Business Travel: Maybe I just really like my own bed, my house, and desktop computer

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Business Travel: Maybe I just really like my own bed, my house, and desktop computer

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Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

If you don't have lounge access you're scrubbin' anyhow.

The new United Club at BOS appears to be quite nice, though it will have no showers which isn't great, and it has space for a nice deck outside but apparently some combination of UA and Massport didn't want to do that so you get to look at a roof and drain instead. Nice tarmac views, though.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 16:15

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 12:21

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

Thanks - this is helpful. Where are UA's gates going to be located? In between the AA and AWE gates?

They built a brand new wing in Terminal B. Here's a highly polished and very nice (read: terribly lovely) image I edited from the Massport site that shows where the new terminal is:

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 19:52

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

FrozenVent posted:

Is 55 minutes enough to change from a UA flight from Canada to a UA flight to Houston in ORD?

Usually. You'll clear customs and immigration in Canada so you arrive at ORD as a domestic flight.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2014 19:52

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Pissingintowind posted:

Yuck, posting from the old biz-class seats on a LH 388

Really wish the SQ flight for the same route hadn't filled up. Sigh.

Normally angle flats don't bother me, but the LH 346 version did, and BR's weren't awesome either. Still, it's better than a sharp stick in the eye (or coach).

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 16:49

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Sound_man posted:

I'm flying EWR to PEK on United. Using seat guru I was able to find an economy seat with a little extra room. Will I still hate myself? its almost a 14 hour flight work won't cover the $150 for an upgrade but as a 6'3 245 pound guy if the extra five inches will make my life better I am game.

Also does united really not offer cocktails on long haul international flights in economy? Too bad I didn't have enough time for a layover and couldn't stay on one world.

If work won't pay for it, I'd shell out of my own pocket for it just for personal sanity. That's a long time to be stuck in coach and the passenger service unit on those sCO 772 birds don't have personal air vents in them. More space around you is definitely worth $150 for 14 hours.

And no, UA killed free drinks a while back since they're trying to shore up revenue by cutting costs instead of providing better service. :rolleyes:

If you have some time before you go, I have a bunch of drink chits I can mail to you, just send me a PM.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2014 14:17

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

sellouts posted:

No more one world explorer awards. I'm gutted. They were so much fun.

Yeah, when I saw that this morning I was wondering how badly that was going to screw you.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 04:04

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Thoguh posted:

This makes my intention to jump to AA at the end of the year less clear. I guess I'll hold out and hope they don't hit the earning side like Delta did.

It's absolutely going to happen. Count on it. AA is going to get decimated just like every other airline that has gone through a giant merger.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2014 19:14

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Snipeo posted:

Hi Guys - I'm based in London and my travelling normally sends me eastwards to Asia and the Middle East but I have a trip coming up that is sending me stateside (New York, Phoenix, probably elsewhere in the states). I have most of my miles with British Airways so I'll fly BA to get from London to New York and think I should probably stick with a OneWorld carrier whilst travelling around the US - can anyone recommend one? American Airlines seem to be the best / only choice - how are they? It's likely I'll be in economy so "upgrade chances" would be beneficial!

American is likely your best bet, though out of JFK you'll have to change planes in ORD or DFW to get there. US Airways is also now an option, but there is still a plane change in PHL or CLT to get there. If you don't have to go to New York, consider flying BA to another AA hub (DFW, ORD, MIA) and go on from there.

That said, if you have BA status, your best bet at a better seat is on AA. You won't get upgrades to F, but you should be able to get exit rows or other better seats. sellouts probably knows for sure as he patronizes AA more than I do.

# ¿ Apr 11, 2014 15:26

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Uncle Jam posted:

Man most places I go I think 'This place is cool, I could live here', but Boston was the first one where I just wanted to get the hell out. The hotels and restaurants are super expensive, and the quality is way under what you'd expect for what you pay. $240 a night and you get bedsheets that are so coarse and itchy that I can't even remember the last time bedsheets caused me to lose sleep since I stayed at a motel 8 when I was like 17.

