is it cruel when company policy only allow coach on 15-hour flight, even for the CEO?
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I would agree with this policy, too. This addresses what I perceive to be one of the reasons why some companies (like my own) only pay economy regardless of time in the air, and that is to provide an incentive to employees who don't pay much attention to find the cheapest business class available, and upgrade with miles or instruments whenever possible. Because, frankly, many of my colleagues would buy $7K business class when $4K was available (or $2K plus 40K miles) if we didn't have the "only economy" rule. Our company has mostly domestic travel, and even on domestic flights, we have an issue with procrastinators paying $1K+ at the last minute when with a little planning they'd pay half that. I've sometimes bought early and taken a cheap upgrade offer out of my own pocket to get into domestic first when my colleagues on the same flight have paid much more to sit in the rear row. It still surprises me that there are a lot of people out there who have assistants book their travel, don't pay attention to minimizing the expense by booking early, to the quality of the airline, to whether they are on a large plane or regional jet, to their mileage accounts, to their connections, to SDCs, don't check in online, and so on, not to mention not bother about upgrades (though they will let you know if they see you in the front cabin).
At our company, all international travel has to be booked 17 days in advance. Booking inside of those requires approval from your department's executive committee member (most senior level of management). If you seek that approval, you better have a good reason as to why you were not able to book earlier. I find that it effectively discourages this type of behavoir.
#134
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Other than conferences/continuing ed and trials waaay out in the future, we rarely get 2+ weeks notice. The closest call I've had was getting a call around ~2am to see if I could be in NYC by 9am (from Florida). Ended up driving to the next larger city and hopping on the first flight of the morning. Buddy passes to the rescue!
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Obviously I cannot name the company on a public forum, but our CEO is well-known for being frugal, extremely frugal. He/she only rides in coach on long flights likes LAX-SYD and JFK-NRT. At least the policy applies to anyone from the janitorial staff all the way to the CEO him/herself.
My question is... isn't this cruel and unusual punishment? To be fair, the company is a joy to work for. I would give up sex forever for lifetime employment at the company.
My question is... isn't this cruel and unusual punishment? To be fair, the company is a joy to work for. I would give up sex forever for lifetime employment at the company.
Personally, I would find coach on a long flight very difficult, especially if I needed to work on arrival/return, but your example seems to illustrate a good culture of corporate governance which permeates the company and makes working for them a pleasure - so if long trips are not all that regular it could well be a price worth paying.