Jetpool
What the experts are saying about smarter business travel..does it really help
May 13th
On an regular basis articles appear about smarter business travel but very little of the advice seems to help. You can take your personal GPS so that you don’t get lost once you are on the ground and on your way to a client meeting, or pack carefully and wear slip on shoes to get through security more quickly, but none of this will help you when the plane is delayed and you are going to miss your meeting. Not everyone us the option to fly privately but if you looked at the cost savings you could fly “semi-privately” – that is share the private jet with others. Doing this would allow business travelers to finally have control over there schedules and probably less time on the road because the travel would be more efficient. Being a member of jet-it-together.com is a great way to connect with others for sharing jet trips. If you are part of a company that has an intranet you may be able to work with your corporate travel manager or HR to create a place to post travel plans as well as information about sharing private jet options. This way employees can communicate with one another to figure out whether or not they could share a private jet trip. Another option is to connect through TripIt on LinkedIn to find out people’s travel plans and see if you could fly together privately.
Private Jet Travel On The Rise
Feb 23rd
Today’s New York Times, 2/22/09, has an interesting article by Joe Sharkey in the Business Section. In his weekly column Mr. Sharkey writes about private business travel being on the rise. This is definitely worth reading. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/business/23road.html.
After the reaction to the CEOs traveling on private jets to Washington, D.C.,many companies pulled back on private jet travel. This combined with the downward turn in the market saw a slide in private jet use for business travel. Mr. Sharkey points out that many people who hadn’t traveled on commercial jets for years were forced to do so and ultimately were very unhappy with the experience. No surprise there. Now these same travelers are going back to private jet travel but are looking for a less expensive way to do it. That is where Jet-It-Together comes in. People want to travel privately for less and are flexible on how they will do it. This could prove very interesting.
Why Private Jet Travel Makes Sense for Business Travelers
Jan 25th
Sharing a private jet may not be for everyone but there are a large group of people who are either doing it or want to do it. You don’t have to buy a share of a Gulfstream to get places efficiently. The increasing business class and first class fares combined with waiting in line for your full body scan is enough to make many seasoned business travelers seriously consider their options in the air. Business travel is easier and more productive when you are able to avoid commercial airports.
Managing Multiple Business Offices
Making standard site visits to multiple offices of the same company can take days. An example we have of this type of travel is Ken, a manager for a large real estate developer who visits regional sites every four to six weeks. Ken generally spends between one and two hours at each site. These visits can take Ken from the home office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Rochester and Ithaca, New York, and then on to Cleveland, Ohio. Flying commercially means he is out of the office for at least three days. The time spent getting to and from the airport, waiting in check-in and security lines, experiencing delays, renting cars, and checking in and out of hotels accounts for more than 50% of his total travel time. Choosing to fly privately allows him to visit the three sites in one day at comparable cost to the typical three-day trip.
Out On Monday, Back On Friday
Karen works for a large consulting company based in Boston, which places her at client sites in different areas of the country for extended periods of time. Usually Karen is part of a team of two to four people that leaves Boston on Monday morning and returns on Friday afternoon. Karen started looking into private jet options for business travel when she decided that the time it was taking her to fly commercially was negatively impacting her personal and business life. Since she has started to “jet pool” with her co-workers she has been able to be in control of her weekly travel. Plus, an added advantage that she didn’t initially recognize was the fact that on board the private jet she was able to have meetings and work at the same level of privacy as if she was in a meeting room.
