When the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down European air space this past April, it stranded more than 10 million travelers across the globe. As travel management professionals know all too well, it was their company’s responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations during the crises for their business travelers, as well as a safe return home. While most companies worked hard to live up to this responsibility, doing so came at a cost, according to a recent online poll of travel buyers and suppliers conducted by AirPlus International.

With the advantage of hindsight, however, many companies are revising policy and process to reduce the impact of future transportation crises on their travel programs.
Eyjafjallajokull crippled the operations of European airlines, as well as intercontinental flights originating in countries from the United States to South Africa to Thailand. Nearly 100,000 flights were cancelled during the height of the crisis, costing airlines more than US$2 billion. As the volcano continued to choke up ash into May, pockets of additional cancellations and delays rippled through the European airways. The full impact of the eruption on the airlines has yet to be calculated – and the same is likely for the companies whose business meetings were cancelled or postponed.

More than 73 percent of the companies surveyed by AirPlus indicated their travelers or travel management program was affected in some way by the eruption. The majority of respondents indicated that extra travel expenses incurred by stranded business travelers had a significant impact on their travel programs. While additional costs may have been the most widespread concern, respondents revealed several others.

Communication is key during a crisis and, thanks to technology, most survey respondents (nearly 88 percent) cited adequate communications with grounded travelers. Cell phones proved essential to the effort, with 28 percent of survey respondents indicating they were the most effective method of communication. The company email address was the other essential tool, and with 70 percent business travelers now carrying smartphones, receipt of these messages was likely supported by this type of mobile device.

Still, nearly one-third of survey respondents indicated they wanted to make sure their communications plan during a crisis is more clearly defined and easier to execute. They will be revising their communications policies and procedures in response to the weaknesses in their travel programs.

Download the free PDF for full survey results.
AirPlus…The Wire July 2010 (PDF, 250 KB)

Additional Resources:

Air Industry Experts Discuss Volcanic Ash Lessons

Europe Easing Air Restrictions

The Days the Earth Stood Still

Due to the closing-off of airspace following the volcano eruption in Iceland, European business travelers have mainly resorted to the railways. At the peak of the crisis at the beginning of this week, the number of booked train tickets was fifty percent above regular volumes. These days, cancellations of flight tickets due to airport closings have risen tenfold in comparison to the average. However, the temporary closings had virtually no impact on general flight-ticket booking behavior. It appears that business travelers in Europe do not allow the current interruptions to air traffic to affect their future travel plans. On average, business flights are booked 17 days in advance.

The AirPlus Business Travel Index is based on the evaluation of more than 100 million business-travel bookings per year carried out by over 33,000 companies worldwide.

Very few business travelers use Business Class for short business trips. Only three percent of all business travelers consistently and regularly use the travel class created specially for them. This is the result of the current AirPlus survey: “Do you also fly Business Class on short trips?”. Especially interesting is the response that 70% never fly Business Class! And circa one-quarter of business travelers use Business Class only when a short trip is considered to be “especially important”.

Readers of this blog had the opportunity to vote for circa two months. A new survey is now being held on the right-hand side under the headline ‘Poll’. You find the overview of all polls here:
http://www.airpluscommunity.com/pollarchive/

An online survey of travel management professionals conducted last month by AirPlus International revealed a connection between personal and professional use of social media sites. While more than 71 percent of respondents indicated that they personally participate in a social media platform and/or blog community, it’s encouraging to report that slightly more than 65 percent said that these sites could or already have added value to their business.

According to Nielsen’s “Global Faces and Networked Places” study released in March, 67 percent of Web users around the world are plugged into at least one social networking or blog site and one out of every 11 minutes spent online is dedicated to use of new media. Perhaps surprisingly, the fastest growing user group for new media sites as a whole is the 35 to 49 year olds, business travelers among them.

For more results, click here:

Airplus…The Wire May 2009 (PDF, 225KB)

Additional resources:
10 Social Media Travel Tools – Harvard Business Publishing
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/03/10_social_media_travel_tools.html

Business Travel Hooks Onto Web – gulfnews.com
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/09/04/29/10308554.htm

Social Networking’s New Global Footprint* — Nielsen Wire
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/nielsen-news/social-networking-new-global-footprint/

Berlin is worth the (business) trip. Just like London or Moscow. These three cities are the “winners” on the list of German, European and international destinations for business travelers from Germany. AirPlus Deutschland’s current statistics on the top 5 travel destinations in 2008, however, show that these metropolises have maintained their first place on the winner’s podium in some instances by only a hair’s-breadth.  The list of most-visited cities in Germany has the Bavarian capital Munich, with 19.37%, just a whisker behind the federal capital city of Berlin, with 19.42%. Hamburg is in third place with around 12%, followed by Dusseldorf, Cologne and Frankfurt.

The table of the most-visited European destinations has London at the top (almost 9.5%), then Vienna and Paris (each around 8%). After that come Zurich and Milan.

