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As a CEO, I wouldn’t want to be seen in Business Class on a short-haul business trip; the optics are terrible. And I know a university Vice Chancellor who, again, always travels in Economy for business trips, even long-haul; it’s the optics, again. But both of us always travel in Business Class if we’re paying for ourselves.
The optics issue works both ways. If you want to be taken seriously you often need to insist on certain things to make a point.
You expect me, with 3-4 staff and a pretty sizeable business to oversee, to give up 3 days of my life to come and see your hotel for no fee? Or speak at your conference for no fee even though you are charging attendees €2,000? You will do a), b) and c) for me or its not happening.
Especially in the aviation business, sitting in 1D so everyone else has to pass you on the way to the back is a statement about where we sit in the industry. It is also a statement about HfP – we could hire anyone, from any aviation or travel publication in Britain, at any level of seniority, because everyone in the industry knows that we pay better than everyone else and we treat our staff better than everyone else.
The issue isn’t about being physically seen. It’s about people in the office talking when the expense claim is submitted. For my Vice Chancellor friend, it’s about what the local media, the unions and the students say when business class travel is discovered.
I don’t care how good the business case is for premium class travel; I won’t be in the room to defend myself when the conversations happen. It’s much easier to lose trust and respect than to win it.
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