Originally Posted by epicurus

Thanks for all the advices. For those who gave nothing but moral lessons, please do start another thread to lecture those who travel and work at the same time why we shouldn't be on this forum in the first place.

Now coming back to my original post... most travel policies give some flexibility on top of the "least expensive" option. In this case, I am talking about $200 difference on top of a $6K ticket. And this is not with the client's corporate travel department, but a designated 3rd party travel agent.

My offer to pay the difference was declined. To respond to my excuse of schedule conflict, the travel agent offered to book me a flight one day later, plus one night hotel (EUR200), rather than having me pick up the $200 difference and fly the night before. SO I guess there is nothing I can do in this particular case.