I'm a Trusting Guy

Since most of my travel is for work I need to keep track of my expenses and such.  I learned a valuable lesson today.  Don't necessarily trust the employees at the companies you trust with your business.

I returned my car to the SeaTac rental car AVIS facility on Saturday and rushed off to my flight.  I was running a little late and trusted that things would happen as they always do:

• I park my car and get all my stuff out
• The people checking in the cars with check it over for fuel and damage
• I get a receipt emailed to me by the time I am boarding my flight

Not exactly what happened.  I received an email from AVIS but it was reminding me of my next rental coming up.  I assumed it was my receipt.  I started gathering my receipts for my trip expenses today and on the AVIS website it indicated I had to return the car before I was able to retrieve my receipt.  This isn't good. 

I was thinking the worst, I was going to have to buy AVIS a new car.  Or second worst, I was going to be charged a whopping late return fee.  Luckily 2 of the 3 kind folks in AVIS customer service that I spoke with were able to help me.

The first person I spoke to in customer service told me they would transfer me to the appropriate group to help me.  She transferred me to the Reservations group and they were definitely not the right people to help me.  The Reservations group apologized and transferred me back to Customer Service and that guy, James, helped me out like a boss!

When James looked for the car he found it had been rented already (whew).  He updated my rental agreement to indicate I returned it on time and all is right in the universe.

Updated Holiday Travel Advice

Last year I gave you advice on holiday travel and things have changed slightly since then.  There are some potentially really nice things happening that may make air travel less stressful but they aren't here yet.  Just to tease you:

• The TSA rules are still in place and it is rare to find a TSA agent with a sense of humor but they're out there ready to make at joke for the people in the security lines.
• There may be a change to the in flight rules regarding using your mobile phone to make calls.
• New technology may change rules on amount of liquid travelers can carry onto a plane.

 There are a couple improvements and it gives us hope that there is some common sense being used in the government bureaucracy regulating air travel.

• Electronics are allowed to be used during take-off and landing with some limitations
• Lap-tops are not included
• The device needs to be in "airplane" mode
• The airline has to get permission for their fleet of planes to allow electronics usage
• Security lines are getting easier for some travelers with a new program called "Pre-Check"
• The program is mainly for frequent flyers (but they're out of your way if you aren't one)
• Participants don't need to strip down (shoes stay on) or take the liquids out of their carry-on

This year we are starting off with a tricky travel season.  Major weather storms are hitting the northeast US.  You may think that since you are not traveling to that region you'll be immune from weather travel delays.  You couldn't be more wrong!!  Your plane may be scheduled to work in that region before coming to your airport.  If it gets grounded due to the weather your flight is going to be canceled or at least delayed until a new plane gets freed up for your flight.

Everyone needs to remember to exercise a little additional common courtesy this year.  It may not seem like it but only about 14% of the US population, or 43.4 million people, will travel more than 50 miles this holiday season.  It will seem like everyone is out there getting in your way.  Please be considerate of the other people out there doing the exact same thing you are doing, going to see loved ones for the holidays. 

Lastly, the folks working in the travel industry need a little more consideration from us, too.  They are dealing with a more stressful work environment than usual.  Imagine how you feel when your workload jumps by 700%!  It's also a good idea to keep these folks on your good side.  If (and when) delays or cancellations happen, who is the person HELPING you?  I personally want gate agents, baggage handlers, and all the others to be willing to go the extra mile for me.

Crossing the Border

Getting myself across the border from the US into Canada is pretty simple. However, I recently learned that getting a package into Canada is another story entirely!

I needed to get a tablecloth and literature stands up to Guelph (don't laugh, that is the name of a real city in Ontario).  That is a particularly expensive venture but I don't know why.  We contracted UPS for the job to get these simple items to me on Tuesday.  I checked on the package at the end of Tuesday and was told by Andy, my friendly UPS customer service rep, it cleared customs at 4:42PM and I would not receive my package until Wednesday.  I was a little miffed that my company paid for delivery on Tuesday and that didn't happen.  I expect that as a delivery expert, UPS would be able to get me that package on Tuesday, seeing as it cleared customs during business hours.  I really don't think that is unreasonable, however, UPS did think it was unreasonable.

UPS was not able to meet a single expectation I had of them. 

• I expected delivery on Tuesday, FAIL. 
• I expected them to be able to communicate what was happening when they said they would call me, FAIL.  
• I expected UPS would be able to arrange for me pick up the package at their delivery center Wednesday morning so I would have it for my trade show, FAIL.
• Seriously, they couldn't arrange to hold a package in place for me to come to the package!

Well, in the end I got the package.  And I was completely underwhelmed at the process.

Convincing Your Company

I travel a lot for work and can work from any Continental US location.  Luckily my company recently agreed with me.  I moved with my family to where my wife grew up and we're closer to her entire family.  The benefits are numerous but I won't bore you with those, yet.

I want to talk about my process for convincing my company I could work remotely.  When I was hired it was explicitly stated that I would be based at the home office.  I worked every other week in the field and the alternate weeks I was expected at the office.  My travel territory is all of the US and Canada.  It doesn't make much sense to travel to some areas with little biotech research happening so places like the Yukon Territories will not be honored with my presence.

So, I had to come up with a plan to get my company on board with me moving.  First, I didn't mention anything about moving to anybody.  No one, not a single soul knew about it, especially anyone that might have a connection with people at work.  If the plans fell through at the last minute I didn't want my management to think I was looking to leave the company.  My goal was to be sure I was retained.

