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Consulting for the government and we have to fly international only on American flag carriers. Turns what could sometimes be a direct flight into a nightmare of layovers and connections. And it's all in coach.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:15
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Xandu posted:Consulting for the government and we have to fly international only on American flag carriers. Turns what could sometimes be a direct flight into a nightmare of layovers and connections. And it's all in coach. Same thing for us government employees...
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Jul 10, 2014 01:31
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Midjack posted:The decision is calculated on the fastest route, even if a coach ticket on said fastest route isn't actually available. That sucks. It is startling how many corporate travel policies are written by people who don't actually travel.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:31
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I knew an executive who had a meeting in Japan and a meeting in Europe the next week, so he booked a round-the-world ticket. In first.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:35
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PCjr sidecar posted:I knew an executive who had a meeting in Japan and a meeting in Europe the next week, so he booked a round-the-world ticket. In first. I almost did that earlier this year, though it was in business and half of it was my personal ticket for a vacation. Other than the booking international first, sometimes you gotta be somewhere and that's the best plan.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:41
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The flexibility built into RTW tickets are great for meetings that may require more or less time. Great way to do it if you can swing it.
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Jul 10, 2014 01:48
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MoofOntario posted:I'm not sure if this is universal or not, since I don't travel as much as I used to, but I rented a car from YYZ (Toronto Pearson) from Dollar last weekend, and they wanted to see a receipt that I had filled up from a gas stations within 10km of the airport. I think they are starting to get hip to this particular scam. skipdogg posted:I thought 8 hours was more of the 'industry standard'. I know it's in our handbook that business class is an option for international flights over 8 hours. We have a couple of folks that fly from the UK or Florida to our Australia office, and I can't imagine doing that in coach. Those are 21+ hour trips It is for us but my director will not allow it and she doesn't do it herself.... it's painful but there is no way we could make the budget work and do all the things we want to do if 3 of us were buying tickets at 6k a pop. She doesn't give a crap about low fares so we're allowed to buy upgradeables... she even let me expense a copay on a miles-up last year but that was probably because it was my birthday. Right now she's going int'l way more than I am so she walks the walk. well... she buys up a lot too.
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Jul 10, 2014 03:29
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Aristotle Animes posted:They are. Save your receipts because i've heard of bills going to people after someone drove off lot and the needle dropped. I always top off. Happened to me once. Filled up at the hotel, thought I'd be OK driving in to the airport 20 miles away. Nope. They just emailed me a revised bill and charged my card. I thought it was kinda bs since the guy checked it in as full but whatever.
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Jul 10, 2014 03:31
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Aristotle Animes posted:They are. Save your receipts because i've heard of bills going to people after someone drove off lot and the needle dropped. I always top off and then pull the trigger a couple more times. Do you guys check to see if the discount J fares are less than the Y/B coach fares you're buying to upgrade into? I often find domestic F and international J fares that are cheaper than a refundable Y fare. Beef Of Ages fucked around with this message at 14:31 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 04:19
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We have Lowest Logical policies (which we twist and no one cares) so, if i was forced to go between a Y and discount J i could do that. I've certainly bought P that was cheaper than a Y domestic. I usually give her a heads up before I pull the trigger, "this is going to say F and here's why", and we're good. The upgradeable int'l tickets I'm referring to are W fares and up on UA, then I can use my GPU certs or buying the highest fare I can get away with and copaying with the miles.
AgrippaNothing fucked around with this message at 05:13 on Jul 10, 2014 |
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Jul 10, 2014 05:11
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Aristotle Animes posted:We have Lowest Logical policies (which we twist and no one cares) so, if i was forced to go between a Y and discount J i could do that. I've certainly bought P that was cheaper than a Y domestic. I usually give her a heads up before I pull the trigger, "this is going to say F and here's why", and we're good. The upgradeable int'l tickets I'm referring to are W fares and up on UA, then I can use my GPU certs or buying the highest fare I can get away with and copaying with the miles. Yeah, that makes sense and is actually (I believe) a very reasonable way of managing travel expense. There are a lot of companies that will reject anything that says premium cabin even if it would actually be cheaper than the coach option. Such rigidity is  .
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Jul 10, 2014 14:32
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Our travel policy is basically "make sure you can justify it to someone"
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Jul 10, 2014 15:26
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You guys are lucky, a lot of the companies I've worked at basically say "No Biz unless you are a VP or higher in the company."
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Jul 10, 2014 15:44
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Midjack posted:Happened to me once. Filled up at the hotel, thought I'd be OK driving in to the airport 20 miles away. Nope. They just emailed me a revised bill and charged my card. I thought it was kinda bs since the guy checked it in as full but whatever. Ugh, I just remembered the one time I got really hosed. I had rented a Prius, and ended up only driving it 50 miles (from FLL to downtown Miami and back). It only used one square of the ten-square fuel gauge, and apparently putting a single gallon of gas in (at the closest gas station to the airport) doesn't actually update the gauge.
