Travelling for Work, Is It Fair to Wake up 4am to Catch a Flight?

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    stewy on 13/10/2019 - 01:24

    +1

    Ultimately they started flying me the afternoon the day before and putting me up at a hotel.

    This is what any good company should do.

    My current company has assets across various regions that are atleast 2 hours drive between each of them. If you need to start at 7am outside your region, they will get you to drive or fly there the day before and put you up in a motel/hotel. Whilst they are tight in a lot of other ways, fatigue management under their WHS obligations seems to be something that they do tend to follow…

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  halo9 on 13/10/2019 - 01:30

  +1

  I used to fly for work weekly for nearly 13 years. When on company time/travel I always had meals and accommodation paid for, meals where re-imbursed at cost and there was no allowance, but you would get questioned if you tried to claim a $70 breakfast for 1. Reasonably up to $100 day was never questioned and a "drink" with a meal for dinner was no drama. I'd usually be away for a week at a time so used to shop and eat healthy food. Eating out 3 meals a day for a week never left you feeling good so usually only spent $300 or so a week.

  Regarding times, this is quite normal. Sometimes I would get up at 2:30-3am to make flights, but for me it was swings and roundabouts, other times it was 8 or 9am. Sometimes I got home at 3pm, others at 9pm. I was on salary so never got paid extra, BUT time in lieu was always honoured. I just always logged it in my weekly reports to my boss and when my extra time worked got close to a day, I got paid an extra day work, or took a paid day off without losing anual leave. Over the years I sometimes took a whole week off paid and was always left in a better off positon.

  Talk to your boss, I know some places say it is expected to work extra hours, but this is not really fair. They cannot fire you for requesting time in lieu or pay in lieu of extra time worked for the extra time you have done, and if they did Fairwork would have a field day (Unless you signed a contract saying you would work extra hours for nothing, I hope not). Lastly frequent flyer points! Don't underestimate their value which you as the flyer can claim. All those years I was on gold/platinum status, free lounge access for personal flights in this case, all the free family holidays from points, that's worth something too. Good luck

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    halo9 on 13/10/2019 - 01:34

    Oh and forgot to mention, initially I used to drive myself but as fatigue became a big issue in workplaces whenever I did long days (12+ hours) I was paid a taxi ride to/from home for fatigue reasons when flying.

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  raiseyoursteaks on 13/10/2019 - 07:31

  Don't work in consulting then. This is normal.
  Week in week out. Everyone had to do it at some point in consulting, week after week. I did it for a few years but I was bank rolling. Make the right decisions and go down the right paths, you will still be doing this in 8-10 years, but bankrolling.

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  gromit on 13/10/2019 - 12:12

  Seems quite reasonable requirements for such infrequent travel. Having said that how the hell does it take you an hour to pack and why are you taking a hour in the morning to get ready? I travel far more frequently, packing is a 5 to 10 min job at most and if you are already packed you can get up 15 mins before you leave in morning. If you are packing light and checking in online you also don't need to arrive an hour early at airport.

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  Mizone on 13/10/2019 - 13:00

  It’s a small business, so i can understand how it might be tough to send you overnight or a bigger allowance. I think your best bet is just to get time in lieu, half a day off the next day is a very reasonable request, long travel days are taxing.

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  Mrgreenz on 13/10/2019 - 14:30

  1. Speak to employer
  2. Outline what you want/expect

  3a. They meet your expectations
  4a. You work on hapily

  3b. They don't meet your expectations
  4b. You work on unhapily/find another job

  I don't think what you've outlined is too bad.

  Could be better obviously

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  [Deactivated] on 13/10/2019 - 14:53

  As many have mentioned, policies are going to scale based on the size of each business, but time in lieu requests are more than reasonable regardless of who you work for - travel days (especially same-day trips) are often long and exhausting (beyond the scope of "reasonable" overtime). My employer is happy for me to fly down the day before and fly back the morning after if I have a full day at my destination - this ensures that I'm well rested and on my a-game while I'm there.

  Thankfully, we get put in 4-5* accommodation and meals/sundries go on the corporate card (nothing reasonable is questioned, including minibar and light bar spend).

