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Uncle Jam posted:You get somebody to book your trips? That must be weird. We all book our own trips. I used to have to book and expense all my travel. People Soft is shietttt... I recently got an admin assistance and she does it all for me. I love it!
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Aug 29, 2015 18:10
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TheWevel posted:I bet it has something to do with Concur. The girl that handles my travel used to go on Concur and book whatever was cheapest. She's never traveled for work and we'd get trips with like 2 layovers and hotels 30 minutes (by car) from where we were working. Do we have the same admin assistant? Because that describes ours to a T. When she first started you practically had to beg her to book you a hotel that cost an extra $5 a night that was much closer and much nicer, or a plane ticket that was $20 to have a better connection time and on an airline where you have status. It finally got better after people started refusing to let her book their travel and using the admins from other departments. And we even have a pretty generous expense policy. So it isn't like she was being asked to break rules.
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Aug 29, 2015 22:47
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Booked a flight on British Airways from Philadelphia to London to Copenhagen as US/AA platinum (middle of the road) and got bumped to business class for some reason. I'm certainly not complaining but not sure why it happened exactly. Never gotten a free upgrade on an international except for when I was literally the last person to board the plane and they had given away my seat. I wonder if they oversold this flight or what.
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Aug 29, 2015 23:04
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It would be nice to have an admin to book me that understood the job was not to save $100 on a plane fare. I book my own and I'm comfortable with that situation. My time is better spent doing other things than fretting about layovers sure but I know what I'm doing, it would take a leap for me to give that up.
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Aug 30, 2015 04:25
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We have a travel office that does our booking and it's extremely clear that they never travel. I've since taken to "working around it" by looking my preferred flights and putting those into my advance travel requests with a pretty good success rate. Still, sometimes there's no getting around ~40min connections in DTW or MSP which is always fun.
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Aug 30, 2015 22:05
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Higgy posted:We have a travel office that does our booking and it's extremely clear that they never travel. I've since taken to "working around it" by looking my preferred flights and putting those into my advance travel requests with a pretty good success rate.
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Aug 30, 2015 22:46
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AgrippaNothing posted:It would probably annoy me to have to essentially do their job because they're monsters that don't understand how dumb a 40min connect is Whatever gently caress face is responsible for the minimum connection times in OAG can suck my dick from the back.
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Aug 30, 2015 23:07
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Midjack posted:Whatever gently caress face is responsible for the minimum connection times in OAG can suck my dick from the back. That's like a tiny airport in New South Wales, right? I'm assuming they give min connects that just guarantee you to misconnect if there isn't a tail wind to get you there on time? (also, there are connections there lol)
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Aug 31, 2015 02:52
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I assume that's some travel software.
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Aug 31, 2015 03:05
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Jesus i hope so.
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Aug 31, 2015 03:36
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I assume that's some travel software. This thing. http://www.oag.com
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Aug 31, 2015 04:18
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Going back to Red Eye chat, I've done LAX-> MSP, DTW, MIA, ATL, JFK in the last few months and every time I say never again, but as long as I get a few hours of sleep, it really is nice not having to lose an entire day. MSP is the worst though - 1am take off and 6am arrival is brutal.
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Aug 31, 2015 16:43
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My company just issued a major update to the T&E reimbursement policy. It's effective immediately but they made no effort to publicize the changes or implement the new rules in iExpense (you'll only find out about it if you notice the very recent "last updated" date on the benefits website). Among other things, we now have city/region-specific meal reimbursement limits instead of US and international limits. However, there is no practical guidance as to how the city-specific limits will be implemented. I am very much looking forward to the first time an AP clerk tries to tell me that a meal in Santa Monica or Burbank should be covered by the "all other" rules rather than the Los Angeles rules.
