I don't imagine you are in his target market, then.

Guess not.

"Profligacy is the enemy of profit".

I gave a bit of a laugh when I looked at your location and saw Scotland :)

If you seek to contract the best person in the business for say a £2M contract but decide to go with a worse option to save £200 on a plane ticket expense, then that would obviously be your right to do so as the paying client!

Nobody has ever built a successful business by just being amazing at cost cutting.

Nor have they ever built a profitable business without watching costs.

The difference between Business and Economy is thousands in most cases I deal with, not hundreds. If it is only £200, i.e short US or EU flights, one would question what value there is in Business at all.

Business Trip >8hrs - J, all others Y

For expats going for home/personal holiday, all Y

And the difference in the quality of work that you get when someone arrives and is fully rested and healthy on a short-turnaround trip (e.g. 2 days) can easily be worth thousands in the right case.

Hell, I am a photographer and most of my jobs range from $3k-$15k USD and I get the client to pay for business class if I'm flying long haul. It's incredibly difficult to do any serious kind of thinking after flying 10+ hours with no sleep and a worn out body, then to fly home and do it again and expect not to lose 3-5 days worth of productivity.

"Price is what you pay, value is what you get..."

Better to pay 15k and get the right service the first time, instead of paying 12k and getting subpar results. I imagine that this effect is amplified five-to-ten fold in F500 advisory roles and large business decisions with a lot of money on the line.

Clients who nickel & dime you will be problem children in all phases. Best to part amicably before the engagement starts.

Hi,
My intention in asking this question (thank you for all of the responses) was to get a better feel for what policies are out there. I am sure that we can all agree different people place different values on business class travel for employees/vendors/consultants. We could argue all day long on whether j class is worth the money. I'm more interested in what actual corporate policies are out there.
Thanks!!

Very large IT company, Y only, no exceptions whatsoever.

Never had a problem with that. If the customer can't afford business class, he can't afford me.

I don't nickel and dime. I just don't pay for business class flights on demand.

We're not, as I made clear, talking about nickels and dimes, but thousands.

I've travelled more miles on longer flights than anyone I've hired and I don't buy their bluster that the work will somehow be $3000 better if I let them spend $3000 more on their flights and charge it back. They can have an extra day in a hotel if they're tired.

If a consultant is charging over $3000/day then it would be cheaper to pay for business class. Any will likely be working more efficiently/effectively on the days you are paying for.

It is all perspective. $3-5K for airfare is nothing when you are talking about a $100M deal. $3-5K airfare on a $5K contract may not be worth it.

At a consulting boutique that only pays for economy anywhere, I don't mind that I have to pay for international upgrades myself - it is pretty much baked into the fees paid by the client and into my compensation. Besides, while I rarely pay more than an extra 2-2.5K USD on top of a 1-1.3K USD economy ticket (or preferably, just the fee for upgrading with miles), frankly, if my firm paid for business on international flights, I suspect my colleagues would be spending 7K USD or more per ticket. At least I have an incentive to keep the extra cost for business to a minimum. But I work with some people who wait till the last minute to buy 1K USD domestic tickets, so I'd be afraid to think of how much they'd spend if we changed our policy.

Sure, that's what I'd say too if I was slugging them for my indulgences. But it's all supposition.

I understand your point, but when you are paying someone $1000/hour, sometimes it is prudent to take their word on this matter.