Do you fly Premium Economy or Business for work?

[certica]

I have a work trip soon to New York. Day flight out, night flight back. I'm junior so my flight is in Premium Economy. My manager is coming and she is in Business class.

Just wondered if this is normal? For leisure trips I only fly Business.

My company books premium economy for day flights, business for overnight flights (irrespective of the actual length of the flight).

I think the C suite get business both ways though, even though it's a massive waste of money!

Economy if 4 hr or under - business if over 4 hours That applies to everyone in the company. (there are some grey areas if flights are 4hr 15mins)

The company I work for, well, I’ve just quit, moved to economy for day flights and premium economy for night flights. You could however choose to upgrade your flight via salary sacrifice.

Economy only. I sometimes pay for my own upgrade. I do refuse to do overnight flights for work ; I can never sleep and it leaves me wrecked for days. I could do it when I was younger- there were a few instances of getting off the plane from New York and going straight to the office- but not now.

I was only allowed to fly Business for long haul to the Far East.When we were allowed to book for ourselves we got good deals but then a travel firm was given the contract.

Yes my company absolutely would.

We have a non-direct route in business that is usually a similar or sometimes cheaper then BA direct Ecom / Pre-Ecom, we allow people to choose that option regularly.

I'm in the UK. Cattle class for 'short hops' (London-Paris, Glasgow-Barcelona etc), premium economy for medium haul, business for long haul (NY, Sydney, Hong Kong etc).

Covers all levels, no distinction for seniority (although perhaps some of the very high-up EDs get 1st class?!).

It all depends on timing and business need - flying to the Middle East on a Saturday and being expected to be client facing 8 hours after getting off the flight on a Sunday - would be business class and the client would pay. Travelling by train in the UK with no seats - upgrading to First Class so you could have a seat and work - that would be fine too. Internal UK flights would be economy. Really goes on business need - we'd be unlikely to fly a junior half way across the world - it just doesn't happen anymore. We wouldn't send one team member Business and the other Premier Economy - unless there was quite a few travelling - seems a bit polarising.

For work:

If travelling internationally I fly economy out and premium economy back.

When flying in the UK I fly economy but sometimes pay to upgrade myself.

I have done a lot of travel as I worked for multinational financial services for many years. One company, fortunately the one I was with the longest, always paid or business class, I even got business class to Manchester once, but I usually was travelling to either New York or Zurich.

That said, I have come across other, also multinationals, that are not as generous. When I was in my first ever job, I travelled to Ireland, Denmark, Spain and to South America, all in economy but I was only about 24 then and it was so exciting to travel, I didn’t mind so much although the South America trip was a slog. I also lived in Australia for a while and flew domestically a lot, that was always in economy and only C suite went business.

I don’t have a job that entails travel any more, but if I did, I would refuse unless I was in business. I am 53 now and I only travel business in my leisure time so I am not going to downgrade for work.

Our directors all fly economy even our C Suite ones. They also take the train to black tie events. They may get extra leg room and speedy boarding but they have to slum it with the rest of us and it actually makes them more approachable.

I fly economy to the states unless it is overnight. All our travel sued to be business class - but efficiency cuts put an end to this. It doesn’t really bother me. We get access to business class lounges and priority boarding usually. Premium parking etc.

I know colleagues who always seem to develop a bad back when asked to fly and insist they can only cope of they are business class!

We have an algorithmically determined cap for travel (which they always remind us is a cap, not a target) and I book the best fare class I can within that budget. Work travel has been hugely reduced since the pandemic though, to cut costs, but when I do need to travel, usually transatlantically, I'm grateful for the usually generous cap.

We have a few of these ‘bad backs’ too. Although they manage to ride horses their spare time and cope with a sizeable commute in the car!

Top of the company- first class
Management - business 6hrs+, economy otherwise
Staff - economy regardless

Economy or premium up to a certain distance - then business over that. I just flew delta first back from LA and it was amazing!

Sounds pretty normal to me.

I once came across an employer that flew employees business class if they were going to Europe, economy if they were going further afield - the opposite of what you would expect. I suspect this was a policy written by accountants!

A previous work colleague was once booked to fly back economy after a business trip to the USA. The plane was overbooked in economy, so the airline upgraded him to First Class. He found himself sitting next to Sean Connery.

Under 7 hrs, economy.
Over 7 hours, business.
If low grade (entitled to overtime) on a business flight you could choose to downgrade, and take half the difference in cash.
No, you wouldn't be allowed to take a flight that took longer, as you would either be claiming OT or TOIL.

Over 6 hours business otherwise economy for all levels