Everyone has had the experience of travelling to the airport for a flight, only to find that it has been delayed, or worse, cancelled.
When the disruption is widespread, as it was when British Airways experienced computer failures earlier this year, passenger itineraries and airline schedules can be seriously affected.
Often the problem spreads virally, as more cities and airports are affected and soon you could have thousands of people vying for seats on the same flights, as airline staff struggle to get everyone rebooked.
Bring In The Travel Experts
In instances like these, it is often the traveller who works with a Travel Management Company (TMC) who emerges the winner. TMCs such as Beyond Business Travel can step in and quickly assess the situation, using their expert knowledge to identify alternative airports, airlines and solutions, while other passengers are still queuing at the customer service desk.
Edel Doherty, Managing Director of Beyond Business Travel said: “Managing disruptions and delays is just one of the services that we offer to business travellers around the globe. We believe that travellers want to be proactively helped, not reactively assisted. This means getting solutions delivered to them at disruption time, not waiting for them to call and ask for advice.”
Recently the Global Business Travel Association surveyed more than 500 business travellers, to discover the biggest challenges they face on the road.
48% of respondents have experienced delayed flights or train journeys, while 54% have had travel plans disrupted because of bad weather. Aircraft issues (including mechanical problems) caused delays for around 40% of the corporate travellers, while 16% missed a connecting flight in the last twelve months.
The subject of travel disruption has become topical recently, after Ryanair cancelled 25 routes and over 700,000 bookings last month. Many passengers were given less than two days notice of the cancellation.
In June an IT engineer has been blamed for taking down British Airways’ computer systems, leaving 75,000 people stranded around the world as a result.
Four Ways a Travel Management Company Can Help During Travel Disruption
Traveller Tracking
TMCs can assist companies in knowing where your people are at all times, and contacting them instantly through an online tracking system. This helps clients keep tabs on where their team are in the world at any given time, which becomes especially important at times of crisis and disruption.
24/7 Travel Alert System
As well as tracking staff, Beyond Business Travel also sends real time alerts directly to travellers affected by disruption, delays or safety threats. We contact employees directly to check they are safe, to warn of adverse security situations and advising them on what do next.
Edel adds: “With a 24/7 service and experts trained in emergency response management, TMC’s can offer a level of protection and provide a sense of safety and confidence that can sometimes be difficult to achieve in-house.”
Expert Knowledge & Proactive Assistance
Our travel team are advised of trip disruption and immediately take the proactive action of rebooking and reconfirming at every point in an itinerary to make sure passengers arrive safe and sane. We use our membership of Advantage Travel Partnership to access negotiated discounts on flights, hotels, car rental and rail to make sure you aren’t paying over the odds on last minute bookings.
Aftercare
From getting refunded for food and drink expenses to covering the cost of a new hotel or alternative transportation, we know what you are entitled to. Our expert team will remove one of your headaches and handle all aspects of your refund and compensation claim, if flights have been cancelled or delayed.
A Local Example
During the recent British Airways crisis, one of our clients found themselves stranded in London with no way of getting home. As soon as we were aware of the BA issue, we ensured that travel plans were quickly changed and disruption was kept to a minimum.
Mary O’Reilly, International Professional Team Lead at Early Years praised the Beyond team, saying:
“Many thanks to Beyond Business Travel for their very prompt and efficient service to us when we were stranded at Heathrow airport during the BA fiasco over the bank holiday weekend. We really appreciated the support and guidance to enable us to survive this experience! Many many thanks.”