Business Travel Tips

A new airfare shopping mobile app has been launched for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch.
The app, OnTheFly by ITA Software, Inc., offers the powerful comparison shopping features used by many travel companies and by ITA’s Matrix airfare search application at http://matrix.itasoftware.com.

OnTheFly enables users to easily shop for optimal airfares for any itinerary in the world and provides comprehensive choices to tailor the search and shopping experience.

Travelers can download the shopping-only version for iPhone and iPod touch for free from the App Store.

ITA Software is planning to launch mobile applications for BlackBerry and Android platforms later in 2010.

Most of corporate travel managers lament that they have no idea what the real cost of airplane tickets is going to be when booking air travel.

The New York Times writes that the extra fees that managed travel systems generally do not show when companies buy airline tickets, can increase the cost of a flight 25 percent or even far more.

“Companies negotiate overall discounts annually with various airlines but then use managed travel systems, which work with huge reservation systems called global distribution systems, to book the tickets. Those systems generally show the fares but not all the extra fees for various services like checked bags […] Fees do add up. In the first quarter of this year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the Transportation Department, airlines took in $768 million in fees for checked bags alone.”

The New York Times says that the Business Travel Coalition plans to testify before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subcommittee to emphasize that travel managers want federal regulations to force airlines to become more open about fees on all reservations systems, not just their own Web sites.

Travel management company Egencia issued its 2010 Corporate Travel Global Benchmarking Study.
The study analyzed business travel trends for air, hotel and car rental, focusing on top domestic and international business destinations in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Average Ticket Prices (ATPs)

- North America

The chart below illustrates Q1 YoY ATP figures in selected business travel
destinations for North American points of sale.

    North America
     POS               ATP Change YoY   Montreal       11%
    -------------      --------------
    Atlanta                          5%       New York       10%
    Boston                           9%       Paris          17%
    Calgary                         13%      Philadelphia   16%
    Chicago                        15%      Phoenix        15%
    Dallas                           15%      San Diego      12%
    Denver                          5%      San Francisco  14%
    Hong Kong                      13%     Seattle        17%
    Houston                         11%     Tokyo          -2%
    London                          25% Toronto        17%
    Los Angeles                     11% Vancouver      12%
    Minneapolis                      7% Washington DC   3%
                                        ------------- ---
    *Reflected in local currency

- Europe

The chart below

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American Express Business Travel is making available an interactive scorecard to measure travel program effectiveness. The tool gives companies an opportunity to measure how prepared they are with adjustments made during the recession and in the face of travel demand coming back.

Anyone responsible for oversight or management of travel can use this scorecard available at americanexpress.com/newnormalquiz.

A series of questions are asked related to travel, including demand management strategies, compliance practices, technology implementation, and data integration.

Throughout the experience, users are provided tangible advice and tips from American Express consultants, strategic program managers, and business travel executives. Users will be informed on how they fare in comparison to others who answered similar questions in a survey showing attitudes and actions companies took to scale-back travel and plan for the future, conducted in tandem with the initiative.
The survey findings were released in a new eXpert insights report: “Managing Travel in the New Normal”.

The survey polled 169 respondents across more than 30 industries, who are directly involved in managing corporate travel policies and budgets, with offices in North America, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Central/South America and/or Africa/Middle East. (source)

According to a survey conducted by the National Business Travel Association in August, 21% of corporate travel managers said environmental practices are important in choosing a travel company — up from 16% a year earlier — USA Today reports.

Big companies and states are increasingly steering their travel business to hotels that meet “green” environmental standards.

The newspaper cites a few examples.

- Florida, New York, and California certify “green” hotels and urge state employees to consider staying in them whenever possible.

- Tech giant Oracle, accounting firm KPMG and the American Institute of Architects are among companies or organizations that check hotels’ green practices before they sign contracts.

- Major cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York, are pushing local hotels to take environmentally sustainable steps to gain a competitive edge in attracting conventions.

Linda Chipperfield of Green Seal, one of the better-known groups that certify environmental practice, explains the trend: “Corporations want to be able to say, ‘This is what we’re doing.’ They can put it in their annual reports,” And hotels understand the trend, as the number of hotels certified for environmental practices is expected to double by spring. (source)