Corporate rate codes help tremendously with that. And I've eaten at several really great restaurants around Boston (whilst on the company dime so limits were in place), so I think it's more about where you're going than the city itself. My only real complaint is how expensive taxis are and how one out of every three drivers will bitch at me about using my corporate credit card (only option for business expenses) instead of paying them cash. :rolleyes:

# ¿ Apr 18, 2014 14:08

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Shbobdb posted:

Anyone with experience trying to get a bereavement fare out of US Airways? I know they've mostly been phased out but I have to imagine there is still a backdoor somewhere. If I'm going to be flying to a funeral, I'd just as soon do it first class.

They're pretty much gone industry wide, and even if they have them, they're not going to be in F.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2014 14:56

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

FrozenVent posted:

Today is a good day.

Although I flew United recently and didn't get pre-check for whatever reason so there might be something wrong with my file. Global Entry is still loving awesome though.

Make sure your KTN is in the reservation. I've had that happen before and once I added it in and refreshed my boarding passes, that pretty green check mark appeared.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2014 14:55

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Thoguh posted:

Been President's Circle with Hertz the past few years. My "upgrades" half the time were to an SUV (that I didn't want since if I wanted a bigger car I would have reserved one). A Camry was pretty standard. If I was really lucky I'd get a base model Mustang or something comparable. The Gold Aisle was generally unimpressive. The most common locations I rented from were SNA and BWI.

With National my company's contract gave me access to the executive side of their version of the gold aisle right away. I've gotten a Cadillac, two Chargers, and a Mustang convertible. Somewhat small sample size so far but they've yet to let me down. These have also been from SNA and BWI.

I have friends that travel for work weekly and swear by National. I use Avis with decent results but so much of the time it depends entirely upon the station you're visiting.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2014 21:24

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

I have a Global Entry interview on the 7th. Can anyone give a quick rundown of that process? I scheduled it in ORD since BOS was booked up through August

Watch a video, answer any questions the CBP agent has (basically anything that wasn't complete on the information you submitted), finger print, photo.

I would be shocked if it took longer than ten minutes.

# ¿ May 1, 2014 00:08

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

The Sock posted:

What is your guys favorite hotel rewards program? I've currently been using Holiday Inn, but it takes forever to get free nights.

Hyatt has the best program out there, I think, but they also have the fewest properties. I roll with SPG as they tend to have properties most of the places I go and it's just under Hyatt in terms of value. Then Marriott, then Hilton, then the rest, and it quickly falls down after Marriott.

# ¿ May 5, 2014 20:00

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Kinfolk Jones posted:

I wish I was able to use National for our rentals. We are doing our long term rentals through Budget (Mini-Leases) and their service leaves a lot to be desired. And of course people have been abusing upgrades so our company disallowed Budget to give us anything besides what is exactly written on our reservations. Damnit!

On the plus side, I just crossed 35k flight miles this year! Might still end up getting Platinum on United after all. Especially if I get that business trip to Switzerland later in the year.

How does the use of free upgrades cause issues with the company? :confused:

Also, congrats on (maybe) hitting plat. I got a call on Monday asking me to be in PEK in 12 days, so I just locked up 1K for the first time. :coal:

# ¿ May 8, 2014 00:46

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Midjack posted:

You're speculating. Let me assure you that it is extremely loving problematic to be caught with multiple passports. Even having two of different types (e.g. regular and diplomatic, or being a dual citizen) can get you questioned. Basically, you are immediately suspected of being a spy or criminal, arguably the same thing in a lot of places.

You should only show the one you're using. Keep the other one in your bag or a different pocket. If you go to secondary they'll find it anyway, but you don't want to give them an excuse to send you there.

You are correct in that you really only need a second one for frequent unpredictable high-frequency travel to places that need the visa in advance. Israel used to not stamp your passport if you asked them not to though I don't know if they still offer that courtesy, if not that's another reason to get one.