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Jul 10, 2014 15:53
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Belldandy posted:You guys are lucky, a lot of the companies I've worked at basically say "No Biz unless you are a VP or higher in the company." That's our policy for domestic. They just give more leeway for international flights.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:11
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Belldandy posted:You guys are lucky, a lot of the companies I've worked at basically say "No Biz unless you are a VP or higher in the company." Our company policy is buy the cheapest ticket that isn't bullshit. Bullshit includes not being on your airline of choice and being in a middle seat.
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Jul 10, 2014 16:18
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Our travel policy is basically "make sure you can justify it to someone" which is what "lowest logical" becomes in practice. they keep threatening to make us go through Amex travel like our corp parent would like us to which makes it harder to game but not impossible. I'm waiting for that boot to drop maybe next year. Amex makes it an admin nightmare for your boss as they have to approve anything out of policy, which would be drat near everything I do.
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Jul 10, 2014 20:05
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Is it really much cheaper if you fill in the gas tank on your own instead of letting the rental agency deal with 
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Jul 10, 2014 22:11
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caberham posted:Is it really much cheaper if you fill in the gas tank on your own instead of letting the rental agency deal with In my experience it is dramatically cheaper. I've seen some locations charge north of $5 per gallon when the going price is around $3.50. You can get market prices if you pre-pay for the fill up when you get the car, but the only way you're ahead there is if you bring it back empty, a feat not easily accomplished in business travel.
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Jul 10, 2014 22:14
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caberham posted:Is it really much cheaper if you fill in the gas tank on your own instead of letting the rental agency deal with Yes
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Jul 10, 2014 22:18
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Mackieman posted:In my experience it is dramatically cheaper. I've seen some locations charge north of $5 per gallon when the going price is around $3.50. You can get market prices if you pre-pay for the fill up when you get the car, but the only way you're ahead there is if you bring it back empty, a feat not easily accomplished in business travel. I've never understood this prepay thing. Half the fun in running empty before you hit the station is filling up afterwards (my record is 4 km distance left - I have proof). It's like giving yourself blue balls with the downside of paying more if you don't get them.
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Jul 10, 2014 22:31
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Pvt Dancer posted:I've never understood this prepay thing. Half the fun in running empty before you hit the station is filling up afterwards (my record is 4 km distance left - I have proof). It's like giving yourself blue balls with the downside of paying more if you don't get them. Me either. I think it's there as a, "convenience" feature so they charge accordingly. If you're just too goddamn busy to fill up a car with gas, well then I suppose you make enough money where the exorbitant rates aren't an issue. For the rest of us, we put gas in the car before we return it.
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Jul 10, 2014 22:58
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caberham posted:Is it really much cheaper if you fill in the gas tank on your own instead of letting the rental agency deal with Holy poo poo yes. It's sometimes twice as expensive per gallon if the company fills it for you.
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Jul 10, 2014 23:22
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caberham posted:Is it really much cheaper if you fill in the gas tank on your own instead of letting the rental agency deal with I think you are talking about prepay... because if you just ditch the can without filling or purchasing the full tank on return, the really stick you for something crazy like $7-9/gal. I've been known to use the prepay if I know I'm likely to run right up to the edge of making it to the airport and, I know I will be using almost all of a tank. It is technically against policy but no one looks at my receipts that close or, they know not to bother me about something as petty as that.
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Jul 11, 2014 01:14
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I have used prepay for gas once. I was in Europe on a personal trip, didn't have any chip cards, and knew my itinerary would just about use up a complete tank. Not the most BFC thing I have ever done, but I didn't want to have to deal with gassing up and the price per liter to prepay wasn't much more than the price at the pump. Generally though it is a horrible idea.
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Jul 11, 2014 02:38
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I always like how the desk people claim how the price per gallon is lower if you use the whole tank. That's so hard to beat, you have to roll in on fumes or something. A few times I saw the gas station right outside with a lower price too. Not having to deal with those guys is one of the best FF perks honestly. Our biz class rules are super complicated. You have to be within a certain percentage of the lowest fare of all carriers to qualify. Of course everyone flies the hub carrier at DTW but of course the lowest fare is going to be another carrier. This causes a lot of people to drive to Flint and then connect through DTW to get the percentage fare through Delta.
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Jul 11, 2014 03:53
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My company's policy is to always get the full tank. Because my former boss was very budget-conscious, he told us to disregard that, so I would usually end up fast-talking my way out of it (National Reps are reasonable people and I'm in sales so if I can't talk my way into either waiving or retroactively getting a free tank, what am I doing in this field?). So as long as you use a real corporate vendor (National, Hertz, etc.) just play it by ear and fast-talk it. Hell, on numerous occasions when I've been short on time and couldn't fill-up, the dude checking in my car has helped me calculate whether paying their ABSURD per gallon prices or just buying the whole tank was cheaper. The first time this happened, I assumed it was a scam and doubled checked it on my flight. But they are pretty real folk. My current boss wants us to follow the corporate policy to the letter. That's cool. I'm in town for one day, drive maybe 45 miles on the outside, BOOM, full tank. Ain't my money.
