Originally Posted by Standby4321
It's unethical to play games on company time. There are occasions when it might be possible to take a bump that is at no inconvenience to anyone except the traveler. An example might be flying in the night before and arriving at 10 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. or heading back and getting home a bit later, but not at the expense of work time. In these situations and in the absence of any employer policy to the contrary, my opinion would be to apply a "reasonable person" standard which says you must leave yourself in a position to work for the time that is expected of you and to give your best effort. In the situation described above, the employee essentially sold time that had already been hired out. It could therefore be regarded as stealing from the employer.
While I don't necessarily disagree with Standby's point, if you follow this logic, then it opens up some very interesting questions. I often choose CO/NW over other carriers that offer slightly lower fares for the same itinerary because I'm banking miles with CO. This will earn me privileges that will benefit me as an employee in the future (such as priority baggage claim, elite security and checkin, that will save me time in the future). Is it unethical of me to do this? I have also chosen routings that will result in much longer travel time but avoid certain airports (ORD in particular) that are notorious for delays. Is it unethical to book a trip that gets in 2-3 hours later in order to avoid the potential for long delays at a known choke point? What about booking a trip that costs a bit more or takes more travel time in order to avoid RJs or Props? What if you leave a little earlier in the day so that you can arrive with time to get a full night's sleep before a morning meeting, rather than leaving after 5:00 pm and not getting to your hotel until after midnight?
Bottom line, there are many situations where I have booked my travel with my best interests in mind and someone could interpret this as wasting time or money. But the way I figure it, if I'm getting my job done, then isn't that what's really important?