In addition to all those things, my (limited) understanding is that you have to provide a letter with your application that explains exactly why you need the second passport and what you plan to use it for. It's not something they just hand out regularly, I don't think.

# ¿ May 27, 2014 18:20

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Small White Dragon posted:

Bizarro. There are a lot of people who like getting their passports stamped, I thought this was a standard request.

Hong Kong no longer stamps passports, either. It's becoming somewhat more commonplace these days, especially where you see lots of semi-local border crossings like Hong Kong.

# ¿ May 28, 2014 19:15

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

P.D.B. Fishsticks posted:

Whatever it was, she seemed to think there was a screen somewhere at the gate that told her her seat. The best I can figure is it might have been her position on the standby list or something. We were departing O'Hare so the gate wasn't just a number.

Probably the group number?

In any case, frequent travel is often an excellent opportunity to experience just how stupid most people are. :rolleyes:

# ¿ May 29, 2014 17:20

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

caberham posted:

What really irks me is the horrible attitude travelers can have because of their xxx status. Like those guys in FT. I'M A SUPER PLATINUM SNOWFLAKE. Yeah buddy, great job doing so on someone else's money, you bad tipper. Or airline staff who boss passengers.around because we don't know better.

Yeah, we often call that DYKWIA, Do You Know Who I Am. Ocassionally you'll see some fetid bastard actually deploy that line to an agent, and it's always cringe worthy. I have top tier status at United, Starwood, and Avis, and my poo poo most definitely smells as bad or worse (depending on whether or not I've been to China recently) than everyone else's. I am not a beautiful, unique snowflake. Some people (mostly self-entitled asshats) simply fail to understand that.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 19:06

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Yep, these people work in the service industry and are poo poo upon regularly. Being nice is almost always going to get a better response from them, and in most things in life. The whole, "more flies with honey instead of vinegar" thing.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 19:35

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

FrozenVent posted:

TSA has a weird.

Fixed that for you.

# ¿ May 29, 2014 19:47

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Thoguh posted:

I'm a mere domestic traveling Gold or Platinum (depending on the year) and all this is above my pay grade, really. Lounges are mythical places where I hang out and get some free drinks a few times a year.

As a loyal United customer ( :rolleyes:

) my primary use for the lounge is a place to sit and charge stuff, and for the ability to (usually) get a qualified agent in the event of irrops. Lounge agents have saved my rear end more than once.

# ¿ May 30, 2014 19:46

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Small White Dragon posted:

All you people complaining about elite snowflakes, I hope you've seen the "Hotel Check-In, Diamond Member" video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=WCqm4H3m3Ew

One of my favorites. So much so that for our frequent traveler nerd gathering earlier this year we had some custom wine labels made:

A buddy of mine sent a bottle to the head of Hyatt Gold Passport who also loves that video and used it in a presentation he did. Now proudly displayed in his office. :cool:

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 16:48

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

majestic12 posted:

Does it work with Global Entry? I asked the guard at the Peace bridge a couple weeks ago and he said they don't recognize GE on the Canadian side, so you can only use the special lanes crossing into Canada if you have NEXUS as well.

Thanks for the clarification on that; it makes sense, but the US CPB website was less than forthcoming on this particular topic. I'm doing this next month so we'll wait like normal when we go into Canada but hopefully it will save us some time on the way back in as both my wife and I have Global Entry.

# ¿ Jun 2, 2014 16:51

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Midjack posted:

What's the thread experience with people pleading to cut in the security line? I used to let people through until I started paying attention and noticed that over 6 months, all 8 of the people I'd let in front of me with "30 minutes till my flight!!" were chilling at Starbucks or TGI Friday's in no rush at all when I came through a couple of minutes later. (This was 8 separate times, not a single group of 8.)

Since then I refuse the pleas and never let anyone in front of me, but I was curious if this is typical.

I got Global Entry and thus have Pre-check like a normal person. What is this line you speak of?

