nufnuf77

Indeed, this sounds very easy to challenge

snuffi

There is less of a difference between an outright ban and a 'strong suggestion' than you might think. I expect that many companies will go with the latter.

hearingdouble

Or, the alternative outcome: reality doesn’t bite, the world keeps turning without business travel, and organisations cotton on that business travel is an easy cost centre to cut away at.

JohnnyCarmello

Surely the most they can do is tell you if you need to self isolate after you return?

BA6948

I am grounded too. All non critical trips are banned until further notice. My next trip is a redemption trip to WDH from CDG with BA and then onto VFA and LVI (mid may). Hope situation improves.

alex67500

The only issue with that strategy is you might have to "self-isolate" on the way back. I'm getting a taste of that this week and next even though the place I went to is not on PHE or the FCO website.

BarelyBAGold

My thoughts just now are with our fellow travellers who are struggling to get home wherever in the world they may effectively be stranded at the moment. Italy of course is the obvious one that springs to mind.

Soupdragon62

That won't fly.....

LondonElite

Banning personal travel? I’d like to see them try!

ginger50

It will be interesting to see whether... once the dust has settled in several months time.... companies realise how much they can save by using video conferencing. I suspect that one side effect of all of this is a permanent reduction in corporate travel budgets.

Geordie405

My firm has effectively banned all non-essential work travel until mid-April. In terms of personal travel it remains at our discretion but we're asked to be mindful of changing circumstances that could result in issues at international borders or result in us having to self-quarantine upon our return or otherwise "cause a disruption" (whatever that means)!

I don't have any personal travel until the latter half of April so we'll see what happens then but I think it would be very difficult for any employer to try and restrict what its employees do in their own time. That said, however, if a Government was to impose travel restrictions (such as in Italy for example) then that would be a different matter.

LondonElite

This has been a topic for at least 15 years. It is nowhere near ripe. I hate all types of video conferencing, from Zoom/FaceTime to the really high end systems. They just don’t convey context and mood.

Geordie405

It's actually an interesting concept. We invested a significant amount in VC capabilities but, from my personal perspective, it simply meant that meetings that were once just telephone conference calls became video conference calls and people travelled just as much as they did before. When you have a 12-hour time difference between the US and the Middle East and 16 hours between the US and Asia then sometimes face to face meetings are the only realistic option, especially if meetings are to take place over multiple days etc.

Where I work there's always money available for the things that people want to spend it on, and that includes travel and yet money is always the excuse when people don't want you to do something

Dave Noble

I would not be surprised at all. This might be just the impetus that is needed to reduce the amount of travel that is done

DrBenO

Not grounded, and had an enjoyablly peaceful BA117 (LHR-JFK) today. Only 6 of us in F in total, CW mini cabin immediately behind F (on the 747) completely empty. Didn't see further back for load. CCR was like a ghost town at 7AM, and the main T5 concourse was similarly empty and a breeze to navigate!

In the Pharma industry and had to be in NY, but have many colleagues at other firms completely grounded. Only minor concern is being forced into quarantine on return (landing back at LHR Friday AM) but I think unlikely. Midtown Manhattan doesn't seem that quiet, a few masked people wandering around but that's it.