[ontherunhome]

I run my own small business, and as such dont have a formal travel policy. I decide on each job.
I always look at the options, however i do like to use BA whenever due to Status and ON Business rewards, and to be fair, the costs of flying BA if booked in advance, are better than Lo cost. I have a will not fly Ryanair and United preference, and Easyjet if I have to, and avoid ME3. For when things go wrong they do not have good reports
In terms of class of travel, Europe is mostly economy, though I will buy Club, if the difference in price is marginal, or as a treat on the way home from a job.
Long Haul if going to USA, i often start in Dublin, to reduce costs, as living in Wales, Dublin is almost as easy to reach, and cheaper than train to London. I will usually book PE as standard, or economy westbound day flight and PE or Club home eastbound. I will choose the route or flight time based on fare and value, so may delay flight if can get a deal. Also have to be aware of return time into LHR for onward connections, to avoid peak rail fares from Reading. I usually book last sector from LGW to Dublin and miss the flight, that m25 is a pain.
So BA or oneworld, economy or club shorthaul. And longhaul PE but may go WT or Club home( nightflight)

[first_class_please]

For the company I work for, apart from the very low grade codes, who would be unlikely to travel for business anyway, it’s Business class on an airline selected by the company according to corporate deals.

If a plane has no business, such as US domestic then its First class.

All Managers and above travel First class and can select which of the company airlines they wish to travel on.

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

As someone who looks after various SME’s and travel policies (which in many cases are loosely based) I gave this as a template. A Forum user has taken this and tweaked for there own business.

—

Flights under (a) hours – Economy
Flights between (a hours and b hours) – Premium Economy where offered
Flights above (b) hours – Business

Prices taken on best direct option where applicable (or most logical routing if indirect). If passenger decides to take an indirect flight (say Business via Middle East to South Africa from Europe instead of Economy direct) but is able to obtain a better class of travel for the same fare as the direct flight – then upgraded travel permitted. For flights between (a & b hours / over b hours) – where these are overnight flights then upgrade from Economy fare permitted if extra cost if less than xx% more / or under £xxx increase (Say Economy to US is £800 and Premium Return is £1000 return (or economy out / Premium back on an overnight is £200 more then this is permitted). Likewise if a traveller wishes to travel earlier out / later back and is able to obtain a higher class of travel for same Economy fare as quoted within original parameters of travel then this is permitted provided total costs include extra accommodation (where relevant) and no time is given back in lieu.

—

Things to consider:

Regular Travellers “or your Road Warriors” may be entitled to higher class of travel – someone taking 2 longhaul trips a month should be allowed more comfort than someone travelling longhaul once a year (open to debate).
Some organisations work on seniority – though I don’t find this common in SME Businesses.
Who is paying cost of travel – if your client is paying and happy to cover costs of out of policy travel then Business/First class permitted subject to your approval process.

[ZKSmith]

Travel within Europe – economy / standard class only. Business class air fares or first class rail fares must be justified, eg cheaper than economy.

Long haul travel – executives are allowed two first class fares per year, all other travel in business.
Staff who rarely travel long haul normally fly economy, unless they are expected to work within 24 hours of landing, in which case business class is allowed.
Once again travelling in higher classes is allowed if costs are lower.

In all these cases you can fly with whichever airline you choose, within reason, and are not limited to the cheapest.

The travel policy for staff who regularly fly long haul, such as myself, is a little more complicated. We are expected to remain within ‘a typical budget for such a trip’ – don’t ask how that is calculated! This means balancing air fares, hotel costs, and any travel or food costs while abroad. It is normally enough to cover business class travel and an average 4 star hotel.

The travel policy for all staff also mentions that purchasing fully flexible tickets is not permitted unless specifically instructed to do so, or is justifiable due to cost, or a lack of availability of lower fare classes.

[AndyHamp]

I think you missed the most important question, what industry are you in ? This seems to make a big difference to policy.

Economy only policy. Only SVP or above are allowed to any other class. PE allowed for medical exceptions on flights over 7 hours.
Price wise it should be cheapest available direct flight, or within 20% of cheapest.
Industry – Software.

[Bath_VIP]

Andy,

I don’t see why industry should matter here. Each company is free to determine their own policy. Unless you are thinking of how companies use travel policies to attract employees or if the industry lacks competition and thus allows companies to set generous policies?

[MrDarwin]

Great topic… I’m also a consultant and usually follow client’s travel policies, so I’ve had the pleasure of navigating quite a few. In my experience:
– 1 client has had seniority based classes of travel, the rest were all distance based broadly in line with the +/-5-6 hours rules. Most had direct routing as a preferred option with no ability to upgrade for indirect flights at lesser cost.
– There have been 2 exceptions: 1 client was all economy, 1 other was PE for long haul, and neither had issues with me paying the difference for business class (where there was one!). All others have been business class for long haul.
– an interesting observation was that for the clients who were all economy and PE, the had an exception for travel to Aus which was in business class.
– 1 client allowed fully flex fares when it was deemed necessary, all others were lowest/most restrictive fare available.

[BRMBarista]

I work in senior management for a large NGO and until recently we had a policy of WTP/PE for all flights over 8 hours and business class only for somewhere like Australia.

Now, we operate an all-economy policy, but the company will pay for extra leg room/luggage. Staff are free to upgrade their tickets and pay the difference with frequent flyer miles and/or cash. We also now have a lounge-pass.

Personally, I don’t think we’ve saved much, and other than adjust our image, have probably increased costs by purchasing many add-ons. I agree with what others have said – it depends on the job required each time travel is needed.

