Kid Flyer

In my Company, we used to fly only economy and with around 25 intercontinental flights per year it was really bad in my case. Since LH introduced the Premium Eco, also our travel manager authorised it. We can fly Business class only if it is cheaper than a LH premium eco flight, which happens sometimes when only G-Class is availiable, which has to be authorised by the management since no stoppovers are allowed in our case. We HAVE to take direct flights if there are any..

invisible

I know at least one case when corporate policy which allowed booking in C over 6h flight time incentives people NOT to book flight in Business by giving $1000-$1500 to employees per booking. If one flies twice a month, that could be $36K add into one's pocket.

This schema actually works in different areas as well. As economists have told us, people do respond to incentives.

fassy

Isn't that the general idea for everybody? If you avoid cost, you have a higher profit. No brainer... the only issue is that as freelancer (like I'm as well), it directly cuts into your budget and you feel the pain.

on the other hand saving like crazy in travel (cheap airfare, crappy hotels...) might affect the performance and you lose projects in the long run.

I usually buy J over 4 hours, Y for any shorter flights. The clients usually only reimburse Y but I suck up the difference since I'm just traveling sommuch that I need some comfort doing so.

gooselee

That *should* be the general idea, but I think what often happens for people working at larger companies is there is no connection between the company's profit and your own - at least not as directly.

In a lot of cases at a big consulting firm (for example), you can spend $5k on airfare for a project or $2k for airfare on that same project, and you get paid the same for your time on that project. Sure, if you'd spent $2k instead, that might increase the company's overall profit (or maybe not if it's all just getting billed to a client anyway), and maybe down the road that results in a slightly bigger bonus or something if that's tied to overall company performance, but there's no direct line between spending less on a project and that getting paid more for said project.

In my friends case, if she spends $5k on executing a project, she immediately knows she will get paid less than if she'd only spent $2k on that project. It's a very direct correlation.

tanglin

Policy is often different to reality I have found.

Our policy is >10 hours excluding layovers, business. Good luck getting an $8k flight approved as opposed to $1.5k down the back.

VPs >4 hours business. Possibly they have better luck

fassy

Sure, but most people should be smart enough to know that putting cost pressure on the company who employs you in the long run cannot not be a good thing.

Actually I did the same, never cared if the airfare or hotel was expensive until I started to pay out of my own pocket.

Spending company money reasonable is something companies have to look after.

gooselee

Agreed. And also with your earlier point that there comes a point where cheaping out on travel expenses begins to impact performance and employee satisfaction. There's a cost/benefit to everything.

thelark

>5h total flight time is business

DavidVenuto

Working for an academic institution, everything is economy.

BThumme

Here's a random question for my fellow always - Y travelers.

It looks like I'll be going to TPE in June or so. For those of you who use CWT (or I guess any corporate TA), how do you go about getting a biz ticket? Book Y, then call up your corp TA and ask to update?

If so, any idea if a company discount fare extends to you? I don't know what the business fares would be since I can't search it, only what google flight shows. I have to believe we have a discount for our execs who travel J.
I'm awaiting answer from them currently but wondering if anyone has done this before on this thread.

gglave

I've never done it (too frugal) but my fellow always-Y colleagues do the upgrade on their own nickel at time of check-in.

Most airlines attempt an upsell to J at check-in and that's when they buy it as it tends to be the best price. Or so they say.

Of course the risk here is if J is sold out and the upsell option isn't available, but I almost always see it on my flights - Mostly Air Canada, United and American.

BThumme

My issue would be lack of miles, since usually on those upsells they don't rebook you into the higher classes. I would ideally like to fly via HKG on CX, and pretty much all eco fares earn 0 on AA.

gooselee

This is worth a call to your company's travel coordinator (your internal person, not CWT), BEFORE you book. They should be able to provide you with the right process to book the J ticket and pay the difference yourself, with the added bonus that it's all in the clear and there's no risk of being accused of trying to hide something.

Duke787

Be aware that CX J upgrade is likely to be quite expensive since they have PE on their planes too (so you'll be doing a double-upfare).

You'll have better luck with any of the US majors (especially UA and DL) who are well known for their FCM (first class monetization) policies which result in offering paid upgrades basically until take-off (often pulling them out from elites trying to upgrade with instruments or other). With UA at least you can also call up within 24 hours and request "GG Upfare" where you pay the difference between what you purchased and the prevailing J (likely P for cheapest international) price available to the public - however since you travel originated from a Corporate TA, you typically have to pay an additional $50 for UA to "take control" of the itinerary in order to re-fare it (I've never been able to get this waived though YMMV).

I would also recommend looking at JL as an option. They sell PE at check-in for 30000 Yen (~$300 USD) and it includes Sakura Lounge (their J lounge) access in Tokyo.

I haven't flown their PE but it's supposed to be quite a nice product.

chleonard

Is this US Federal government, or is this a different country? I'm a Fed (US Gov't) and it's 14 hours for us, with the same provision (no time for rest before reporting to work). It also requires senior management approval. In the past several years, I only know a couple of people who were approved for it. Every time I've gotten to fly up front on work travel I upgraded with my own miles or cash.