travelinmanS

I flew business class back from China a week ago. My girlfriend flew coach a day earlier on the exact same flight. I slept almost the entire flight and arrived in the USA fresh and not suffering from any jetlag. My girlfriend suffered through a horrible flight, didn't sleep at all, and then had 5 days recovering from jetlag. Which employee do you want negotiating a 40 million dollar contract for your company the day after a long flight?

Firms that require coach on long flights and don't give a few rest days after landing are being unfair not just to the employee but also to all the stakeholders of the company who are relying on that employee to perform at their best while away on business.

bhmlurker

Is there a rank requirement in flying first/business? I wouldn't call it's normal or abnormal, since it's case by case. If your boss only flies coach and does the same to everyone under him, even if company policy states otherwise, you'd be hard-pressed to go against that. If he flies first and puts all of you in the back, that's really leadership by example .. you can wait it out or work elsewhere.

Sitting in coach and being productive isn't mutually exclusive, although many would argue otherwise. In most cases it's only mutually exclusive for certain individuals; it's really just a matter of managing your expectations. Some people are happy just to have a decent-paying job.

IMOA

Well I guess we'll disagree. I'm an employee, not a slave, so I expect I'll be treated that way.

CXYYZ

I'm familiar with the travel policies of 3 of the big 4 in Canada. They are generally divided into four categories:

1. Client serving employees can fly business class when it's overseas and client-related.
2. Client serving employees must fly economy class when they're flying within North America or on internal firm business (such as training, conferences, etc.)
3. Non-client serving employees must fly economy class.
4. Partners can fly business class on any long-haul flight (including transcons).

Unless you fit into category 2 or 3, I have no idea why you're being forced to fly in economy class. If it's client-related, the firm should be billing the client for the costs incurred.

With that said, sometimes clients do have more strict policies that we have to adhere to. In those cases, it should be clearly explained to you why you're being denied what you are entitled to under firm policy. I'd guess from the details you provided that you're a second year staff/associate. Ask a manager you're close with what's going on and about how things were a few years ago. The only times I've known policies to be broken have been in cases favourable to the staff, not unfavourable like for you!

PSUhorty

I think this is the crux of our disagreement. You see yourself as a slave- I see you as an employee, with a reasonable paying job (hopefully very well-paid!), a roof over your head, and food on your table each night... courtesy of your employer.

CPRich

Hmmm. I've never had problems with my global Big 4 partnership pay Biz class for my flights over 7 hours, per firm policy. And forcing employees to save money this way is discouraged.

Maybe you're working for the wrong one

Sadly, that's a tough position to be in, and a tough battle to fight, given your position, tenure, etc.

Dresden

I am a senior manager in a Fortune 100 company. Company policy dictates that we buy coach tickets and upgrade when we can using miles or certificates. No matter where you are going, or how long the flight might be. . .

Punki

I own my own company and will only buy coach tickets for everybody, including me. Having said that, however, I can't remember the last time I actually flew in coach on a two or three class plane. I have worked hard the past ten years learning how to keep myself out of coach, and am happy to share my accumulated knowledge with my employees, to get them out of coach as well. Of course if they fly with me and only one first class seat is available, I get it. So far that hasn't really happened.

After 911 when our industry was in the doldrums, I noticed that the president and two vice-president of one of our largest vendors were all three sitting in row 17 on a 777 FRA/IAD. We were in biz on upgrades, but they had opted for $350 non-upgradeable fares. That I thought was very strict budgeting--the upgradeable fares were only a couple hundred dollars mor expensive.

sadiqhassan

My dad is the opposite! His company allows for travel in J class (F if J is unavailable) but if J is unavailable he insists on sitting in Y - I just can't fathom why he wants to do that! He says that it is because the company he manages is only making low 7 figures in profit (or high 6 in 'bad' years,) and an international YYZ-NBO/DXB/DEL etc trip in First would take up almost 1% of that profit.

Personally, I think that coach + day of recovery might be a good request to make - depending on the value of your time. If you must fly out and make an important deal the next day, Business might be preferable (though definitely not vital.) I have flown in Y, had a great flight, and been fresh upon arrival; I have also flown J and felt groggy upon arrival for no apparent reason.

Cheers,

suranyi

The company I work for is unusual in that it is a SMALL multinational. We only have about 2,000 employees, but they are scattered in offices worldwide.

The company will only pay for coach, not business or first, no matter how long the flight. However, most of our travel is not to visit clients, but to visit each other's offices for meetings. People at my level are practically never "negotiating the big deal", which is the catchphrase everyone uses to explain why business class travel is a must. The people at the top level of the company who ARE negotating the deals with the customers (and that's several levels above me in the hierarchy) do get to travel in business, I think.

Ed

jib71

Thank you massa for the roof and food...

98103

F and J??? What's that?

My employer is a Y-only travel policy, but exceptions can be made on trips of 13 hours or more, but at the discretion of management. I've never heard of anyone travelling F, though I wonder if the head cheese does.

But then again, if Biz class were allowed, there's be hell to pay publicity wise, as I work for the government.

BearX220

There is no "standard practice" anymore, as this thread shows. Increasingly, we find, clients will only pay for economy travel overseas. If it's a team of three and the cost differential is $2k/$8k, that's an $18k savings per trip, so I see why. Wish my teams were up front, but understand why they're not, and most of the time so do they. Those who don't are invited to start their own company. Business class is not an entitlement.

graraps

I think this isn't the thread to say what various companies do and/or should do with business travel.
The Original Poster has a specific problem with company policy application.
The people to speak to in these cases are those in the HR department. If you don't have access to one, speak with your manager and ask for an explanation of why and how the policy is applied.
If you are still stuck in economy, you have three options to make long trips bearable:
1) Utilise FFPs to your advantage (e.g. standby elite upgrades or SWUs or MFUs)
2) See whether there is any airline on the route that offers full fare Economy tickets that give you an instant upgrade or are only nominally different from the Business fares.
3) Break the flight down to more than one segments. Sure, a couple of transfers along the way are a bit of a hassle. But flying in economy for 12 hours without a break is a major pain in the bum. For US-Europe routes, you may want to have a look at Icelandair.

mre5765

I've had two employers with official business class policies. One granted every employee who flew at least 6 long haul segments in the previous 12 months business class for his next flught. Another granted business class to any employee on a one way journey of 8000 miles or more subject to approval by a VP.

I've heard Cisco gives business class to every employee who is weighs more than X pounds or taller than Y inches.