Is there anyone out there that is allowed to book the most premier seat available when flying for work?

I work for a travel management company (i.e. travel agent, but on behalf of other companies, booking business travel only).

Out of the clients I look after, most have a travel policy where the only people permitted to book first or business class seats are senior management or higher, while the majority of employees are only permitted standard economy, or maybe premium if the flight is over 6-8 hours. Bear in mind, I personally only look after travel for approx. 12 companies, so it is a small sample!

For most of the travellers I look after that are permitted business class or above, they travel so often the novelty/luxury has definitely worn off. Some of my clients are flying business class on long-haul flights multiple times a month, and have done for years. Mostly they care more about things like avoiding routes they know are often delayed or airlines that make a lot of schedule changes, connection length, arriving on time for meetings, getting re-booked quickly if there's a delay or cancellation, etc.

Doesn't really answer your question because I'm an independent contractor, but my Deal Memo says Premium Economy on anything over 3 hours and Business on anything over 6 hours. That's dependent on airline availability of course, I go to lots of places on smaller airlines that only have one seating class.

If you travel a lot the higher class fares totally save you.

Happy travels.

my company allows me to book anything as long as it’s under the budget. it’s about 75% of the time the budget is enough for business/first.

if the flight is over 8 hours i can book business or first doesn’t matter the cost

I used to work on a trading desk at a large global investment bank (one of Goldman/JPM/Citi/BAML) and even my Managing Directors (like heads of regional trading, but not C-suite yet) were still "only" flying in J. No F.

I fly first across the Atlantic because I typically land, shower, have my suit pressed and go to meetings, so it makes business sense.

I just wished mine allowed for seat selection. Up until this past year, a few bucks to make sure you didn't get stuck in a middle seat was okay. Then suddenly it was "on your own dime".

My previous company (small financial services firm) would allow me to fly highest cabin on all flights on the basis it gave me the room to work if I needed it. Anything I ever needed to do inflight could be done on my phone, I’d just do “laptop work” in the lounge before the flight.

I only ever needed to fly relatively short distances (nothing more than 1000 miles) but even on 200 mile flights I’d book the front cabin.

Longhaul Business Class has improved so much in the last 20yrs or so that I’d be surprised if many companies routinely required run of the mill employees to fly longhaul first class as opposed to just business class. My own employer (Fortune 50 bank) puts all employees in business class on international flights. First is specifically prohibited though I’ve paid to upgrade myself before and that’s allowed.

I know a lot of people that fly all the time, and usually their company allows business, and then their status gets them upgrades to first.

I flew enough that I’ve been upgrade about 33% of the time now. But one of my friends flew something like 400k miles/yr (bouncing all over the world weekly) and I’m sure he gets upgrade on almost every flight.

I try everytime and it motivates them to find cheaper 😂

Can fly business not first anything more than 6 hours.

Novelty definitely wears off and I’m more interested in maximizing points than anything else 

I used to work for a major oil company, and anything over about 4 hours was first or business. They also paid waaaaay less than market price for the tickets.

I know of an individual who travels a ton to central Asia and Africa from Colombia, and they pay for first class. Pretty much flies to Frankfurt, sits in a hot tub with his rubber ducky, then heads to the middle of nowhere.

It was almost 20 years ago now, but when I worked for a development nonprofit on projects for Africa we could either do a layover (in Europe - super pricey) or could book business class but no layover. It was because we were expected to work the day we landed (if early) or the next day (if late arrival).

I was a 23/24 yo program assistant and my tolerance for long haul economy was fucked very early lol. Took another 10-12 years, a graduate degree, and 150k student loans before I was earning enough to consider it on my own dime 😂

My spouse regularly travels for work. In fact he's currently flying back. It was awful flying there and the return was barely an improvement due to the heavy T-storms.

He's not top echelon, but he's upper management. If he's lucky, he gets economy plus seats. I feel bad for him constantly cramped, yet still needing to work during the flight. There's no policies for better seating w more flight hours, nor international flights. It is what it is.

I think when someone is working at that level, they are too busy and/or tired to care.

C Suite scum bags can book first class, the hoi polloi that actually do the work should be happy with basic economy.

I try everytime and it motivates them to find cheaper 😂