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What sucks about this is that many corporate travel policies require you to take the lowest available fare for a trip. So now that's going to often be an even

What sucks about this is that many corporate travel policies require you to take the lowest available fare for a trip. So now that's going to often be an even more horrible cattle-car steerage nightmare than it is today. I'm not overly tall and not seriously claustrophobic but I already view airline travel outside "first class" with dread -- these new sub-economy fares are going to be torture.

mbell 11y ago
Don't work for them, it's pretty simple. I don't know what field you work in, but give that this is HN I assume you're a developer, if so you'll probably not see a better job market, don't put up with shit.
- Pyxl101 11y ago
  It's not pretty simple if travel is an insignificant part of your job that you only undertake once every year or few years. (You shouldn't casually suggest that someone quit their job over something that might be and probably is trivial just because they don't like it. It's disingenuous. Note, I didn't downvote you, though I thought about it.) But there are better solutions than that, anyway. Corporate travel policies might only reimburse the cheapest fair, but you can often book a better fair and reimburse the cheapest rate while paying the discrepancy yourself if you wish (which is how you might fly first class).
  - mbell 11y ago
    > It's not pretty simple if travel is an insignificant part of your job that you only undertake once every year or few years. If you're concerned over uncomfortable travel 'once every year or few years' then you have better things to be worried about. I can't imagine a better example of a 'first world problem'.
- greggarious 11y ago
  Considering one of those employers is the federal government (and anyone receiving money from them) that could be harder than you expect. Almost all of my travel in grad school was funded through taxpayer money. You ever fly to Okinawa in economy? It's not fun.
- quaffapint 11y ago
  I don't know about it being a better market. There's jobs (and that's actually been pretty consistent), but the pay, at least in my area, is just not there and hasn't been for the past 7 years (very slight uptick in the past 18 months, but nothing major yet). Sticking with the old corporate job is still the best bet around here.
- jimminy 11y ago
  Sadly the job market is heavily centralized, from my recent experience. I can get offers in SF, Seattle, or NY, but I'm personally attached to the Mid-Atlantic for personal reasons, and it's been months of hell. Now I don't discuss previous salaries, as I'm sure that has torpedoed several offers. That just leads down a road that is an inverse of the Impostor Syndrome, where they think you're overqualified for the position, and you can tell from the responses and further question. I am seriously wondering about the culture of the game, that it can be so seriously lacking of it's shining feature: distributed collaborative work.
  - Mekkanox 11y ago
    Are you me? I'm in the exact same boat. It's not even just SF or NY - companies in Reston, VA or Tyson's Corner won't even consider even a partially remote schedule. I've gone so far as to offer to commute from central MD to northern VA a couple times a week - no dice. Gotta be onsite every day in their open-office floor plan where 90% of the workday is spent with noise-canceling headphones on and almost all communication is through Slack. It's maddening how the pendulum keeps swinging away from remote work in this area.
    - jimminy 11y ago
      Not you, as I'm in South Eastern WV, but have applied to a few companies in Blacksburg, VA(1hr) and Charlotte, NC(4.5hr). I don't even mind showing up every day, to any in Blacksburg, or relocating to a midpoint near Winston-Salem, where I can still make it back in 2-3 hours if I need to. I've literally dropped a quarter of my previous salary during negotiations, well aware of CoL differences, and had them come back at one-third to one-half as what they were thinking. But it's definitely hard to find any places that would offer remote, or even telecommutd options at a reaonable salary.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- pklausler 11y ago
  Who's hiring that flies top engineers in business class or better? Anybody?
  - azakai 11y ago
    I'm not aware of any major tech company that does, even the ones with tons of perks in their offices, etc.
    - pklausler 11y ago
      Yeah, it was a mostly-rhetorical question.
amelius 11y ago
Well, the nice thing is, if you can manage to stay in economy: the "cattle" will probably switch to sub-economy :)
qmr 11y ago
> I already view airline travel outside "first class" with dread You poor thing! At any rate, many corporate travel policies also allow business class on flights over N hours.
- baby 11y ago
  > > I already view airline travel outside "first class" with dread > You poor thing! I seriously agree with him though. I never book first class, was upgraded once for free, but man I wish I could be business/first class all the time. They just shove us elbow to elbow and you can't even lie down. For 13+ hours flights it's a nightmare. Back problems for weeks after.

mbell 11y ago

Don't work for them, it's pretty simple. I don't know what field you work in, but give that this is HN I assume you're a developer, if so you'll probably not see a better job market, don't put up with shit.

