Originally Posted by
Often1
I don't know any high-end professional who doesn't charge for their travel time unless they have some special discount arrangement with a particular client. Time is time. If someone pays me to write a sophisticated document or to mow their lawn, I am expending the same time and the fee is the same. That's why people don't pay me to mow their lawns. It's also why many now use video links and the like because clients are much happier with that than paying for 16 hours for a 1-hour meeting.
Exactly. There was one time when I was a Paralegal that I had to fly from BOS to LAX. I found out about the trip at 10:00 in the morning and was on a 2:00 flight out (back on that night's red eye). In the end the client ended up being billed for about 20 hours of my time. Purpose of my trip was to deliver a $6M check; had I only billed for the "actual" work it would have been about 2 minutes. If something is important enough for a professional to travel then he/she should be paid accordingly.