Originally Posted by
golfingboy
Airfares are not that high yet, but it is getting there. Very few companies value 2-3 hours of their employee's time more than $400-500.
In early 2000s after 9/11 airfares tanked. Dad flew for work from SFO to Cincy 2x per month, the cheapest fare to Cincy were M or K fares, which was $700-800 for a r/t when DAY/IND/SDF was $150-250.
Often he flies with 1-2 people, so it is not just one person savings. One time, he paid $1800 for a ticket in Y to fly to CVG and it was not a fully refundable ticket.
Originally Posted by
entropy
A bit cheaper? I don't think people here are talking about a bit cheaper. When you're talking a diff of 5-600$ on a flight, then its a viable option. As FrequentFlyKid, his company doesn't care and will use CLE anyways, even if the fare is that much higher, companies that are large enough not to care also probably have a significant corp discount which also reduces the sticker price to a more reasonable price...
In either case, pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered.
I preface this by saying I can only speak first hand to what my company does in terms of air travel. I do think I can accurately comment on Cleveland business travel in general as I work closely with other firms and businesses in town and have an idea of their tendancies as well. As my firm's main office is in Columbus we do not have a corporate discount/contract with United so keep that in mind.
Let me offer a real world example of why the lower CAK airfares are not attracting business fliers in droves (as of yet). Assume that I get an email needing me to be in New York next Monday, Sept. 17 for a late morning meeting. It will be an out and back trip, same day. Here are my flight options to LGA:
CLE
United - $1,150
Outbound departures at 7:25 AM or 8:14 AM
Return departures at 3:59 PM, 6:25 PM, or 7:38 PM
CAK
Airtran - $360
Outbound departure at 6:00 AM
Return departure at 8:40 PM
In this very real example the difference is substantial - over $700. At first glance it would appear that this is a no brainer. Well not so fast; there is more than meets the financial eye here. First of all, the options out of CAK are extremely limited. Only one flight in each direction. No wiggle room for changes in your schedule, severe delays, cancellations, etc. or me. There is also the travel to/from the airport to consider as well. CAK is 52 miles (many times with considerable traffic congestion because of construction on I-77) from my office in downtown Cleveland whereas CLE is 12 miles. That's an hour more in each direction to/from CAK. In the winter the distance issue it exacerbated by snow fall. The drive to CLE from downtown in the snow can be timely and harrowing, let alone a trip to CAK. On top of the money & work lost in the time it takes to travel to CAK my company will pay about $45 more in mileage reimbursement for me to go to CAK as opposed to CLE.
My point is that even though the airfare is substantially lower out of CAK there are a lot of reasons that CLE is still more desirable for the Cleveland business traveler. This is not to say this applies to every company and certainly each company values these things differently. If business travelers were flocking to CAK I think you would see more frequencies to the big business centers (NYC, WAS, CHI, etc.). CAK is a great airport that I have used many times. It serves a niche market and does very well at it. When time and schedule aren't an issue, such as family vacations, etc., I look to CAK and encourage others to do so as well. I don't want anyone to construe my post as a knock on CAK.