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 22:43

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Small White Dragon posted:

Actually, frequent flier programs are extremely profitable, and have probably kept companies afloat when they would have otherwise gone under.

But not because of your flying, rather all those miles you get from your credit card, hotel transfers, rental cars, flowers, .etc were purchased from the airline. Redemption values are tied to the probability the airline can sell that seat, and a portion of the airline miles expire anyway.

Yep, selling miles to banks and other marketing partners is wildly profitable for most US-based airlines. It's like crack to them. Most loyalty programs have their own P&L responsibility, with some going so far as to spin off separate companies to manage it.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2014 13:35

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

And now ~~The Other Delta~~ United has announced mileage earning based on fare price. :rolleyes:

# ¿ Jun 10, 2014 14:10

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Thoguh posted:

I'm planning on switching over to American if I can as soon as I hit Platinum on Delta for this year (so I can go for a status match). I really hope I don't make the switch and then have AA pull this next year.

I'm still really annoyed by these changes, it turns the programs into a pure rebate program instead of a loyalty program.

AA is absolutely going to do the same thing. Jumping from a merger dumpster fire into a merger dumpster fire doesn't seem like a winning strategy to me. I'm strongly considering a status match/challenge over to Delta next year since I will likely not qualify for 1K again. My primary motivation, because I'm 6'8", is extra legroom seats. Delta has some, not as nice as United's, but it'll work for a while. We'll see what happens after that.

# ¿ Jun 11, 2014 16:07

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Belldandy posted:

At least EWR is "somewhat modern." LGA is just comically lovely inside.

I flew into LGA for the first time last Friday and wondered if we should've taken a left at Albuquerque because we were clearly in some shithole Central American country and not New York. It was appalling.

Makes me ever more thankful that my home airport (AUS) is badass.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2014 01:21

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

canoshiz posted:

First complimentary upgrade to business on an international flight

The illusive OpUp. Color me jealous.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2014 01:22

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

For those of you so afflicted as to be loyal to United, I wrote a userscript for united.com to calculate 2015 RDM earnings under the new program rules. It adds a display to view earnings to all fare search pages, displays earnings on the Review Trip Itinerary page, and displays earnings on the View Current Reservation page.

PLEASE NOTE: The fares displayed on the search pages include all taxes and fees, so the mileage earnings displayed will be higher than what you will actually earn in reality. The fare basis and taxes are not broken down on search pages so there is no way to show the real value here. When you arrive at the Review Trip Itinerary page, the base fare and taxes/fees are broken out so the calculation can be made correctly. The same is true on the View Current Reservation page: the values are accurate.

Download The Script:

For Firefox users with Greasemonkey, download via direct link: Click Here
Current Version: 0.1.24

For Chrome users, download via the Chrome Web Store: Click Here
Current Version: 0.0.13

# ¿ Jun 18, 2014 21:27

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

I've done more travel in the first half of this year than I've ever done in an entire year before, so that's pretty awesome (since half of it was personal travel).

United: 99,862 PQM/13,445 PQD (just flew DTW-IAH this morning so I'll be at 100,938PQM when the miles post)
SPG: 28 stays/55 nights (Platinum requal complete)
Avis: 7 rentals (President's Club via credit card)

# ¿ Jul 6, 2014 23:09

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

DJCobol posted:

4) I always push the limits of how far away from the airport I can fill the rental car and still have it count as full when I drop it off. Record: 55 miles from Akron, OH to CLE airport.

Please do not be this guy.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 04:36

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

Midjack posted:

Guys are lucky; a couple of years ago my bossmasters made the cut off for business class 14 hours. And everywhere I go is 13:55 according to the airline.

Build a connection in there?

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 00:59

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 01:31

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 01:41

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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.

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.

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

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 04:19

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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 :rolleyes:

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 14:32

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 22:14

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 12:21

Beef Of Ages: Jan 11, 2003; Your dumb is leaking.

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.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 22:58

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Business Travel: Maybe I just really like my own bed, my house, and desktop computer

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