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Sep 1, 2015 07:11
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In the federal government travel, we have that too, though they do it by county and not city. I haven't had to go to the LA area for work specifically, but generally in practice I haven't had problems with suburbs in large urban areas being too low relative to the city itself - even if you're not in the city's county (NOVA vs DC, for example), those counties also have rates that are as high or nearly as high as the highest county. We've just changed how we have to pick hotels, though - as of today, instead of booking my own within per diem, I have to pick from the list our travel site gives us. I'm interested to see how that goes, but I suspect it'll be a pain. P.D.B. Fishsticks fucked around with this message at 13:12 on Sep 1, 2015 |
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Sep 1, 2015 13:09
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:We've just changed how we have to pick hotels, though - as of today, instead of booking my own within per diem, I have to pick from the list our travel site gives us. I'm interested to see how that goes, but I suspect it'll be a pain. Uhh. I hope that's agency specific to you, because if I have to start doing that, it's gonna suck.
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Sep 1, 2015 13:19
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AgrippaNothing posted:It would probably annoy me to have to essentially do their job because they're monsters that don't understand how dumb a 40min connect is Still less annoying than being stuck with a connection that would force me to violate the laws of time and space. 
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Sep 1, 2015 14:00
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Tyro posted:Uhh. I hope that's agency specific to you, because if I have to start doing that, it's gonna suck. And my state agency follows federal rates/practices, so if we change to that I'll be mad too. I got dinged on miles from my house to the airport, because I arrived at 803 am (per my parking receipt). They decided I should have driven to the office first then to the airport, since I arrived at the airport after the work day began.
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Sep 1, 2015 15:42
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lavaca posted:Among other things, we now have city/region-specific meal reimbursement limits instead of US and international limits. However, there is no practical guidance as to how the city-specific limits will be implemented. I am very much looking forward to the first time an AP clerk tries to tell me that a meal in Santa Monica or Burbank should be covered by the "all other" rules rather than the Los Angeles rules. We have the concept of "work location" that is used to drive the limits. So you stay in Burbank and work in LA, it uses the LA rate. It works pretty well.
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Sep 1, 2015 15:50
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But why would you stay in Burbank to work in LA? The county thing makes more sense to me but I don't know. I guess our policy is pretty lax.
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Sep 1, 2015 15:53
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Hot Dog Day #91 posted:I got dinged on miles from my house to the airport, because I arrived at 803 am (per my parking receipt). They decided I should have driven to the office first then to the airport, since I arrived at the airport after the work day began. What kind of a person do you have to be to enforce this kind of nonsense?
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Sep 1, 2015 18:09
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Tyro posted:Uhh. I hope that's agency specific to you, because if I have to start doing that, it's gonna suck. It was a JTR change that drove that for us, so I think it's only DoD. But if it works out for us, maybe it's in your future.
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Sep 1, 2015 22:43
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Barry posted:What kind of a person do you have to be to enforce this kind of nonsense? I just said "ok thanks." What's worse is my day doesn't start until 930 normally. And they forget about all those days where I take a 0600 flight.
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Sep 2, 2015 02:15
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I have the opportunity to get an American Express Platinum card for business use, rather than the normal American Express (green card) I've been using for the past 4 years. What benefits come with it? Do Goons think it's worth the cost?
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Sep 4, 2015 22:19
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Ynglaur posted:I have the opportunity to get an American Express Platinum card for business use, rather than the normal American Express (green card) I've been using for the past 4 years. What benefits come with it? Do Goons think it's worth the cost? If you travel regularly absolutely. Priority pass, centurion lounge and TSA precheck are all good things. There's also the $200 credit for air travel and I'm assuming you'd pay for travel on the card as that gets extra MR points and travel insurance. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/credit-cards/business-platinum/44281?linknav=us-open-aj-hp-vac-platinumcard-lm
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Sep 5, 2015 02:31
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I wouldn't pay for it out of my pocket. Pre check is cheap and I don't go through Centurion lounges enough to make it worthwhile.
