The business of travelling for work
Ultimate travel card
In your wallet you may need to add a new card, the Delta Private Jets Card, with values from $50,000 to $200,000. The card offers locked-in pricing for two years with no fuel surcharges for chartered business jets. Using the dedicated concierge service you can book a private jet to get around North America. There are 5,000 airports accessible by private aircraft. See Deltaprivatejets.com.
Allocated seating
Easyjet is doing trials on allocated seating across its network and will review it after the end of August. In an effort to attract more business travellers, the airline may turn its back on the first come, first served dash for overhead lockers and aisle seats.
When it comes to beds and picking which one to sleep in, Ted Tang, chief executive of Leading Hotels of the World, said they are working on a booking tool that will allow guests to choose their favourite room. “The airlines do it, the cruises do it, so why can’t hotels do it.”
Ryanair is looking at packing planes quicker with the possibility of increasing door size to allow passengers enter in twos. A Chinese company is studying at a possibility of putting bigger doors on the airline’s Boeing fleet.
Trusted travellers
United States citizens and US lawful residents travelling through Dublin and Shannon airports will be able to join the Global Entry programme and take advantage of expedited clearance at the newly installed kiosks in both airports. Members of the Global Entry programme will have reduced waiting times and are usually processed in less than five minutes. See CBP.govfor details of how to join.
Presidential double at GBTA conference
Maybe it is because its combined 5,000 membership manages more than $340 billion of global business travel and meetings worldwide, that the Global Business Travel Association had two former US presidents address its annual conference last week in Boston.
George W Bush’s keynote speech was about leadership, his time in office and the decision-making process behind some of the memorable moments during his office and also about his first trip abroad.
Bill Clinton was the final speaker at the convention and said “the future looks good for business travel”. He went on to talk about the importance of meeting face to face to exchange ideas and spur innovations.
Watch out road warriors – at the GBTA convention, travel managers were urged to tackle the last frontiers of unmanaged travel, roaming charges, ground transportation and dining out. These charges can account for up to 35 per cent of trip spending.
Suggestions made were to send smartphone “trigger” messages to travellers to remind them to take the bus and eat in restaurants that give discounts on corporate cards. And as for roaming charges, the average bills for Fortune 1,000 companies’ frequent travellers is $500 per month.
Merged airlines keep own brands
A month after the merger of Tam and Lan airlines in South America, the two are still operating under their own brands with the parent company being called Latam Airlines Group. By the end of the year, network planning, sales and marketing and revenue management should be combined.
Tam is strong in Brazil and Lan in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. Each airline belongs to a different alliance, with Lan in the Oneworld for more than 10 years and Tam only in Star Alliance only since 2010.
The merger means getting around South America will be easier and more cost effective. The two airlines’ combined fleet is now 240 aircraft with 220 more on order.