Hello-

Welcome back to InFlight. This month we're talking about the benefits of a Travel and Expense Policy. When implementing a T & E Policy, guidelines and procedures will be outlined, and your travel program will be beneficial.

As we approach 2016, we run into new updates, such as American Airlines' additional class of service and TripCase's new app information. For more information, read below and as always - contact us with any questions.

We continue to add new tools to our website. Please visit often to get the most up-to-date information to help you manage your travel program effectively and efficiently.

Wishing you the best 2016!

6 Common Missteps in Most Travel & Expense Policies

One of the first things that we ask for when we implement a new customer’s travel program is their Travel & Expense (T&E) policy. It is a good indication of what pieces of the travel program are working well, what pieces are not and what really needs to be addressed. Ambiguity is by far the biggest issue that we see throughout most T & E policies. When you do not clearly define your guidelines throughout your policy, money is left on the table and operational efficiencies are not fully realized. Below are six concepts that we find are often ambiguous or non-existent within T & E policies that we see.

New TripCase Newsfeed and Updates

The version 4.0 release TripCase included major changes to their Tripfeed. The Tripfeed consists of brief messages to assist you with some aspect of your trip, which now includes messages to view a map of your airport, see photos of your hotel or check-in for your flight. Other services that are available from the TripCase Tripfeed include:

Reserving a parking spot at the airport
Abilbity to check-in to your hotel and request room preferences
View TSA Pre-check locations before you get to the airport

Additionally, TripCase released an updated version 4.3.1 last month. This included enhancements that allow you to change your language via mobile, adding your own notes via TripNotes in the Document Center and bug fixes including a fix for the TripCase Apple Watch travel app crashing. To read more about the latest update, click here.

As always, we recommend that our travelers and travel managers sign up for TripCase to easily access their itinerary, emergency numbers, and to easily track their travel and their travelers. You can sign up at TripCase.com and the app is available for your iOS and Android devices.

American Airlines to Roll Out Premium Economy for International Flights

American Airlines announced last month that it will add an International Premium Economy product stating late this year. This is an additional class of service for international flights that will be the middle man between Business Class and the Main Cabin.

This new class of service will include similar aspects of Business class such as the extra legroom, and larger seats without paying the Business Class Price. Delta and United Airlines offer extended legroom economy seating on their flights, like American does with its Main Cabin Extra product. American’s chief marketing officer, Andrew Nocella, promises that American has “studied those offerings and developed a world-class product with larger seats, more legroom, improved entertainment and upscale headphones and amenity kits, just to name a few features of this new service.”

The new Premium Economy product will be introduced on American Airlines’ Boeing 787-9s expected to enter into service in 2016. To learn more about this story, click here.

5 Ways to Stay Ahead of Travel Disruptions

When business people travel – especially on a consistent basis – odds are they will run into irregular operations…or what we like to call travel disruptions. Travel disruptions encompass a number of different possibilities: from travelers having a heart attack or being involved in a car accident while on the road, to weather issues both major and minor, to serious incidents like terrorist threats. There are a wide range of items that can affect your travelers, both directly and indirectly. Many times we have systems in place to handle “disruptions” for those in the office that we see every day; but does your business have the same systems in place to handle these challenges for your travelers? And more importantly, are there travel policies in place to stay ahead of these possible issues?

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Benchmarking Data and Expense Integration

The term “benchmarking” is a commonly used word in today’s business. Wikipedia defines benchmarking as “…the process of comparing one’s business processes and performance metrics to industry bests or best practices from other companies.” It’s an important piece to include when planning, and with December upon us, my guess is that this “benchmarking” term has come up in your staff planning meetings.