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Sep 5, 2015 09:04
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The Risk posted:Thinking about changing to AA from United. Is Platinum worth it in AA? It seems they don't have free upgrades like United. I might do the challenge but AA seems much worse than United out of O'Hare and I have Gold with United. It all depends on where you're flying to I suppose. I used to fly out of ORD 1-2 times a week for business until I moved, picking AA over United. ORD is a major hub for AA, so destinations and schedules were a non-issue. After giving both a shot, my overall experience was indistinguishable, and the deciding factor was the redemption value of the AAdvantage Miles. At the time AA's program was much better than United's, not sure if that's still the case, but AA continues to be my sole carrier today. ORD's AA terminal (T3) isn't anything special, but it gets the job done and easy to navigate. There's a lot of food and drink options if you care about that. There's also a few Admirals Clubs, so if you're flying a lot I'd consider getting a membership. Likewise if you continue on United. It's expensive, but invaluable for a few reasons. Look at where you're typically flying to see if it makes sense. Hint: if your sole route is ORD to Mobile, AL don't bother. I've been Platinum for the past few years. Does it do much for me? Yes and no. AA, United, Delta, et. al., all have some form of mileage multipliers, standby privileges, early boarding, and free luggage for their status members. I use those benefits quite a bit, but it's not unique to AA. I just continue to fly AA because their AAdvantage Miles program is still the best in my opinion and haven't paid for personal travel in years. I also have a Citi AAdvantage credit card which augments the typical benefits and adds a lot of other awesome perks into the mix. If you stick with United, look into one of their top-tier branded cards to maximize your carrier "loyalty". chicagobutters fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 7, 2015 |
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Sep 7, 2015 21:17
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Once I'm done taking care of my current bonuses I may go for the Prestige because of the $250 applying directly to flights and the 60% bonus to AA but I'm not sure yet. I signed up for the Executive due to the 75k bonus and am normally living near what will now be an AA hub (PHL), but beyond the Admirals' Club access and the potential $40k spend bonus, there's not much the card offers to make it worth the $450, so it'd be the first to go. I hit the CSP bonus and the UR points are finally sitting there after having cleared, but I feel that on the whole it's at least a slightly overrated card. The AF is certainly low compared to similar cards, but their transfer partners aren't super great unless you do short hauls with BA or can utilize one of the others like Singapore, United, or maybe Virgin Atlantic (the VA flights out of PHL are through their partnership with Delta, it seems). I do have a Freedom to run in tandem with it, but I feel like the CSP gets shilled to hell by blogs when the only really great way to earn points on it is via Shop with Chase, since the Freedom categories are going to always be at least a little hit or miss (never mind the 5x cap). I might keep it if only because it's still a solid card with a relatively low AF, all things considered, and Chase is imposing those previously discussed limits when applying. I'm also in Amex's pocket right now because I hopped in on the big bonuses, but their transfer partners aren't super amazing/BA is getting nerfed and I don't know what I'm going to do with them long term. I do really like Amex's mobile app and overall user experience though -- Chase's is pretty solid, too. I could also easily earn tons of extra AA miles through their shopping portal since it doesn't require you to use one of the branded cards, so maybe the best combination is one which involves that for points diversification.
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Sep 7, 2015 22:57
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P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:I loving wish I knew; it would make my tracking so much easier. taco show posted:Seriously, do this please. O'hare has awful angles for seeing tail numbers I suppose I'm about four months late, but I've finally written this post: http://onehundredairports.com/2015/09/13/finding-your-tail-number-when-you-cant-see-it/ I hope it's helpful, and please feel free to let me know if I've missed something. P.D.B. Fishsticks fucked around with this message at 15:03 on Sep 13, 2015 |
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Sep 13, 2015 14:47
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What are everyone's thoughts on AirBNB for personal travel? My girlfriend and I are going to NYC in November and I don't think I'll have the hotel points to get a comped room. AirBNB seems like a much cheaper alternative than a hotel stay but like, going through someone else's bedroom to use the toilet (that's from an actual description) doesn't sound appealing in the least bit.
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Sep 15, 2015 17:26
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We've used it for a few vacations now, but we always get ones where you rent the whole place.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:17
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I'm waiting for the inevitable "wired for video airbnb" videos to surface. You know that poo poo is going on.
