Executive Travel : Business Travelers Air Their Biggest Peeves

Frequent travel yields frequent complaints.

Here’s a list of some of them, including from one man who says he’s on the road virtually every week of the year:

“The architects who designed hotels had one goal in mind--install as few electrical outlets as possible and hide those you do install. Well, for those of us who carry computers and who happen to iron our own clothes, we either risk major fires or long-term treatment by a chiropractor trying to get to the one unused outlet in a room . . . “

“If you’re in a hotel for more than a couple of days and happen to use the available dry-cleaning bags, you will have to write to Santa to get replacements. Moreover, housekeeping managers and hotel managers are always surprised and act as if this must have been a singular oversight in a field of perfection . . . “

“Whiplash--from the infrequent and/or insensitive traveler in the [airline] seat behind you. He or she believes that the seat in front was placed to be used to lower or hoist the traveler to and from his or her seat. This action usually comes as a surprise to the occupant of the seat ahead and often results in severe headaches . . . “

“Ice--getting a drink without ice is a major challenge” in the air and at restaurants.

To these we might add a personal favorite: hotel room desks adequate for signing the Treaty of Versailles but useless for work.

We have no suggestion for preventing twanged seat backs or winning ice-free drinks, but an extension cord packed with the laptop is almost standard hotel-room survival equipment these days. Fortunately, there are more business-friendly hotel and motel rooms showing up.

Another reader, who spent three hours sitting on a plane delayed because the flight crew was stranded by bad weather in another city, wonders why a replacement crew couldn’t have been sent earlier--especially since he overheard the backup crew that eventually appeared saying it only took them an hour to get to the airport.

The carriers have an ample supply of often valid reasons for late arrivals and departures--bad weather being one of the most legitimate. But this reader has a suggestion that might draw some attention.

“It would be nice if [the airlines] backed up their idiotic on-time claims with a meaningful guarantee. Why not hand out chits for frequent-flier miles--one mile for every two minutes the plane is late taking off, or some such formula?”

If not miles, he adds, maybe upgrades.

Another reader, complaining about the same problem, makes a simple plea for honesty. On a flight from Atlanta to Dallas-Fort Worth, weather delayed departure for more than an hour, he writes.

“Once the aircraft had arrived at our gate and [the passengers] deplaned, the agents at the gate, and then the cabin crew on board the aircraft, gave departure estimates that were completely insupportable, given the minimum turnaround time of even the small aircraft in use (an MD-88).

“Had the gate agents and cabin crew been upfront . . . there would have been some complaints initially, but the greater problem of rising tempers over time as the aircraft continued to sit at the gate would have been avoided.”

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Stingy corporate travel budgets appear to be forcing many travelers onto low-fare carriers that offer few frills, including frequent-travel programs.

That’s the view of Karen Goodwin, newly named editor of Frequent Flyer Magazine and a travel industry veteran.

If a company’s travel policy requires use of the cheapest flight in a market, she said, the traveler may wind up on one of the growing number of upstart airlines offering bargain fares.

Southwest Airlines is one of the few low-cost operators offering a reward program--in the form of free tickets on Southwest after a specified number of flights. But most other low-cost airlines do not offer any reward to frequent travelers, Goodwin said.

“These airlines are primarily aimed at leisure travelers, but more and more business travelers are using them for short hops,” she said.

Another trend, Goodwin said, is that some major airlines have been swapping jets for turboprops on certain routes--something that also puts a pinch on upgrades since there are fewer seats overall available on certain routes.

“In general, there’s a tightening of capacity. Planes are fuller and going to get fuller, so it might be harder to upgrade anyway,” she said.

She said some readers of her publication complain that turboprops don’t allow enough room to haul out a laptop and work in flight.

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Besides the business centers at hotels, some of which offer semi-private, office-like rooms, and airline clubs at major airports, it is also possible to rent an office in a various locations by the hour or day.

HQ Business Centers of San Francisco, which has more than 150 franchises in 14 countries offering mostly long-term office rentals, says part of its business also goes to in-and-out business travelers.

It has recently started to promote their availability through Uniglobe Travel offices, whose agents inform customers of the option.

David Vaughan, director of agency sales for Vancouver, Canada-based Uniglobe, said renting from HQ can be considerably more cost-effective than a city hotel, especially where something like a board room-style facility is involved and if the traveler is not spending the night at a hotel.

HQ says the fully equipped offices rent for $20 to $50 an hour, or $125 to $300 a day, and are available in a variety of urban and suburban locations.

The company says its long-term rental customers, which still account for the bulk of its business, also have ready availability to HQ centers in other cities when they travel, with up to eight hours of free out-of-town use per month.

HQ says franchises have recently opened in Hong Kong and Jakarta, Indonesia. All of the centers offer word processing, modem-data ports, faxing, desktop publishing, color copying and printing and similar services.

For the traveler who can use his or her hotel room as an office, however, things are getting better by the day.

A number of chains are upgrading facilities to make rooms work-friendly. Hilton, for instance, has been testing a concept it calls the Smart Desk. The test--under way since last year in New York, Atlanta, Washington and Chicago--has involved two systems. One is a full-blown Hewlett-Packard desktop computer with keyboard, color monitor, fax modem and a combined printer, fax and copying machine. It is fully loaded with appropriate software.

Do you have experiences about business travel you would like to share? Write Executive Travel, Business Editorial, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053. Or send e-mail to business@news.latimes.com.

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Busiest Airports

In 1995, O’Hare International Aiport served more passengers than any other airport in the world. Memphis, home of Federal Express, handled the most cargo. (Using figures from all airports within a city’s metropolitan area, London handles the most passengers and New York the most cargo.)

Airport / Passengers

Chicago O’Hare: 67,254,586

Atlanta Hartsfield: 57,734,755

London Heathrow: 54,452,636

Dallas-Fort Worth: 54,369,613

Los Angeles International: 53,909,223

Tokyo Haneda: 45,822,503

Frankfurt, Germany: 38,179,543

Miami International: 33,235,658

Denver: 31,028,191

New York-JFK: 30,327,723.

*

Airport / Cargo*

Memphis: 1,712,066

Tokyo Narita: 1,662,852

Los Angeles: 1,597,219

Miami: 1,584,680

New York-JFK: 1,572,840

Hong Kong: 1,484,741

Frankfurt: 1,461,284

Louisville, Ky.: 1,351,147

Chicago O’Hare: 1,235,806

London Heathrow: 1,125,608.

* In metric tons (2,205 pounds=1 metric ton)

Source: Airports Council International, Associated Press