Surely if entire travel shows are made out of it, being a business traveller must have more to it than just being made to feel a little bit more important than other travellers. From lodging in some rather exclusive-looking serviced apartments in Zurich to enjoying more leg room in the business class aircraft cabin, we explore what sets business travellers apart, with the hope of drilling right down to the very essence of travelling for business.
It’s as much about the journey as the destination
Ordinary leisure travellers tend to enjoy their entire trip, from the process of checking in to the very moment they get to kick off their flip-flops and hit the beach. With business travellers on the other hand, things tend to be quite different. They’re often on some or other deployment, whether driven by their own business dealings or motivated by whoever it is they work for.
Granted, most companies will have their employees under business deployment fly economy class, but if you travel frequently for business then the trip itself is often a necessary inconvenience. That’s why whenever they can help it; businesspersons do indeed travel business class, symbolizing just how much it is about the journey itself as it is about getting to the destination. The journey isn’t something ordinarily enjoyed and so you don’t often find business travellers interacting with the in-flight entertainment system. Rather, they want to travel as comfortably as possible, perhaps getting in some good sleep as well so that they’re feeling fresh and sharp for the order of business waiting for them at their destination.
So it’s as much about the trip in a different way to leisure travellers as it is about the destination. The trip itself is only good if it comes to the aid of proceedings as they’ll play out at the destination.
The novelty has likely worn off
If you’re lucky enough to perhaps get an upgrade to business class through something like seats becoming available on the Instant Upgrade ticket, you’ll probably make the very most of flying with that much more comfort. For frequent business travellers this level of comfort while travelling has become somewhat of a norm, which is why you might be surprised to find that they leave their complementary gifts behind, such as the leather toiletry bag afforded to each business class traveller in some of the airlines.
The novelty of the whole trip seems to have worn right off and the trip itself is a mere formality. They get used to the priority check-in and the shortened queues to go with that and they get annoyed at the slightest whiff of a flight delay. They expect newspapers in the aircraft cabins, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to read those newspapers.
A business traveller can go the entire trip without their experience resembling that of a business traveller in any way as they may not make use of the perks which come with their business traveller status. They still want to have the option to do so though and I guess it’s these choices which make up what it is to be business traveller.