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Sep 15, 2015 19:19
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Definitely just stick with the whole-house AirBNB setup and you're more than likely going to be dealing with a property manager chucking dead stock/properties likely to increase in lease/rental price in less than a year on AirBNB to earn money while they are in between tenants. Even better sorting is to use instant-booking listings only. Make sure you put on a good show for the cameras.
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Sep 15, 2015 22:43
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My experiences with Airbnb have basically either been a) the airbnb landlord had moved in with a significant other and decided to airbnb out their current apartment rather than break lease, or b) they clearly were in the business of owning multiple properties. The latter folks seem typically better at handling things. The single-unit people just renting out their apartment are often a pain to deal with because you have to coordinate arrivals, getting keys, etc. I stayed at a place in SF that was a little mother-in-law cottage behind a 6-plex apartment building the guy also owned. He had a keypad lock on the front door and messaged me the passcode via on the day I was to arrive, and just had me text him on the way out on the final day to let him know I was gone. I never actually spoke with him or saw him in person, which was fine by me. It was like $129/night for a 500sqft cottage in a cute neighborhood, with kitchen and king bed, compared to like $400/night for a hotel. My last job hosted an offsite in SF a few months ago. Most of the team was based in the Bay Area and four of us were remote, so we rented a big house for the out-of-towners rather than book four hotel rooms. We got a four bedroom house for something like $699/night. Was way more comfortable for us and there was plenty of room for the locals to come over to chill for dinner/drinks. The person/agency who listed this place had about four other similar houses and did the same thing with just giving us a passcode for the door. That was especially nice because none of us had to worry about who would fly in first and get keys.
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Sep 16, 2015 15:16
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The one time I stayed with a stranger for an Airbnb, she chatted a bit with me and gave a few tips but was mostly working/busy and not home. We shared a bathroom which was a little awkward in the morning when she was getting ready for work. She was really nice and accommodating though.
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Sep 18, 2015 03:54
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I've had nothing but great experiences with AirBnB, but I've also always done the whole apartment and not just a room. Much cheaper and better arrangement in my experience.
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Sep 18, 2015 04:23
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I think that's the only way I'd ever do AirBNB. Bunking down with some random person at their apartment is kinda weird.
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Sep 18, 2015 04:29
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I also frequently use AirBnB for work travel. My company has some sort of corporate AirBnB portal that filters down to full houses with wifi and verified owners and I've never had a bad experience. If you / your coworkers frequently use AirBnB for travel, might be worth contacting them to see if you can get on the corporate version too.
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Sep 18, 2015 14:12
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Had the devil's own luck this morning. Flying a 5:10 AM out of PHL and I overslept and didn't get to security until 4:40 and of course security is packed with all the Monday morning travelers so I figure I'm totally hosed. As I debate running from A to B to see if security is any better there they announce the pre-check line just opened. I never signed up for pre-check because I'm an idiot and US Airways doesn't automatically give you pre-check if you have status. Luckily this flight was booked as an American flight so I check the boarding pass and it has the pre-check symbol. I did a little dance that I'm sure anyone watching was amused, confused, or appalled by and was the second person in line for pre-check. Not sure what I did to deserve that luck but holy poo poo, definitely one of my closest (self inflicted) calls.
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Sep 21, 2015 10:05
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Just gave up my isle seat to a woman who was traveling with her kid and wanted to sit next to her instead of separate seats behind her. I'm a sucker. Edit: her seat was still Economy Plus though, I'm not going back to coach without compensation. tomapot fucked around with this message at 12:50 on Sep 21, 2015 |
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Sep 21, 2015 12:48
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Lyon posted:Had the devil's own luck this morning. Flying a 5:10 AM out of PHL and I overslept and didn't get to security until 4:40 and of course security is packed with all the Monday morning travelers so I figure I'm totally hosed. Let this be a sign to you to get pre-check. One of the best decisions I made and I only fly about once a month.
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Sep 21, 2015 13:55
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