Pyxl101 11y ago
It's not pretty simple if travel is an insignificant part of your job that you only undertake once every year or few years. (You shouldn't casually suggest that someone quit their job over something that might be and probably is trivial just because they don't like it. It's disingenuous. Note, I didn't downvote you, though I thought about it.) But there are better solutions than that, anyway. Corporate travel policies might only reimburse the cheapest fair, but you can often book a better fair and reimburse the cheapest rate while paying the discrepancy yourself if you wish (which is how you might fly first class).
- mbell 11y ago
  > It's not pretty simple if travel is an insignificant part of your job that you only undertake once every year or few years. If you're concerned over uncomfortable travel 'once every year or few years' then you have better things to be worried about. I can't imagine a better example of a 'first world problem'.
greggarious 11y ago
Considering one of those employers is the federal government (and anyone receiving money from them) that could be harder than you expect. Almost all of my travel in grad school was funded through taxpayer money. You ever fly to Okinawa in economy? It's not fun.
quaffapint 11y ago
I don't know about it being a better market. There's jobs (and that's actually been pretty consistent), but the pay, at least in my area, is just not there and hasn't been for the past 7 years (very slight uptick in the past 18 months, but nothing major yet). Sticking with the old corporate job is still the best bet around here.
jimminy 11y ago
Sadly the job market is heavily centralized, from my recent experience. I can get offers in SF, Seattle, or NY, but I'm personally attached to the Mid-Atlantic for personal reasons, and it's been months of hell. Now I don't discuss previous salaries, as I'm sure that has torpedoed several offers. That just leads down a road that is an inverse of the Impostor Syndrome, where they think you're overqualified for the position, and you can tell from the responses and further question. I am seriously wondering about the culture of the game, that it can be so seriously lacking of it's shining feature: distributed collaborative work.
- Mekkanox 11y ago
  Are you me? I'm in the exact same boat. It's not even just SF or NY - companies in Reston, VA or Tyson's Corner won't even consider even a partially remote schedule. I've gone so far as to offer to commute from central MD to northern VA a couple times a week - no dice. Gotta be onsite every day in their open-office floor plan where 90% of the workday is spent with noise-canceling headphones on and almost all communication is through Slack. It's maddening how the pendulum keeps swinging away from remote work in this area.
  - jimminy 11y ago
    Not you, as I'm in South Eastern WV, but have applied to a few companies in Blacksburg, VA(1hr) and Charlotte, NC(4.5hr). I don't even mind showing up every day, to any in Blacksburg, or relocating to a midpoint near Winston-Salem, where I can still make it back in 2-3 hours if I need to. I've literally dropped a quarter of my previous salary during negotiations, well aware of CoL differences, and had them come back at one-third to one-half as what they were thinking. But it's definitely hard to find any places that would offer remote, or even telecommutd options at a reaonable salary.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
pklausler 11y ago
Who's hiring that flies top engineers in business class or better? Anybody?
- azakai 11y ago
  I'm not aware of any major tech company that does, even the ones with tons of perks in their offices, etc.
  - pklausler 11y ago
    Yeah, it was a mostly-rhetorical question.

amelius 11y ago

Well, the nice thing is, if you can manage to stay in economy: the "cattle" will probably switch to sub-economy :)

qmr 11y ago

> I already view airline travel outside "first class" with dread You poor thing! At any rate, many corporate travel policies also allow business class on flights over N hours.

baby 11y ago
> > I already view airline travel outside "first class" with dread > You poor thing! I seriously agree with him though. I never book first class, was upgraded once for free, but man I wish I could be business/first class all the time. They just shove us elbow to elbow and you can't even lie down. For 13+ hours flights it's a nightmare. Back problems for weeks after.