Business Travel Executive, October/November 2020

Pre Trip Approval Back In Vogue Testing Can Help Business Travel Recover But Its No Silver Bullet S everal airlines are facilitating COVID 19 testing among passengers In airport and at home options should help restore some confidence among travelers and employers as well as government authorities assessing when to reopen international air routes Air Canada Alaska American Hawaiian JetBlue and United are among the airlines worldwide that have announced testing initiatives Travel managers welcomed these developments and expected theyd improve traveler perceptions but had questions How does that affect the timing asked Jabil global travel manager Sheila Kittle during a September conference call hosted by The Company Dime Is this going to start creating some carrier preference among travelers and create other issues I think its a step in the right direction but I dont look at this as the silver bullet for any big changes Kittle said When we look at the whole end to end trip from a risk perspective the bathroom in the airport and the activities you perform when you actually arrive like going to bars are substantially more risky to the traveler than the flight said travel risk expert Bruce McIndoe during an October GBTA webinar Thats just the reality of the numbers Airlines and airports can only control their own environments To that end Lufthansa Group is giving premium customers a higher level of service for testing including priority lines at a big testing center in Frankfurt During a September press conference Lufthansa senior product director Bjoern Becker said the airline group would consider giving premium customers first crack at faster testing methods once they become available n 25 Business Travel Executive askBTE com October November 2020 I ts mission critical travel only at many organizations though some are traveling more When travelers make plans they probably need a formal OK Senior management wants eyes on who is going where and why and to have the means to void travel plans Pre trip approval now is among travel managements most crucial processes TMCs and tech providers are enhancing systems to address the need SAP Concur updated Concur Request to allow clients to set parameters for what needs manager approval Used for both pre travel and expense authorization Concur Request also is undergoing an interface update Integration with Concur Travel allows for features like approve then book After the pandemics onset BCD Travel deployed a basic approvals solution for clients that had no formal process in place World Travel Inc upgraded its proprietary approval and notification system to accommodate frequent client policy changes Direct Travel and Adelman Travel were among those to bring some self service to approvals configurations Adelmans system lets clients designate approvers and make other adjustments by themselves including changes to authorization request or rejection prompts Travel tech firm Cornerstone Information Systems updated its policy management and authorization system with travel For In depth Reports and Current News on this Topic Click Here intel Bookings trigger e mails for approvals and alerts as well as relevant communications to travelers based on destination specific risk info According to a September survey of 144 travel buyers by the Institute of Travel Management 69 percent said the level of seniority for travel approval next year would be greater than its been Now security approves all domestic and international said Clive Gardner Barclays global head of executive protection and travel and event security speaking at ITMs virtual conference That will ease as country restrictions open up but weve been cautious in easing those restrictions so far