New Job - All Y Travel Policy - Tips on how to get round it?
Apr 21, 2019, 12:43 pm
#76
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, IHG, Enterprise, Avios, Nexus
Posts: 8,355
I think your post illustrates my point about Y only travel policies - they may generate difficult feelings amongst employees, who may feel it is hard to voice their frustration in the corporate culture, and instead these feelings are driven underground to sneakiness and inventiveness in order that they can take responsibility for their own travel self-care. If they won't pay one way, they'll pay in another 
Apr 21, 2019, 12:58 pm
#77
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,768
It's also penny-wise, pound foolish in another way. Having to continually replace qualified, experienced personnel who are willing to travel (not everyone is) can be very expensive in the short and long term. I'd rather pay extra for airfare than spend the money on headhunter.
Apr 21, 2019, 1:46 pm
#78
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Arizona
Programs: BA (GGL G4L), AA (Gold), HH (Diamond); Marriott (Gold)
Posts: 3,011
I’ve mentioned this in other threads over the years, but we have a J or higher policy for anything over 2.5 hours, and I personally avoid Y at all costs. We do ask our team to be prudent and look for the best option given all the constraints and ideally book as far in advance as possible.
I have a legitimate medical issue (multiple spine issues where the narrow seats, especially the new ones, compress my spine to the point that my leg goes numb if I sit in them for more than an hour) so I don’t travel in Y at all any more.
We’re a relatively small company of just under 50 people. I personally do roughly 50% of the company travel each year. When we travel to visit a customer we either just build travel into the cost of business or when a customer wants to pay directly we invoice them the fully flexible economy fare which is what is listed in some contracts.
As a company we work remotely and no longer have offices (though some of us choose to use a co-working space some of the time), so the cost savings alone from office space mean that we can justify paying business class travel and not need to pass this expense on to our customers.
A few years ago we had five UK team members needing to fly to the Us from London. I explained the savings with an ex-DUB routing which they really enjoyed. They understood the cost savings and they got to spend a night at the pubs in Dublin which we paid for.
Our approach may not scale, but I believe our travel costs are under control because we work with our team to find the right balance in what seems like fair value.
We did have one interesting scenario arise this year where four of our team members flew from the UK to Cancun in Y. One team member was very inflexible on dates which more than doubled the cost, and the team wanted to travel together. The team understood that the price BA was asking was absurd as it’s the only non-stop. Also the trip was for a company retreat where we basically spent a week at a resort visiting and doing fun activities all week, so it wasn’t like anyone needed to show up at the office the next day. So even though our policy is J, given the constraints the team chose to fly in Y. I had gifted a couple of them BA silver status so they were at least able to get lounge access, etc.
Overall though, having a policy that treats people like people, and encourages them to work to find the best balance of value, comfort, convenience, and efficiency is what we strive to achieve. We apply this to almost everything we do with our business and the result is that everyone on the team is very focused on how they can do their best work and provide the best value without burning themselves out. And the result is that our customers receive incredible value and work from our team.
P.S. I know that little of this post helps the OP, but was more
my perspective that there can be better options than typical corporate travel policies that can be reasonable in price and treat people better.
I have a legitimate medical issue (multiple spine issues where the narrow seats, especially the new ones, compress my spine to the point that my leg goes numb if I sit in them for more than an hour) so I don’t travel in Y at all any more.
We’re a relatively small company of just under 50 people. I personally do roughly 50% of the company travel each year. When we travel to visit a customer we either just build travel into the cost of business or when a customer wants to pay directly we invoice them the fully flexible economy fare which is what is listed in some contracts.
As a company we work remotely and no longer have offices (though some of us choose to use a co-working space some of the time), so the cost savings alone from office space mean that we can justify paying business class travel and not need to pass this expense on to our customers.
A few years ago we had five UK team members needing to fly to the Us from London. I explained the savings with an ex-DUB routing which they really enjoyed. They understood the cost savings and they got to spend a night at the pubs in Dublin which we paid for.
Our approach may not scale, but I believe our travel costs are under control because we work with our team to find the right balance in what seems like fair value.
We did have one interesting scenario arise this year where four of our team members flew from the UK to Cancun in Y. One team member was very inflexible on dates which more than doubled the cost, and the team wanted to travel together. The team understood that the price BA was asking was absurd as it’s the only non-stop. Also the trip was for a company retreat where we basically spent a week at a resort visiting and doing fun activities all week, so it wasn’t like anyone needed to show up at the office the next day. So even though our policy is J, given the constraints the team chose to fly in Y. I had gifted a couple of them BA silver status so they were at least able to get lounge access, etc.
Overall though, having a policy that treats people like people, and encourages them to work to find the best balance of value, comfort, convenience, and efficiency is what we strive to achieve. We apply this to almost everything we do with our business and the result is that everyone on the team is very focused on how they can do their best work and provide the best value without burning themselves out. And the result is that our customers receive incredible value and work from our team.
P.S. I know that little of this post helps the OP, but was more
my perspective that there can be better options than typical corporate travel policies that can be reasonable in price and treat people better.
Last edited by dylanks; Apr 21, 2019 at 2:13 pm
Apr 21, 2019, 2:50 pm
#79
Community Director
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Norwich, UK
Programs: A3*G, BA Gold, BD Gold (in memoriam), IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 8,476
We are now some considerable distance from this thread having any BA connection, plus it does appear we have now covered all the ground that threads in other forums contain as well, so rather than introduce yet another similar thread to Travelbuzz we’ll apply the padlock at this stage and hope the OP has received sufficient good advice.
/mod
/mod