Lack of Business Class - Literally

Here's a pet peeve courtesy of a Corporate pal of mine. Traveling for work. But, in this case it isn't just business travel that is at issue. We have manufacturing facilities overseas and some of the product development people as well as others need to travel to Italy occasionally. Apparently we have a travel policy that requires an employee to travel coach on their first overseas trip. On any subsequent trips during the same year, the employee would be allowed to travel business class.

My first observation is that flying overseas for business isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Regardless of whether or not you have a family, business travel requires that you disrupt your routines and essentially you are "working" the entire time you are gone. Granted, there are times when you can get out a bit and see some sights, but it's not the glamorous "vacation" that some non-travelers may perceive it to be.

But on to my real pet peeve. A colleague of mine is making arrangements to travel overseas when another employee said that they needed to go as well. When they found out about the fact that they would be traveling coach, they called off the trip. It doesn't show much business klass when someone isn't willing to do what it takes to get to the goal. Especially when the task is only flying coach. That says to me that this individual was only in it for the trip and not for the good of the project. Stay home. The project didn't really need that type of dedication anyway!

I'd love to hear your business pet peeves. Or do you have any suggestions on how I can flush this business-class-flying snob out? This klass isn't a lecture so I encourage your feedback!