I formulated my arguments why I should be retained.  There was a good chance I could be let go if I wasn't perceived as a valuable team member at my company.  Looking back at my accomplishments and figured I was doing very well in my company's opinion.  I gathered information about how well sales were going with me on board.  I brought in additional information about the non-sales goals I attained while on board.  I also showed how I would be additionally motivated because of the benefits of my personal life after the move.

Finally the day came where the reason for moving was set and all my reasons were rehearsed.  Yes, I rehearsed conversations I would potentially have with my boss.  That morning I went into my boss' office and asked if I could have lunch with him to talk about work.  He said yes and that we can talk about anything except my leaving.  This was starting to look promising.  I assured him that this conversation would be about the opposite of me leaving.  At lunch I mentioned what I was planning and he immediately agreed that retaining me would be the goal.  YES!!!  But now we had to convince the President and the CEO.  The best part was he was going to take point on these discussions and all I needed to do was gather cost information differences from traveling from my new location.

I was a little surprised about a few items the company needed to know.  There are tax differences between states that can be problematic.  First are income taxes for my paycheck and less obviously, some states are going after sales tax revenues of companies with any connection to their state.  In this case having an employee located in the state.  Luckily my new state doesn't have a sales tax.  There are also other benefits, like health insurance, that are affected by where you live.

After all is said and done, I am happily domiciled in my new state.  My children are in their schools.  My travel schedule is back to normal.  And, I will try to update this blog more regularly.

I forgot something

I was on vacation when planning my latest trip.  I recommend not trying to do that because the details get lost.  The detail I lost was making a rental car reservation.  This is a slight problem since I needed to drive between San Diego and LA.  A taxi just wouldn't cut it. 

I had to think fast.  I recently downloaded the AVIS rental car app to my phone so I popped it open.  I entered my trip information and reserved a car.  Then I crossed my fingers and hoped there were cars available. A minute later I received my reservation confirmation email.  one minute later I received an email with the space my car was waiting in for me to pick it up.

I won't lie to you, I was really happy that worked.

Business travelers are jerks

I follow a business travel group on LinkedIN.  There are many posts that ask opinions on how other travelers act or how the industries treat travelers.  In my never to be humble opinion the average business traveler is a self-centered, egotistical jerk that thinks every other traveler should conform to their way of thinking/traveling.

A few of my greater annoyances with travelers (focusing mostly on airline travel) are presented:

1. Children are people and have every right to travel on airplanes.
• Some business travelers get extremely annoyed at small children that act like small children.  They complain about seats being kicked, screaming toddlers and babies, incessant questions, or being touched by children.  When asked the traveler doesn't blame the child but blames the parent for not controlling the child.
2. There is a finite amount of space for carry-on luggage and personal items.  Deal with it.
• The airline staff tries to get people to put their personal item under the seat in front of them to allow as much space as possible in the overhead bins for roller bags.  So the frequent travelers feel that people that put multiple items in the overhead bin are breaking a rule.  To some this is an affront that deserves condemnation.
3. Delays and problems occur in travel and sooner or later you will experience a problem if you travel enough.  So quit getting angry with the nice person helping you.
• Business travelers feel like their problem is the most important and industry staff must help them regardless of the cost to the airline. They raise their voices, point fingers, demand concessions, and fail to realize the person is doing everything to help the customer.

I can empathize with customers experiencing situations you do not enjoy.  For my part, I get annoyed at all the people that crowd the entry way when boarding the plane.  I will nicely ask people in front of me if they are boarding when it's my turn and if they aren't I will comment snarkily, "Then get out of the way".

However, when most situations come up like the ones mentioned earlier, I maintain an emotional calm.  I do so because:

1. Children, parents, and everyone in general are going to act in the manner they feel is appropriate.  I can't control them, I can only control myself.  I wish others would learn this and have a healthier reaction to people that are allowed to act however they choose.
2. Airplane space is getting more crowded.  The carriers are adding more seats limiting legroom and the additional passengers means additional carry-on baggage.  Unless an actual rule is implemented about storage requirements we will deal with people acting differently than we think is appropriate.  None of us get to decide what behavior is appropriate for everyone.
3.  A person helping me is not the one causing problems, on the contrary, they're the one helping me remedy a problem.  I tend to be grateful for people trying to help me.

The over arching idea: Control your own emotions since you can't control other people's actions.

Bumped to a new airline

Occasionally delays occur that require the airline you booked with to change your flight to another airline entirely.  Last week, I flew to Philadelphia and had the last flights of the evening.  My flight delay would get me to my connection in Detroit 6 minutes before my connection took off and there were no other flights into Philadelphia on Delta available that night.  Therefore, I was booked on an American Airlines flight.

I am not crying about this change.  I could justify a whiny post because I was delayed, I had to connect in Chicago, and got only 4 hours sleep before I had to present technical data the next day to 2 highly valuable customers.  What I want to share are what you can possibly expect based on my experience.

If you had first class seats you probably won't get them on the next flight.  This is typically a risk even if getting moved to another flight in the same airline.  I would also be prepared for a middle seat because you are getting onto the new flight very late.

You can still get mileage on your loyalty account.  Simply ask for the credited mileage and the staff can estimate what you would normally receive.  You will not get credit for any segments flown but this is better than nothing.

Schedule changes for other reservations are your responsibility.  If you have a rental car reservation and hotel reservation you will need to connect with those groups to avoid losing your reservation or incurring a penalty.  A simple call to the company customer service group will help.  As you can imagine, they are pretty used to these issues.

All in all, I am happy with how things went.  It could have gone much worse.