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Jul 11, 2014 08:05
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Uncle Jam posted:I always like how the desk people claim how the price per gallon is lower if you use the whole tank. That's so hard to beat, you have to roll in on fumes or something. A few times I saw the gas station right outside with a lower price too. Not having to deal with those guys is one of the best FF perks honestly. A wildly productive use of everyone's time and resources, no doubt.
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Jul 11, 2014 15:17
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:A wildly productive use of everyone's time and resources, no doubt. There's no marginal cost to salaried employee time, after all.
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Jul 11, 2014 15:22
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They make the rules, we find a way to bend them. In my experience, the tighter the policy, the more you waste everyone's time either getting around it or chasing people down, rejections and resubmissions. Travel policies are made by people that don't travel and think its some sort of reward.
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Jul 11, 2014 15:41
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Aristotle Animes posted:They make the rules, we find a way to bend them. In my experience, the tighter the policy, the more you waste everyone's time either getting around it or chasing people down, rejections and resubmissions. Travel policies are made by people that don't travel and think its some sort of reward. I am glad that I work where everyone either actively travels or has at some point in the past because I've never even heard of some of these shenanigans people have to pull just to make their life liveable.
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Jul 11, 2014 16:31
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Midjack posted:There's no marginal cost to salaried employee time, after all. Starting this year travel counts for overtime for us. 20 hour trips to Asia kind of own now.
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Jul 11, 2014 19:30
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Uncle Jam posted:Starting this year travel counts for overtime for us. 20 hour trips to Asia kind of own now. That's pretty baller.
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Jul 12, 2014 19:32
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Xguard86 posted:I am glad that I work where everyone either actively travels or has at some point in the past because I've never even heard of some of these shenanigans people have to pull just to make their life liveable. The Director and I travel about the same so she is very understanding. She wants me to be sane and not live like a hobo as much as it can be prevented. So far the only thing preventing the Amex Travel schysters from taking control is that they don't have time for us small fries to implement the policies and all. There's maybe 10 of us in a company of 200 that travel at all and no one travels as much as a group of three of us, the rest maybe travel once or twice a quarter. The rest of my corporate family is 100% online with Amex and it is ridiculous how much stuff gets flagged out of policy. Any airline travel not booked 15 days out is flagged and your boss has to approve before the purchase goes through. Absurd. Who has time for that and my boss can spend a day or so out of email contact so, this would be awful. When they rolled out the Amex to the people immediately above us, they made the managers watch a video. One of those "Here's Bob" type things where Bob always booked the day before he traveled, went business class, stayed at the Four Seasons. This colleague of mine in that company told me about it and he was furious. "Do you know Bob? Does anyone know Bob? I don't think Bob works here!" We both know that poo poo happens, emergencies where you have to get there quick. But that is when poo poo is really wrong! Any one that ran their travel schedule like that, doing what we do, has got bigger problem than the expenses they are racking up and will find themselves in the hot seat pretty quick by just being a disorganized gently caress up that no one wants to deal with because they are so crazy and scattered. If they role out the Amex crap to us, and I think they will that will be the door slamming on my relationship with United Airlines since you can't tell whether or not you are purchasing a bulk ticket with Amex and UA doesn't give PQDs out for bulk tickets. It will be hello Delta at that point and frankly, I just need a nudge right now because gently caress that elite hating airline! AgrippaNothing fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Jul 12, 2014 |
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Jul 12, 2014 20:39
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Aristotle Animes posted:If they role out the Amex crap to us, and I think they will that will be the door slamming on my relationship with United Airlines since you can't tell whether or not you are purchasing a bulk ticket with Amex and UA doesn't give PQDs out for bulk tickets. It will be hello Delta at that point and frankly, I just need a nudge right now because gently caress that elite hating airline! Delta does the same thing for bulk fares.
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Jul 12, 2014 20:47
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Thoguh posted:Delta does the same thing for bulk fares. Yep. What I'm saying is that the playing field will be equal and since AA isn't really a choice here, I will just have to accept the days of being top tier are over and walk my rear end over to delta.
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Jul 12, 2014 21:00
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Ugh. Six hour delay leaving the LA area today and I missed the last flight home. At least it is work travel so when I didn't like the lovely hotel Delta was going to give me I just grabbed a cab to the closest Hilton. Gonna have a hot Saturday night doing laundry in the hotel room sink.
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Jul 13, 2014 03:26
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Our company used to have a nation-wide negotiated fuel rate at Hertz. I used our rate for a vacation trip in Hawaii and the negotiated rate was less than the gas station rate. Too bad they wised up since then. Another scam is when they charge 20% airport taxes on top of the per gallon fuel rate.
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Jul 13, 2014 13:59
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So turns out TSA converts precheck lines to regular security lines when they are busy. In that case, what's the point of having a separate expedited screening line? Just seems rear end backwards to me, yet not surprising considering it's TSA after all.
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Jul 13, 2014 14:43
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To help expedite passengers during busy times. I guess that's the bad side of expanding it to smaller markets. They close it at non peak times. The smallest airport I've been to that has it is MCO and it is always packed. There they roll families in to precheck which makes everything incredibly slow.
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Jul 13, 2014 14:48
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