[TiredOldHack]

Ours is economy, managed by budget rather than policy. Long-haul you can ask for premium economy, if it’s cheap(ish). That’s for us Indians, anyway. The Chiefs get biz or even first.

I made an arrangement with our brass, as most of my travel is long-haul (South America, China, Asia), and said I was too old, too crotchety and too stout to squeeze myself into an economy seat for long hauls, and said I’d cough the extra and simply claim for an economy ticket. They agreed ( as well they might).

That sounds like a sacrifice on my part, but I’ve discovered that if I book a long time in advance, and do the various dodges we all know, then J travel needn’t be that expensive. In fact, when you factor in the Avios earned and what they get you in terms of free flights, the extra ‘cost’ shrinks remarkably. So a lot of personal travel comes off Avios, in premium seats. And I haven’t even mentioned the tier points. Those make personal/family travel nicer, as well.

Interestingly, a couple of colleagues have done the maths and are now doing the same, as well.

[Selbyjay]

I work in business travel and see many varied travel polices.

The right policy is dependant on what you’re trying to achieve. You’d maybe want to only allow E or PE on flights up to 8 hours. This means most of the East US and Middle East. You might only allow biz for overnight flights or flights over 8 hours.

Will you allow biz based on flying time or total travel time?

Will you allow pax to buy flex or sem-flex tickets and use loyalty points to upgrade?

Most clients i deal with exclude first completely.

Whilst your policy needs to be tight, it’s a fine balance between doing what’s right for the company but also keeping your travellers happy.

[fatbear]

The company I am currently working for has a very simple policy. All air travel is in economy. This is regardless of distance travelled, and seniority in the company.

My previous company had a policy of business travel was only permitted for flights over 7 hours for all staff. However, there was scheme that if anyone travelled economy on flights over 7 hours they could claim a $750 cash incentive. Most of the junior staff took advantage of this. I travelled Business !

Another company I worked for had a policy of everyone travelled economy, but the 10 most senior executives were automatically upgraded by the company travel agent on long haul flights with BA & United. I did see one of these execs in economy on a KLM flight to the US !

[chewkc65]

My company’s policy:

Domestic:
Economy regardless of flight time

International:
Economy for flight time of 4 hours and below
Business for flight time exceeding 4 hours (i.e. starting at 4 hrs 05 mins)

Applies to all employees regardless of grade or seniority.

[SimonS1]

I work for an SME and we generally use an all economy policy these days.

The directors will listen to arguments in favour of premium travel if important clients are met, however collectively we took the decision a while back to use Y as it saves costs being cut in other areas (eg headcount).

We also agreed we would rather spend budget on premium hotels (good if on a 2 week trip) rather than travel business on a 6 hour flight.

The company is accommodating in other areas eg pays for priority pass to cover where I don’t have lounge access from the airline.

[RHMAngel]

Ah the controversial water cooler moment …

The worse part, is the variance and enforcement of policy and guilt placed on the individual travelling … here goes

Is it based on title / grade? = Yes and No

Director, Director Gen, CEO and those who think they’re god in an organisation – generally business class, except for EUROPE less than 4 hours…

Distance travelled – over 5 hours, 7 hours, 9 hours… when is business travel granted – if at all?

“Technically” – the operative word here: one organisation, 7 hours, one was 8, one was 9 hours… entitled you to business class. BUT only if you were landing and having a business meeting within 4 hours of landing…

So what happened, folk put in one tiny meeting (informal) within 4 hours, to qualify, biggest wriggle ever, and everyone was onto it… if you were lower ranked, you lost out.

Worse is EAST coast of US, is on the borderline of 7-8 hours… so department I was with, many were disgruntled to have to fly Econ.

That said, British airlines generally have PE, and many paid (like me) or used frequent flyer miles to upgrade…

Combination of title and travel time?

Subject to the gods calling the shots or your accountant/budget holder

Does your company even allow business class travel?

One didn’t, and I tell you, it sucked doing 20 hours, (connecting and internal flights) sitting right next to your director. Never worked there again…

Is it economy only?

Yes for less than 5 hours…which means generally everyone flies Economy in Europe/Israel is on the cusp as are some north African places… or you’re CEO who gets biz even in Europe…

Premium economy for long haul?

Yes, if the airline does PE, many Asian airlines oddly still don’t do PE, but its catching on…

Is the price subject to if you are within budget or is it managed by policy?

Generally in cahoots with the budget manager/accountant of your ‘section/department’ – with the top man who wants to travel or wants you to travel…

The worse blackmail ever – is being told you can go, but only if you do Economy… most want the trip, so give in and take it.

When that happened to me – for Long Haul: I always worked with those doing the booking, to get me a class of ticket, that allowed me to spend frequent flyer miles, to upgrade, so *know your ticket issue codes* the ones that let you upgrade by miles/paying and ones that do not…

When its a flush year, travel Biz – keep frequent flyer miles, for when its a fallow year and everyone’s saving money, and then use those flyer miles and don’t begrudge you got those miles doing business in the first place.

Good luck !! nothing splits entitlement on airline class of travel than this question !

So moral of the tale – keep the policy consistently applied to ALL and stick with it and avoid that water cooler moment…

ps, in an Org with 500+ employees

[DontTurnRight]

Was grade and time flown, though quite often the chairman would chose to fly economy on short flights. Have been in business class (at own expense) with him sitting behind me!! I kept a very low profile!!!!

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