Ignore one of the perks of the contract - why not insist they give up half their holiday and £500 a week off their wages too? As for every penny counting at the moment - every penny counts all the time and if it doesn't then your shareholders should see that the board is brought to task about it. Pennys that pay for business class seats may be pennys well spent.

A company has invited me to a product launch somewhere in Europe in a few weeks. They have to pay out for a train fare, plane fare, taxis, hotel, food, drink, etc. because they want me to come and see their new product - presumably in the hope that I will buy it. They've just told me that their company policy is to only pay for an economy flight so I've told them that I might not be going anymore. The extra flight cost is but a small cost of the whole trip and a pittance to how much they would potentially make if I buy the product. They also timed it badly as I also have to make a decision about one of their other products tomorrow morning (they don't know about that). Fortunately for them, it will have no effect on my decision whether to use either of them.