signol

Currently, social housing - no need for flights at all. I do get plenty of UK hotel stays though.
Previously, I worked in technology. Policy was cheapest possible always, FR or U2 if possible (from STN, we were based near Cambridge). I did manage to get a KL flight to MUC via AMS once after I persuaded the beancounters it was still cheaper than Easyjet after the mileage and parking etc were included.

signol

Pumplekin

Big "Known Name" European Media Company, at the senior professional (but non-managerial) level.

Trip < 5 hours: Y
5 < Trip < 8 hours: Y+ (if available), Y otherwise.
Trip > 8 hours: J

Travel policy is "erratic" though. Examples :-

0.) "Prefered Airline" is BA, but policy is also "book cheapest ticket". Nobody seems to really know what this means.

1.) Refused BA First even though it was cheaper than CW, LHR->SFO (on our own systems, not just the BA headline fair) as First is out-of-policy.

2.) Vendor conference in Miami. Y only as the conference (which is an excellent bit of professional development) was seen a jolly by whoever was booking it, I assume because it was in Miami.

3.) Forced by travel bookers to go LHR -> DFW -> SFO (and back) with a 3 and 4 hour stopovers to save £10 on a > £2000 ticket vs the direct route. Nothing could make them budge on this.

4.) Took many hours once to convince people LGW -> DUB -> EDI on Ryanair wasn't something I was prepared to tolerate to save £20 on getting to Edinburgh, on last minute ticket.

5.) Erratic rules on "self-extending" a trip, sometimes this is no problem, sometimes a giant fight and sometimes outright refused.

Took hours convincing someone to let me extend a Sunday -> Friday SFO biz trip by two days. Saved over £1500 on flights due to Saturday stay rules and got a couple of extra days to myself to explore Napa Valley. 3 different people rejected the idea before I got someone that was thankful a traveller was trying to save the company money and even paid for my extra two nights hotel out of the savings they made on the travel.

6.) Refused LHR -> HEL -> ICN on a Finnair bargain basement ticket. Sent LHR -> ICN direct in last minute J instead at > £4000 vs £1500 despite me being really keen to fly the longer but much cheaper route. Some part of it being keen to save the company £2500, some of it being needing 130 extra TP's on top of the 280 to requalify for Gold.

heartface

Large finance company with fixed price agreements with a number of airlines.

Less than 5 hours = Y
Anything else is in J however when booking J our travel department often remind ed us that colleague A or manager B did the same routing a few months before and booked into Y. I'd usually acknowledge that and press ahead with a J booking

oxtailsoup

Global FMCG (FTSE100)

< 4 hours is Y
> 4 hours is J

Applies to all employees but in reality it is mainly senior positions that have fully Global roles and thus travel often.

heartface

It puts your company in a more powerful position when it comes to negotiating discounts. They can turn round to BA and say their staff flew this many sectors in J last year, and negotiate fixed prices for certain routes or guaranteed seats when it matters.

I've pulled out the "I fly with you in J" card on OZ when I screwed up and arrived at the airport waaaay too late for a shorthaul Y flight. They put me on the next available flight for free. On a corporate level having the airline look after you when it counts most makes the occasional £2500 a small price to pay.

dakaix

Work for a large global tech firm.

Required to choose Lowest "logical" fare on all routings (in practice adding up to 2 connections). Therefore in reality this means nearly all travel is in Y.

I believe there's some mythical internal status for those who travel more than 100K miles/pa, those folk can book J but only on routes longer than 12 hours (!).

Ziz

In academia it's always the cheapest possible unless you have a medical condition that requires Y+ or J.

My OH works in pharma consulting and the policy seems to be Y for European flights and J for long haul. I don't think there's a specific length cut off. I do think it depends whether the client or his company is paying though.

BillyBleach

€50Bn multinational industrial tech firm

Y < 6hrs
Y+ > 6hrs

J > 6 hrs for senior executives (SVP or above), or by medical exemption

oxtailsoup

If you travel a lot in long haul, would a companies travel policy impact your decision making when considering a job?

I know it would for me! It would be a very important factor.

jahason

Oil & gas sector

Y or WT+ (if available).

For long haul I have usually been successful in booking J if I can show its about the same or less than direct WT+. Not sure if that's just me or across the whole company. I have an advantage that I travel to provide on site consulting and trouble shooting that is billable. So several times I have threaten to stop travelling and since then company's been lenient with me. I also have a back problem and company HR has a letter from my GP.

MPH1980

I think the answer to that is that it depends on the amount of travel involved.

I could do a transatlantic every 6 months in Y. I'd have no desire to do that every month or more frequently.

But it's not something I'm going to ask about at first interview unless I'm told I'm going to be in the air 50% of the time or more.

opalfruit

I work for a gigantic software company who infamously have a public Y-only for everyone irrespective of level or distance travel policy. I work in engineering, particularly in operations and devops. Can confirm said policy does not actually apply once you've attained a certain level of seniority within.

I fly in J or F, depending on price and convenience for long-haul flights, and Y or J on shorthaul depending on price (eg. unlikely to plump for J on ex-LON zone 1 short hauls unless price difference is negligible, likely to plump for J on longer flights if not prohibitively expensive).

highlander100

Oil and Gas,
Untill recently
Y<8hrs
Y+ or J >8hrs, but required VP approval so in reality limited to middle management+

Now however:
Horse and cart would probably be to expensive...
Y everywhere (VP or above J>8hrs)

thephirm

Multinational tech company.

Our policy is Y if the trip is less than 8 hours, J if it's longer. We are allowed to book any itinerary within about $1000 of the cheapest routing that has the minimal number of stops.

DrBenO

Small UK HQ Pharma Company, Operations in US and EU5 Plus significant ROW distributors.

Head of BD, so a lot of travel usually with the CEO.

Official Policy: EU = Y. 5+ Hours WT+. Long Haul overnight = J.

In reality (based on 2016): EU BA = Y. Transatlantic East Coast BA (75% of travel) = J/F. Transatlantic West Coast BA = F. Far East = Finnair J.