  I'm young and single so I enjoy the travel - I get to explore other cities in comfort, for free, and earn FF points while I'm at it - but I appreciate that it would be less enjoyable under stricter conditions.

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    PCHammond on 13/10/2019 - 23:22

    I would say policies scale based on the size of your own role/responsibility and just how good your employer is. My previous employers have been gigantic multinational companies and they had much stricter policies than my current employer, who is still a multinational but much smaller than my previous employers.

    My previous employers were run by bean counters who would scruitinise every cent we spent even though we brought in tons of money. My current employer doesn't really care since we bring in heaps of money. Old employers would get pissy if we even had water out of the minibar. Current one wouldn't care if I cleared the minibar out.

    I actually never get to explore cities! I'm always either working or eating or in the hotel room. I recently went on a trip to Melbourne with some mates and they all expected me to know where to eat and drink, but when I'm travelling for work I never get to explore all the good places.

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  PAPower on 13/10/2019 - 18:19

  Either you should be on incentive based salary or claim leave in lieu of travel time.
  Another way of going about this is to claim sick leave while on annual leave. It will work out well.

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  Cheaptricks on 14/10/2019 - 08:20

  +1

  I travel Melbourne to Sydney regularly for work and of course you are expected to catch the early flight to start work in Sydney by 9am (most days), and then work a full day. I personally never get to the airport an hour before and check in online, but that's personal preference. I am not paid an allowance and have to retain receipts for claiming back, although they are pretty flexible.
  Your trip to and from the airport is tax deductable, if you don't get an allowance for it. I would also suggest joining a frequent flyer program and any and all hotel rewards (try to stay with the same chain to build up points and loyalty perks). I have had a few nights of free drinks with Holiday Inn (IHG).

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  Seraphin7 on 14/10/2019 - 11:30

  Pretty typical. I was doing this basically every week for 18 months a few years back.

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  Skramit on 14/10/2019 - 13:27

  Put yourself in your employers shoes. Are you going to promote the kid who gets on with the job and gets results with minimum fuss, or the other kid who demands overtime or time in lieu for occasional travel for that whole extra hour he has to 'work' to get up early for the airport. I know which one i'd promote.

  That's not to say you should be taken advantage of, but IMO the OP's complaints of having to get up at 4am and getting home late once in a while for business travel, do not constitute an issue worth raising.

  Having to do this daily or weekly, I reckon would be another matter, but once a month? Nah.

  Every workplace I've travelled for, it's a give and take relationship and it always worked well. For example, if I ever had a dentist appointment during the day, no problem. Or had to leave early to get my kids for something, no problem. Likewise if I had to get up at 4am to get a flight, no problem. In my mind, it balances itself out. Most mature workplaces work like this for large organisations. i'm sure smaller ones work a little differently.

  Ask yourself, do you want to progress your career and get ahead in life, or always fuss over the smallest issues and minor details?

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  andyhwl on 14/10/2019 - 20:11

  Fun. I fly for work often and usually it would be a 6am flight leaving any city apart from Darwin, where I often have to get a 1-2am flight. They are not cheaper, but just better timing for work.

  Nonetheless, I think it's reasonable only if you are allowed to time sheet your waiting time and flight times.

  Tip: if these are short trips, it means you don't have check in baggage so you only need to be at the gate at boarding time.

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    SirFlibbled on 15/10/2019 - 16:49

    and with digital boarding passes now, you don't even need to do anything at the airport, go straight through to the gate.

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  SirFlibbled on 14/10/2019 - 20:30

  I fly all the time for work with regular 6am flights. I get to fly to glamous places like the middle of the outback and it can take up to 10-15 hours to get there.

  While on trips I can be working from breakfast (7am ish) to late at night (10pm or so). My next trip has meetings on a monday, so I get the joy of flying out on Sunday. I could have been worse. The meeting is in WA and I almost had to go to one on the Labour day weekend, meaning I would have lost a weekend and a public holiday.

  It's part of the job but I enjoy what I'm doing.

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  kfcfatfat on 14/10/2019 - 20:45

  you should get at least time in lieu……

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