Bombshell (for me) - New travel policy

[Alanslegal]

In my case I get involved in the development of overseas metallurgical projects. I love my job and the travel simply goes with it. However I expect to get something back to compensate for taking me away from my family.

A bigger year end bonus I hope.

 

[Baysider]

New travel policy had a maximum of whY+, and only receipted expenses (and a specific disclaimer stating you couldn't claim alcohol, so no glass of wine with dinner whilst overseas).

I always presented just the credit card receipt with my expense claim - restaurant name and total cost only.

... and don't get me started on the ancillary costs involved in long haul travel that has to be born by the employees (travel insurance, luggage etc).

Not to mention having to pay someone to mow lawns etc if you are away more than a couple of weeks !

 

[Fantic125]

I will get flamed here but if people feel like that travelling for work inconveniences them, impacts their family, personal, social life then why choose to have a job that involves travel.

Not flaming, but my role evolved into one that requires reasonable amounts of travel.

I enjoy working for the company, I enjoy the people I work with (local and international), and I don't believe it would be easy to find another job locally that would be as stimulating as this one.

I see the lounge access and FF points as some degree of compensation of the impact on my family, as I can use these benefits either by using them for flights for holidays, or items from the FF store. If these benefits were taken away from me, then I would need to reassess the amount of travel done to strike a better work/life balance.

 

[moa999]

SeatBackForward - private company or govt....

Government as I understand is No points, but still SCs...

If private company -- name and shame... this needs to be stopped.

 

[Blinky]

I sympathise with the OP. FF Points and SCs are fair compensation to the flyer in my view. As others have said, it's usually easy to organise travel so that DJ is the lowest fare (not counting Tiger, which my company won't use). It's not specifically in our travel policy, but there's the "expectation" that most of the travel will be in our own time so that we have a more or less full day at our destination. I happily comply with this, but if points are SC were taken away, I wouldn't be stepping on a plane before our normal starting time of 8.40am. Thankfully this will not happen because the decision makers like me are major beneficiaries of FF points.

 

[blackcat20]

This is what I mean by "I think if a Business can afford to send you overseas then they can afford to send you J or at very least Y+"

I can understand small businesses etc sending employees in Y, but Big business have no excuse, (there are some exceptions to this).

Where I work, even long haul flights are done in Y, but we are a research institute, so money comes out of your grant and anything more than Y can't be justified. Luckily it's not me doing the travelling! However, points/SC are earnt, but lounge membership cannot be paid for with cash, only points.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Take that away and I'll fly later in the day there and leave much earlier to come home. Simple.. there is give and take. I'm betting their new corp fare isn't that much cheaper without the points and SC's..

This is my sentiment exactly. The company see the saved $, but they can't measure the lost productivity, well not immediately at least.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I sympathise with the OP. FF Points and SCs are fair compensation to the flyer in my view. As others have said, it's usually easy to organise travel so that DJ is the lowest fare (not counting Tiger, which my company won't use). It's not specifically in our travel policy, but there's the "expectation" that most of the travel will be in our own time so that we have a more or less full day at our destination. I happily comply with this, but if points are SC were taken away, I wouldn't be stepping on a plane before our normal starting time of 8.40am. Thankfully this will not happen because the decision makers like me are major beneficiaries of FF points.

Precisely, I was happy to do the long hours and maximise time at destination because I was getting some "additional" benefit for it. With that removed, what incentive is there for me?

 

[SeatBackForward]

SeatBackForward - private company or govt....

Government as I understand is No points, but still SCs...

If private company -- name and shame... this needs to be stopped.

Private Australian owned company, I wont name them however.

 

[haydensydney]

Our travel policy states:

Employees can retain Frequent Flyer points earned on business travel for personal use. This is considered as fair exchange for travelling on personal time outside of normal business hours.

Which is nice of them.... or is it? If I were to do a typical SYD-MEL-SYD "one dayer", I might be up at 4:30am and won't get back home until 9pm. Does this mean that my employer values my 8 hours out of pocket personal time as a mere 2000 QF points and a measly sum of status credits? Please.... thankfully I don't need to travel that often.

 

[11sjw]

Another example of a dud travel/expense policy engendering a "work to rule" mentality. The short sightedness of some companies is remarkably bewildering.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I note some comments have been made along the lines of "If travel is part of the job".. I should clarify that my position doesn't specifically mention travel, but does say additional hours may be required etc..

Question for those whose roles specify that travel is required - is there a renumeration component attached to this specifc item? So if you were to agree to doing less travel, would the renumeration be adjusted to reflect this?

 

[Canny man]

I run an international business which is part of a listed co. Our policy allows J for international and BFOD for Dom with full SC's and FF points according to the fare. Our parent gets a pretty good rebate from QF without sacrificing the points.
We do however sacrifice points on company amexes and car rental through our company discounts.
I can live with this but often think that the compensation for more travel shouldnt be the opportunity for even more via FF spend....

 

[777]

I noticed you are SYD based, Where is most of your travel to?

I really meant that as a joke. If one carrier is offering points and status credits and the other isn't surely you can find ways to book them.

As for me, i'm actually based in Mel. Most of flying has been MEL-SYD and back but probably elsewhere in the country (BNE, NTL, ADL, and OOL are all places i've been to in the last couple of months). As a general rule I find Virgin is generally cheaper for my needs than QF but i have status with Virgin so tend to book them unless the difference is outrageous.

 

[Blinky]

Our travel policy states:



Which is nice of them.... or is it? If I were to do a typical SYD-MEL-SYD "one dayer", I might be up at 4:30am and won't get back home until 9pm. Does this mean that my employer values my 8 hours out of pocket personal time as a mere 2000 QF points and a measly sum of status credits? Please.... thankfully I don't need to travel that often.

I do plenty of one-dayers to Sydney, and will be rising at 4.30am next Tuesday. A great thing about DJ is the fly forward entitlement for Golds and above. I can usually finish my business before the end of the day and get home at a reasonable time.

 

[simongr]

I have had two jobs with significant (by normal standards) travel. Neither specified any part of the remuneration being compensation for being away from home. The job specified an amount of travel plus additional hours where necessary. I basically assume when taking a job that specifies travel that there will be up to 100% more travel than specified. My current role specified occasional trips to Melbourne - I now go almost weekly. It is all part of the assessment I make when considering how much I enjoy working where I am.

If they moved to whY for int'l travel I would not take on any more overseas responsibility. It is already whY for DOM travel so it is only the hotels that are in question...

 

[777]

I will get flamed here but if people feel like that travelling for work inconveniences them, impacts their family, personal, social life then why choose to have a job that involves travel.

If only it were that simple.

 

[777]

I do plenty of one-dayers to Sydney, and will be rising at 4.30am next Tuesday. A great thing about DJ is the fly forward entitlement for Golds and above. I can usually finish my business before the end of the day and get home at a reasonable time.

Indeed this is simply the best benefit around if you fly SYD-MEL a lot. I regularly book a cheap ticket on one of the last flights home and it saves me a fortune.

 

[simongr]

I never have a problem changing flights if there are seats on the aircraft (QF) - I rarely remove so I dont end up going from 4C to 37Q.

 

[nlagalle]

I do plenty of one-dayers to Sydney, and will be rising at 4.30am next Tuesday. A great thing about DJ is the fly forward entitlement for Golds and above. I can usually finish my business before the end of the day and get home at a reasonable time.

I've never had an issue getting an earlier flight on QF coming home from SYD. in fact they offer it nearly every time i go to the lounge. I have been knocked back on VA before (as have other people i know), so it isn't a sure fire thing.