The most-visited international cities for German business travelers are, after Moscow (9%), Shanghai (5%) and New York (4.5%). Tokyo and Beijing follow with around 4 percent. A dramatic decline in economic pull was shown for cities such as Bombay, Budapest and Dubai: according to a study by the VDR (the German Business Travel Association), just two years ago these cities were tipped by German travel managers to be those that would gain the most importance in international comparisons.

8.8 x 5.4 cm: those are the exact measurements of a credit card. Its small size offers not only an easy target for thieves, but it’s also generally a symbol of the tremendous convenience made possible by cashless payments. For it’s not without reason that every year in Europe alone around 17 trillion euros worth of transactions are made in the private and public sector;  MasterCard and VISA credit cards are accepted at over 25 million different sales locations around the world. And if you do happen to need cash, over 900,000 ATMs are available to make a withdrawal.

But your flat little friend offers even more advantages: when you use it, you in effect receive an interest-free loan between the time of purchasing your item and the balancing of the credit. In addition, credit card users are often offered special services. Above all, though, the credit card offers a relatively high amount of security, since the liability is generally limited to 50 euros.

Nevertheless, you should pay attention when someone handles your card. Keep an eye on the person who books your payment and make sure a total is entered before you sign your bill. Hold on to your credit card receipts on your trip and compare your purchases later with your monthly statement. If there are any inconsistencies, you can still stop a payment at your credit card company within four weeks of receiving your statement. Before a trip, make sure to note down your credit card number and the number to call your credit card company (this is often printed on the card) and keep them in a separate place from where you keep your card. If your card is lost or stolen, you can then inform the credit card company immediately. Naturally it goes without saying that you should also keep your PIN in a separate location, and never write it on the card itself – also, do make sure to sign the back of the card immediately when you first receive it.

If you note these few security measures, you’ll be so thrilled at the simple use and high flexibility a card can offer when paying in foreign currencies that you can stop carrying large amounts of cash and still have a guarantee that you always have enough money on you. You can therefore avoid the embarrassment that Frank McNamara, an American, experienced when he noticed at a dinner in 1950 that he had forgotten his wallet and had to borrow money from a woman who happened to be at his table. In order to make sure this never happened again, he founded the world’s first credit card company – the “Diners Club”.

To optimize your business workflows in today’s global economy as well as to act quickly and efficiently, global travel management is essential for your company.

Based on your company structure and corporate culture, a standardized framework should be developed that can provide enough room for regional and cultural distinctions.

Standardizing travel guidelines not only increases your company’s efficiency, but is also important for ensuring equal treatment of employees, maintaining their safety during business trips as well as upholding your Corporate Social Responsibility.

Travel managers should not rely only on their own typical, country-specific workflows. Open-mindedness and an awareness of habits and needs in other countries is important. Get to know these regional distinctions, respect them and integrate them into your framework.

Local employees can help overcome the barriers that foreign languages and cultures evoke. Such employees, together with their local networks, can support your global travel management activities and make them more effective and efficient.

Think globally – act locally!

When cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first entered the spacecraft in which he would be the first man to fly around the earth forty years ago, he took off his shoes. Why? Out of “respect” and “courtesy” before the trip. When one enters an airplane today, one does not need to follow the example of the famous cosmonaut, but there are still some rules that make flying more enjoyable for all passengers. The most important: speak to your neighbors for a few moments!

A good example is the often daily “struggle” concerning who gets the armrest. Is it reserved for the person who has taken the usually thankless position in the middle? Most guides suggest this – after all, those with window and aisle seats have more “wiggle room”. “Still, it would be nonsense to insist on this,” says Andrea Sydow, editor of the German-language portal on etiquette, knigge.de. It’s better to make quick contact with one’s neighbors. One can usually find a way to agree.

Generally, a short greeting after boarding should be exchanged with one’s neighbors. After all, the traveler will spend a number of hours sitting next to them. But “next to each other” does not mean “with each other”. It is neither impolite not to converse with them, nor is one obligated to do so. Tip: open your book or magazine or close your eyes to rest if you have no interest in hearing your neighbor’s life story.

Exaggerated hurry is neither appropriate when entering nor when leaving the aircraft. “There are never more boarding cards handed out than there are seats on the machine. Pushing people aside or going out of turn during boarding is simply not proper,” emphasizes Sydow. And when you leave an airplane, the rule is that those next to the door should always be allowed to exit first. Handicapped persons do not necessarily have to go first. They are often picked up when there is more space in the machine, i.e. after most passengers have already left. Take the time to ask!

When you stand up after the machine lands, but above all, during the flight, you should pay attention to the passengers in front of and behind you. Never pull yourself up on the seat in front of you and then let go of it just like that. In addition to the headrest, you might even end up with a handful of hair. You also run the risk of pushing the person in front of you – and perhaps his or her coffee cup – a few centimeters to the front. This is also why you should not just bounce down on your seat, and – if at all possible – should only change your backrest after previous eye contact. The passenger behind you will thank you.