He Found A Cheaper Travel Option With More Luggage — HR Refused It And Spent More Anyway
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Travel rules can get expensive if not managed properly. This policy bans domestic business trips. So when work still needs getting done, one employee follows that policy literally.
The workaround gets international.
See why the travel budget takes a detour.
No domestic business travel!
I was sent on a long-duration business trip for 4 months.
With a large international leg and then a lot of 2 to 3-hour domestic flights to visit various satellite offices.
While booking this, the firm travel agency originally booked the entire trip as business class.
Only for HR to torpedo this with, “Firm policy is all domestic travel be economy.”
This man was told to follow the policy.
I pointed out I would have 4 months of luggage with me for this trip.
It was likely the excess bag fees would vastly outweigh the cost of upgrading my ticket to business class.
Rather than flying domestic.
But I was told there were no exceptions, and the firm would cover any excess baggage fees.
So, instead of spending $900 for an upgrade, the company paid $1800 for excess baggage.
It was $900 to upgrade my ticket to business class.
It worked out to around $300 per flight in excess bag fees, with 9 domestic flights in total.
I could have flown in a much more comfortable seat, and saved the business $1800.
But hey, policy is policy, right?
Let’s check out the comments from other people on this story.
This user shares their personal experience.
Short and straightforward.
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Here’s an honest opinion from this one.
This user has a serious question.
And finally, this one makes a valid point.
The company banned domestic business travel, so OP followed the rule by routing necessary trips through international destinations instead.
That kept the work moving while turning a cost-cutting policy into a much more expensive travel plan.
They banned domestic travel and accidentally upgraded the itinerary.
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