Originally Posted by
Dick Ginkowski
Thanks. In my old job we bought a lot of refundable tickets because sometimes there would be cancellations and/or the need to rebook. We usually bought them out a bit so we finally woke up and decided to eat the unused ticket or pay the change fee. Cheaper for the taxpayers. (Side note: It was also not uncommon for us to send employees with credit cards into Best Buy to buy computer stuff off the shelf because the govt/corporate sales side often charged more than if we went to a store and bought it.)
It think there is a lot out there we just don't know, vis-a-vis how some corporate travel departments work.
Also, I find, at least here on FlyerTalk in the Delta forum there is a rather myopic view of how the world operates with regard to higher revenue travel.
Just listening to others around me, living in an ex-Pat community; you start to observe a huge variety and variation of travel policy.
I always like to say, that there really aren't a lot of business class seats that need to be filled to make a market lucrative. Take markets like AMS-BOS, AMS-PDX, AMS-SEA; you just don't have much competition, and there are really only are 30-40 J seats available on a daily basis.
What I do know, is that I talk to a lot of people who travel quite a bit (often, much more than I do); and none of them have ever ventured onto FlyerTalk or spend any time optimizing their airline/hotel loyalty points earning. I've tried to give insight to a few people, but most just aren't that interested. They are just too busy to worry about it. I also find the same with gaming loyalty programs. I know people who wager crazy amounts and hardly get what they "really" deserve in comps and perks. Also, too busy to care.