Tips for the Frequent Traveller
Business
Travellers like to dream of the perfect trip. This is particularly true when
working for small or medium-sized companies where financial constraints often
dictate economy class travel and budget rather than luxurious hotels.
A survey of 1,000 travellers from the Business
Travel Show, held earlier this year at London's Olympia, revealed that most long
for a direct flight, a flat bed, an in-flight Blackberry for text messages and
emails, a friendly face at the airport and language lessons. Other items on the
frequent travellers' wish list included online booking, e-tickets, an iPod,
high-speed internet access, good hotel food, a power shower, a spa, crisp, clean
cotton sheet sheets and a concierge with contacts at all the best places.
Many business travellers working for smaller
companies will have to organise their own trips instead of having a travel
manager to do it for them. This may mean they fail to secure the cheapest and
most comfortable deals. However, travellers who know the ropes can often work
the system to make life a little easier.
For example, a quarter of all air tickets are
electronic and these have the advantages of being impossible to lose. Nick
Hurrell from Business Travel International, a leading business travel agency
said: The biggest hassle at airports is queues. The
British Airways website allows you to print off a boarding pass from your home
or office. This pass means that if you only have hand baggage you don't
have to join a check-in queue. You go straight to security. This saves 25 to 30
minutes and we have had good feedback from our clients who have used the
systems.
Valet car parking also saves
time. We use a company called Purple Parking, which takes the car at
departure and parks it for the traveller. On the return trip the traveller
telephones Purple Parking once they are through passport control and the valet
company has a car waiting for them. It save about 40 minutes per trip and costs
the same as long-term car parks.
Hurrell recommend using a travel management
company for unbiased advice when booking tickets, pointing out that travellers
who buy through an airline website don't get a choice of tickets. Online travel
agents offer a range of airlines, while travel management companies have back-up
facilities like travel tracking and disaster recovery, which can be useful if
travellers go missing in danger zones.
However, the mishaps business travellers are most
likely to face are less dramatic, but still irritating. These might
include telephone in their hotel room doesn't work, the car pick-up point is a
15 minute walk from the airport and that they are too exhausted from the journey
to function properly in vital meetings. Regular travellers say it is
always best to book hotels and cars well in advance of leaving the UK to ensure
the best rates.
UPGRADES
Travellers used to claim it was possible to be
upgraded from economy to business class by a variety of wheezes from arriving at
the check-in early/late to wearing a smart suit and being extra nice to the
check-in staff. The best tip is to assume you will have to remain in economy and
spend a couple of pounds on a blow-up pillow that can be bought from airport
shops. This will help you sleep and prevent neck injury. Nick
Hurrell adds Having a frequent flyer card will help you to
pre-book a seat. On European flights the seat configuration is two seats on one
side of the aisle and three on the other. Its best to book one of the two
seats so with any luck no- one will be next to you, which is much more
comfortable than being in the middle of a block of three. Little things that
make life easier, even if there is no financial benefit. Likewise, the British
Airways Silver and Gold card gives you automatic access to lounges even if you
are travelling economy.
For trips from London to Paris or Brussels,
business travellers would do well to consider taking the train. Eurostar
is targeting business travellers, claiming better punctuality that the airlines.
Journeys can be much quicker if the time saved getting to and from the airports
is taken into account. Check-in, security and passport control tend to be
quicker too. Eurostar is about to introduce dedicated business traveller
compartments, stating
We have done lots of research, talking to business travellers and finding out
what annoys them and what they want. They particularly dislike noisy children
when they are trying to work or any distraction that stops them concentrating or
adds to their stress levels. We are investing in changes by splitting
first class into leisure travel and business travel. Often a business
traveller wants business class on the way out and leisure on the way back. They
want a quick breakfast, water and orange juice and silence on the way out to
their meetings but on the way back they like to unwind and chat over a glass of
wine.
Wi-Fi technology onboard will enable
business travellers to send and receive emails throughout the journey - except
for the time in the tunnel. Wi-Fi internet access is already available in
Eurostar's Waterloo International terminal in London, at Ashford INternational
Station and at Gare Du Nord, Paris.
Frequent travellers recommend taking cotton
shirts, underwear and socks, particularly if travelling to hot countries rather
than artificial fabrics that add to he feeling of being overheated. Others
take a wallet specifically for travel documents. If travel documents are always
kept together this helps prevent that hideous moment at the airport when the
realisation dawns that your passport is in the drawer at home or left in the
hotel safe.
Those who are especially well organised recommend
a co-ordinated wardrobe so that packing can be kept to a minimum.
Some 16 percent of complaints to UK airlines are
about missing baggage. Remember to put a card with your name and telephone
number inside your baggage so that it can be traced more easily if the airline
tag and your own exterior tag comes off.
Tipping can be expensive problem when you first
arrive at a country if all your cash is in high-denomination notes.
Remember to ask for some lower denomination notes so you have small change for
porters and taxi drivers.
Although global travel may seem glamorous to the
outsider, frequent flights and trips away from home can be exhausting and
wearing. However some forethought and forward planning can make the going a
little easier.
Useful Websites
Find the cheapest flight
The site’s new flight
checker automatically searches the pricelists for four of the budget
airlines to find the cheapest flight on a particular route within a set
timeframe – so as well as finding the best price you’ll also find the cheapest
time to travel.
Checkout the best seats
www.seatguru.com
A very useful bookmark for frequent flyers: Seat Guru describes itself as
your enlightened guide to airline seating. The site carries detailed
annotated seating plans for 25 different airlines. Just select the airline
you're flying with and the model of the plane to find out which seats have extra
legroom, which ones recline the furthest and which ones have the best views of
the in-flight movies!
Free Service to keep track of
your luggage. www.pi-tag.com
This site offers a free and secure service to help you tag anything from luggage
to keys, laptops and even pets. You’re allocated a unique number which is linked
to your contact details. If you lose a tagged item, then the finder can contact
you via the site, but (if you choose) your contact details stay secret.
UK & Worldwide independent hotel
booking service
www.houseofusher.co.uk
Tel: 01788 520970 Email : enquiries@houseofusher.co.uk
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