes, get there tomorrow".

DesertNomad

Almost non of my travel is for work but I did once decide on a pleasure trip DXB-JFK-PIT about four hours before departure.

mrsyeltzin

I've heard every excuse from management to avoid letting me travel to a remote site. Somehow, we can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on technology, but not $1500 to go properly install it, or even maintain it.

Of course, I say that just coming off a 14 hour flight to visit one of those offices...but this is the exception.

chrisl137

Way too much of my travel is like that.

I cut back on checking work emails on sundays because I was getting too many "we need you to fly to the opposite coast to fix/operate something tomorrow". We have a travel process that takes some time, and if it was planned travel that got pulled forward I can change the flight and hotel myself, but if it's newly initiated then I can't get booked until the travel office, people who have to sign, and one of the admins who deals with travel for me show up at work, giving me a late arrival after probably sitting in a last row middle seat, and finding the rental cars are out because I arrived late.

If I stall a little I can leave on the first flight tuesday instead. I've also had a bunch of "the test is running ahead of schedule, you need to be there over this weekend"

I did some fieldwork recently where a collaborator was stressing out because a month out was the latest she'd ever booked for field work. It was the earliest I've booked since I can't remember when.

Yoshi212

Not for work but I was having a meeting with a client here in Manhattan and they were flying on their jet to London that evening. I had 60 minutes to go home, pack and meet them at the hotel to go with them to London for a surprise weekend trip to see my now ex.

Same client, but this time for work, flew to London this past winter with a bunch of their execs and employees and when I phoned the travel office to return they asked me when I wanted to leave and I said that I have to checkout of the hotel within an hour. Wheels were up 90 minutes later. Turns out I was the only one flying that day but they had to fly back to the US to pickup a bunch of other execs that evening. Wish I had known as I could easily have gone for a full English breakfast and some touring around before leaving. Still being the only person on a Gulfstream is nice.

MSPeconomist

One of my worst experiences with last minute travel concerned a job interview where the potential employer insisted on moving up the date to my great inconvenience as it would require a very early morning flight when I was arriving home from a longer trip the evening before. Two days of interviews were involved, plus some time looking around the location and seeing some real estate choices. Things worked out as follows:

There was a blizzard at the destination, so that my travel was totally messed up in both directions, with one consequence being that I arrived back home later than anticipated and was forced to reschedule a meeting for my existing job. Also, the weather caused one of my interviews with an important potential colleague to be cancelled.

It turned out that they had already decided who to hire and only needed to interview me in order to check a box that they had interviewed the right number of candidates. In fact, I later learned that the chosen person had apparently been promised the job and had even informally negotiated a package that was sufficiently attractive for him to put his house on the market before I flew out for those interviews.

CoolMike

Three days notice is pretty typical for me and sometimes causes some weird routing. BOS-MUC-FRA-Destination is pretty common, as is BOS-LHR-FRA-Destination.

My bosses will just book the expensive flight but I am required to do whatever it takes to stay in coach. Thankfully I can usually get where I need to be by adding a single positioning flight or extra stop on the return. BOS-ORD-FRA and BOS-JFK-FRA are pretty common in the early spring and late fall since demand seems to increase but capacity doesn't catch up quickly enough.

The worst is the South America flights when Miami departures are booked solid.

In regards to the original question: The only time this has happened to me was when an important item was never transferred from distribution to the work site. We needed this item and so I did the round trip flight to pick it up at the airport. I did the quick turn around and got back in time to complete the day's work. The flight was Cali, Colombia to Bogota and back - pretty short but also pretty annoying.

Once I was told I had to be in Shanghai for the next day (from Europe). Thankfully I didn't have my visa yet and I had a great excuse not to make it in time.

skitraveler

Was flying SEA-LHR on a Sunday night for routine work at our UK office. Boss called Friday evening and said he might need me to join him in Austria instead but would call before he left Sunday afternoon. Silence the rest of the weekend so thought was in the clear. As the doors were closing on the Heathrow Express when my UK phone rang, sure enough it was him saying get to Austria ASAP. Took cab to office from Paddington, called travel agent and booked flights, got some food, and headed back to Heathrow.

Loren Pechtel

I've been on a plane less than 2 hours from knowing I needed to go. (Family emergency, I threw stuff in a suitcase and headed to the airport without a ticket as I knew there would be plenty of flights. I walk in, ask the first airline about schedules, there's a bird that I can just barely make.)

txflyer77

In a previous consulting gig I had a project manager who couldn't decide which client site we should be at each week until the Friday before. I was the only team member coming in from IAH, the rest were out of ORD, and he couldn't get it through his head why my tickets cost so much more than everyone else's.

Every Monday I got a tongue lashing about my expenses.

Yeah, you're giving me 48 hour notice, why are you surprised the tickets cost >$700?

I quit rather quickly.

redvelvetmartinis

Not a SNAFU, but had to book my trip less than 24 hours in advance to accommodate an associate's travel schedule. Was the closest booking I ever did.

invisible

Good write up folks - update on this - got back from ZRH yesterday.

So the whole trip was:

- Saturday: released that something went really wrong, site is down with 70 running projects. Can't do anything because nobody is in the office. Someone will be there at the 8AM on Monday and will try again.
- Monday, 8AM ZRH/2PM Singapore time: starting troubleshooting
- 4-5PM: released that need to be there physically to fix this.
- 5PM: Contacting colleagues in the HQ near FRA - if I am coming to ZRH, need to go there as well. Boss is not available to approve emergency travel, waiting...
- 6PM SIN time: took risk and just booked flight directly without boss's approval, plus corp travel agent is not available. Flight leaves at 11PM. Booked ICE from ZRH to FRA as well.
- 7PM: boss calls. After explanation he approves travel but with the condition if colleagues from FRA come to ZRH as well to help me and take back to FRA afterwards.
- 7:30PM: canceling ICE tickets, here goes my 19euros... Shower, get necessary stuff.
- 8:30PM: leaving for Changi
- 8AM ZRH time: after landing and going to the Arrivals Lounge at ZRH (huge help) - arrived at the office. Work starts.
- 11AM: accessibility is back, colleagues from FRA have arrived.
- 5PM: leaving ZRH going to FRA.
- 6PM next day: leaving office for flight back to Singapore.

It was my shortest transcontinental trip ever... But hey, things happen...

Pickles

Funny thread. My favorite was a few years back, was in London on a project with a NY client. Emergency back at the NY home office, client needed me back in NY pronto. Flew Concorde back, ended up at client office traveling backwards in time... This happened 2 or 3 times during the same project, so I time-traveled in style.

gobluetwo

Couple of situations, one domestic and short, the other international.

In NYC, had a client tell me that morning I may need to go support a site in the midwest and that they'd let me know. An hour later, I was given the green light, booked a flight that departed in 2 hours, and was there by 3pm.

A colleague was told by a client on Friday that he had to be in China for a Monday meeting. At that point, the only tickets available were in full F. They said whatever it takes. Booked an $11k ticket from ORD to HKG, went to the meeting on Monday, and basically had no role. It wasn't even his scope or workstream. They brought him in just in case and to have some credibility with a western consultant in the room. He came back home on Wednesday.