Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
If you are the one buying the original ticket (on the corporate card, presumably on your BAEC account) then yes, you can call up, amend the booking and use a different card for the fare difference without the change fee. You do need to call within 24 hours, there can be a few hours flexibility on this if it's tricky to get through. It may be that you can simply do it online if it's a straightforward booking, however I think that embeds the change fee even if you do it within 24 hours.
Thank you for confirming that there is a possible route via the phone - unfortunately online the change fee indeed immediately gets embedded, even within the 24 hour period.
I knew that there would be judgment coming my way, and I agree that there were certain employers where I would have never ever done this, but in my mind the relationship is a two way street. And there are a lot of assumptions being made here that for better or for worse don't apply to every employer:
- That there is a travel policy. My employer hasn't managed to create one in five years because they are too stingy to keep people in HR around for any longer than about 6 months, at which point the story starts again.
- That there is a "Corporate Travel Agent" or a "Corporate Travel Agent Agreement" - my employer is far too stingy to employ people to manage something like that. As I said, I book my own travel, and it comes out of my own pocket first.
- That there is a finance department that can be bothered or is competent enough to respond to menial requests like paying them back for a fare difference, or would know what to do if I want to send them money, with a cheque (how quaint) or otherwise
- And, in terms of trust - that they manage to do things like pay expenses on time, or don't accidentally let employee policies lapse through incompetence...
Originally Posted by
crazy8534
It wouldn’t be difficult to check the name against the PNR and see that it had been cancelled.
Fair point, although it would require a modicum of interest and competence, and I think in any case that'd be an unusual thing to do, unprompted, and even stranger to then bring up after the fact. Considering that there are all sorts of ways in which a flight can be upgraded, merely rocking up in Business Class wouldn't really send anyone's Spidey sense tingling I would think.
Originally Posted by
bisonrav
This is very dodgy ground anyway. Policy is not just about cost, it's about perception, the "even the CEO flies coach" thing. The policies are there for a reason, they are part of the contract of employment, and your best bet if you don't like them is either to get an explicit agreement that you are allowed to do it at your own expense, or change to a job which allows business class flights.
Now this one I find interesting, because that never even crossed my mind. Are you saying that if you see a travel policy that states that the employer only pays for Economy travel, you consider yourself to not be *allowed* to fly anything else? So no POUGs when a good deal pops up, or using Avios (if someone so chooses)? I don't think I've ever seen a policy that was worded to that effect, and unless it was that would be one interpretation that I'd definitely take issue with, considering that my employer decides to send me somewhere I'd really rather not go in the first place (i.e. anywhere other than my own bed).