The majority of travel departments/managers are only empowered, authorized or capable of looking at travel management from a cost perspective exclusively. However, 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, productivity and safety.  When such a wider and more comprehensive perspective is engaged, most organizations will discover that business class flights are in reality much cheaper than economy class for the majority of their executives and traveling talent.

1. Tony Ridley
Corporate Security Executive
Business class is cheaper than economy: whole-of-journey travel risk management
The majority of travel departments/managers are only empowered, authorized or capable
of looking at travel management from a cost perspective exclusively. However, 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, productivity and safety. When such a wider
and more comprehensive perspective is engaged, most organizations will discover that
business class flights are in reality much cheaper than economy class for the majority of
their executives and traveling talent.
Consider a short-haul flight of under four hours. For an executive this will typically translate
to an eight-hour working day. If traveling in economy class they 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 earlier than their business class counterparts. Without
such privileges, the time required 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 travelers. The traveller in economy will now be left to fend for themselves in the
public seating/WiFi/meals environment of economy class travel. Boarding time will be
lengthened and carry-on luggage will be reduced which again 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. Not to mention, when corners have been cut,
everyone within proximity of a business laptop user can often see the entire content and
context of business presentations, e-mails, discussions and intellectual property. The
arrival stage will also entail longer immigration processing times, time lost awaiting
baggage and jostling within the bulk of the flights travelers. If after all this, on a short-haul
flight you expect the traveller to bring their A game or deliver pivotal business results, you
should prepare yourself for disappointment now.
Conversely, a journey that has been considered in a whole of risk manner will play out
significantly different. First, the traveller will have the time and flight best suited to the work
productivity objectives and reduced commute, check-in and processing times. Utilization of
the business lounge will ensure productivity and access to information and systems prior
before departure. Overall fatigue and affect on the individual will also be reduced. Whilst
not entirely risk free, the threat to personal belongings, company information or other
valuables will 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 claim much faster, leaving only the commute
from the airport to the place of business. 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 or even
thousands of dollars between economy class and business class travel is often much
cheaper than the thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of business productivity, time
and dollars at risk. However, the functional heads responsible for cost, productivity and
safety are all typically measured and evaluated on cost containment rather than
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2. Tony Ridley
Corporate Security Executive
profitability or maximized earnings of their senior executives. All of these elements are
significantly amplified in developed or developing countries. When the entire journey is
constructed along whole-of-journey travel risk management lines thousands or even
millions of dollars in opportune business can be preserved while appropriate expenditure
managed. Reduction or 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 executive 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 thousands 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 institutions 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 competitive 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 risk
management exists at present in every company. The only limitation is that few 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 find that simple and efficient
adaptation of such processes like the use of business class travel versus economy class
travel could potentially unlock thousands of 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 disruptions and safety issues.
The question promotes then is not “Is business class is cheaper than economy?” but
more a case of “Can you accurately prove that itʼs not?”
Word Count:965
Tony Ridley
http://sg.linkedin.com/in/tonyridley
http://tonyridley.wordpress.com/
11 Apr 2010
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