The majority of travel departments/managers are only empowered, authorized or ca

pable of looking at travel management from a cost perspective exclusively. Howev

er, to truly ensure that the process of travel is efficient, profitable and safe
; a much wider focus is required-predominantly in the areas of cost, productivit
y and safety. When such a wider and more comprehensive perspective is engaged, m
ost organizations will discover that business class flights are in reality much
cheaper than economy class for the majority of their executives and traveling ta
lent.
Consider a short-haul flight of under four hours. For an executive this will typ
ically translate to an eight-hour working day. If traveling in economy class the
y will typically need to be at the airport nearly 2 hours before departure. Even
with privileged frequent-flier status they will need to be checked in much earl
ier than their business class counterparts. Without such privileges, the time re
quired maybe even longer as check-in queues and airline efficiency lengthen and
decline respectively. The immigration processing will potentially be lengthened
also as many airlines now have preferential immigration processing of business t
ravelers. The traveller in economy will now be left to fend for themselves in th
e public seating/WiFi/meals environment of economy class travel.
Boarding time will be lengthened and carry-on luggage will be reduced which agai
n will have added to the overall pre-departure time. Regardless of the physical
size of the traveller, their work laptop, the airline or the seating space; very
few people get anything close to productive work conducted whilst in economy. N
ot to mention, when corners have been cut, everyone within proximity of a busine
ss laptop user can often see the entire content and context of business presenta
tions, e-mails, discussions and intellectual property. The arrival stage will al
so entail longer immigration processing times, time lost awaiting baggage and jo
stling within the bulk of the flights travelers. If after all this, on a short-h
aul flight you expect the traveller to bring their A game or deliver pivotal bus
iness results, you should prepare yourself for disappointment now.
Conversely, a journey that has been considered in a whole of risk manner will pl
ay out significantly different. First, the traveller will have the time and flig
ht best suited to the work productivity objectives and reduced commute, check-in
and processing times. Utilization of the business lounge will ensure productivi
ty and access to information and systems prior before departure. Overall fatigue
and affect on the individual will also be reduced. Whilst not entirely risk fre
e, the threat to personal belongings, company information or other valuables wil
l also be reduced. Productivity (best calculated by adding the per hour cost to
the company for the executive and the per hour revenue potential of the trip or
executive) will also be enhanced by a compact yet usable mobile workspace. Even
if the individual is not conducting work on a computer platform, the demands to
the individual are also diminished. It is also almost ensured that the executive
will hit the ground running and clear the aircraft, immigrations and baggage cl
aim much faster, leaving only the commute from the airport to the place of busin
ess. This streamlining and efficiency is also replicable for multiple travelers
or trips.
When analyzing all of these factors (even in a developed country) the hundreds o
r even thousands of dollars between economy class and business class travel is o
ften much cheaper than the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of business
productivity, time and dollars at risk. However, the functional heads responsib
le for cost, productivity and safety are all typically measured and evaluated on
cost containment rather than profitability or maximized earnings of their senio
r executives. All of these elements are significantly amplified in developed or
developing countries. When the entire journey is constructed along whole-of-jour
ney travel risk management lines thousands or even millions of dollars in opport
une business can be preserved while appropriate expenditure managed. Reduction o
r elimination of disruption and wastage can be easily achieved. When it comes to
 whole-of-journey travel risk management most companies are penny wise and pound
foolish. There is nothing more comical and economically tragic than a senior ex
ecutive or CEO traveling on a budget airline. While sitting in cheap seats being
nonproductive and paying five dollars for peanuts or drinks they are losing tho
usands of dollars or even millions in productivity or earnings for the sake of a
few bucks. In the wake of the financial crisis, some very savvy financial insti
tutions openly conveyed that they dare not reduce the privilege, risk or status
of their major wealth generation executives for fear of losing them to more comp
etitive or sophisticated banks or financial institutions. Why should this be any
different in the face of many other threats to talent and revenue?
The empirical data and evidence of enhanced productivity and efficient travel ri
sk management exists at present in every company. The only limitation is that fe
w are rewarded or supported in harvesting, processing and analysis of such data.
If companies and their respective leadership took the time to stop and analyze
such processes or even historical culture within the organization, they would fi
nd that simple and efficient adaptation of such processes like the use of busine
ss class travel versus economy class travel could potentially unlock thousands o
f hours of productivity and greater business competitiveness. This is certainly
the case in developed markets and significantly more acute in developing markets
where there is an accumulation of much greater threat, costs, threat disruption
s and safety issues.
The question then is not â Is business class is cheaper than economy?â but more a case o
â Can you accurately prove that itâ s not?â