I recently took a position as a personal travel assistant for a small business owner. I always have his travel preferences and budget in the forefront of my mind when planning and booking travel arrangements. Of course, the emphasis of my service is PERSONAL, not corporate. I want to continue to earn his business and I am willing to go above and beyond to ensure a positive travel experience.

Also, by taking one airline most of the time, and joining their membership lounge, I have more people willing to help when the inevitable problems crop up. The extra connections may be a pain, but it is more than made up when I go into the airline lounge to inquire about a delay and am handed a first class boarding pass for a different connecting flight.

I also try to be polite and thank anyone who helps me.

I’ve also noticed lately that I’ve started to remember the people with good attitudes about their jobs. The occasional bad experiences fade away rather quickly.

As another responder said, I’ve taken trips to far off places, flew first class across oceans, and stayed in fancy hotel rooms that I could have even dreamed of affording on my own. This is thanks to remaining loyal to a single airline alliance and hotel chain during my heavy business travel.

If I had always gone for the least number of connections and/or lowest fare instead of remaining loyal, I may have saved a few hours and a few dollars here and there – but when it comes to vacations I’d be flying Coach to South Carolina and staying at Courtyard … instead of International First to Istanbul and staying at W.

One has to pick their battles
when i was once on continental and the flight I was on got cancelled and they pushd me back all the way to monday from a friday I was quite angry. I called the gold line – yes i am gold and stated my case and got the refund I deserved since i did not think it correct that just because my last name begins with “R” that i should have last choice of available flights the list should be managed by status and aplhabet and not just by alphabet – they agreed with my argument.

I do not sweat the small stuff

I do find it insulting that I have to pay for an aisle seat up front if I am not elite
I do find it insulting that I have to pay to check my first bag
I also find it quite insutling that i have to pay for water

I also have choices when i fly and our travel person works with us when we travel – we tend to book our own hotels and cars

To respond to your three points,

1. My travel manager and I have a great relationship and on several occassions I’ve showm him how to save the company a few bucks by working the system. On 2 separate instances I was called by corporate travel to assist with a key contact I’d cultivated at my Carrier of Choice. I was taught years ago that one of your primary job duties is to manage your manager.

As for a life on the road, where to I go next? I love it as it gets me away from the pathetic brown nosers and hangers on that overpopulate most offices and on with the business at hand.

2. FF Miles (If you Manage your Managers) and such are viewed by me as compensation. A few years ago I used a bunch of miles and points to go to Europe from 11 days. I totalled up the value of the stuff I got “Free” and if I had to pay out of pocket would have been close to $20K, meaning I’d have to earn an additional $30K to “break even”. In short without the miles the trip would have unaffordable. So for me the award programs are about me improving my lifestyle and I consider them part of my compensation. It’s one of if not the only reason I’ll be switching carriers beginning of the year as my current carrier has decided to cut alot of the perks.

3. When you go on the road you learn a few things, one is that if you have time to spare go by air as it is often hurry up and wait. You have 2 choices, get mad or get glad because you ain’t leaving until ‘they’ say so. So relax power up the laptop, go to the Club, have an adult beverage and relax because there you sit like it or don’t.

You also learn the value of manners when dealing with folks at airlines, hotels and the like. It’s simple common sense who gets cut the break? Mr Smarty Panties or Mr yes ma’am, no sir, please and thank you?

It’s all in the attitude. As you know I’m not a pushover when it comes to dealing with travel companies as I get my share of vouchers and then some. But the key is to pick the battles where you will be handsomely rewarded for the effort it takes to wind your way through the rat maze that is modern customer service. The goal there is no longer one of Customer Satisfaction but one of Complaint Resolution or put less gently the “What will it take for you to go away” Department.

One key to happiness on the road is to remember most of us aren’t solving world hunger or averting nuclear war, we are just out hawking our wares or supporting the hawkers and truth be told the sun WILL rise tomorrow whether my flight to Duluth gets canceled or not. Being a Road Warrior is alot like any aspect of life, it’s all in what YOU make it to be.

I was hoping before you posted this article on your blog that you would take into account the responses you received from myself and other travel managers. To take a page from your book, I’m going to repost part of my response to this article.

This article obviously touches a nerve among us, the Travel Managers who read your articles and blog. To be honest, I’m not actually offended. As the “travel guy” at my company I get blamed quite often for things outside of my control. A flight gets delayed… it’s my fault. Long line at the rental car counter… I obviously screwed up their reservation. Their hotel room smells like smoke… you get the idea.

So in this case, you had a bad experience with a travel manager in your past, and “I” get the blame. OK, I can deal with that. I’ll treat you the same way I treat my travelers. First, I respect that you’ve had a bad experience in the past. Mistakes happen, and not everyone is competent in their jobs. Just like with travel agents, a competent travel manager can make all the difference for their travelers. But sometimes we have to fight against perception.

I want to point out that if I were “only there to control costs” I could start saving $50 – $100 a night by using the “Roach Motel.” But that would affect my travelers. Instead we try to negotiate the rates at reasonably nice hotels so my travelers can maintain comfort and productivity while I control costs. By the way, the hotels we use are the properties that my travelers have asked for. More than once in the past we have pulled agreements with specific hotels because they didn’t meet our standards.

I run my program with a focus on customer service, traveler experience, and yes, cost consciousness. I am an advocate for my travelers, and work hard to ensure that their travel is as smooth as possible. I know that many of my travel manager colleagues do the same thing.

The fact is.. I work hard to ensure that my program works. I know that my travelers are better off with me here. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night because one of my travelers has a problem. Or skipped personal/family functions because one of my travelers has had a family emergency.

Oh.. and my company has also realized serious savings to their program with my care and diligence. Win – Win!

Nate Burt
Travel Administrator