BTC Survey: Travel Policies Are Not Y2K Ready

<B> BTC Survey: Travel Policies Are Not Y2K Ready</B>

By Sarah Welt

The Business Travel Coalition last month conducted a Year 2000 survey of 25 travel managers to ascertain their state of readiness in the areas of: travel policy, traveler support systems and internal and external communications.

On the policy side, an overwhelming majority of travel managers said they have not yet finalized a Y2K travel policy, but have come up with a draft.

Avnet Inc. is "pretty much in the same situation" as those surveyed, said director of travel services Annette Nevin. She acknowledged that the idea to put something out formally has been "tossed back and forth," however, "we have discussed it with the director of security and we haven't put anything in place because the changeover to 2000 is happening over a weekend. We don't feel anyone will be doing business travel over that weekend."

The majority of participants said they have not yet assessed legal implications of developing a Y2K policy based on insufficient or inaccurate information. One buyer said, "The legal department will be asked to assist with the writing of the policy. We consider the information from the FAA/DOT as credible as we are going to get, though the FAA's rosy view makes us skeptical."

Close to one-fourth of the travel managers surveyed planned to either ban or discourage domestic travel during the crossover to 2000. "The complexity of the interacting systems may lead to some problems," one buyer noted. Others noted concern for the corporation's liability if something were to go wrong. One travel manager said, "We feel that a ban is reactionary and not the best use of our time in planning for Y2K." More companies cited concern about international travel. One respondent said, "I am considering either a strong recommendation against, or an outright ban to those countries that may be deemed unsafe by DOT, FAA or ALPA."

Travel managers also were asked about tracking the whereabouts of employees traveling internationally during the changeover. One travel manager said that all international reservations are e-mailed to corporate security, and all senior executives must give security their personal and business schedule when traveling.

Regarding having a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week help desk for travelers for 2000, many buyers said it was important, but the balance will use their agency support desks.

On the communications front, more than half of respondents reported that either their travel management company had not completed or tested contingency plans or they were not aware that the agency had one. One buyer noted, "We found that we were one of the only clients asking questions about testing and support from our travel management company. We have asked them to put together a contingency plan similar to ours so they can create 'pre-emptive' and 'weekend-of' checklists of all the things they need to do before the weekend."

Additionally, more than three-quarters of those surveyed already have or will develop an intranet page devoted to Y2K travel support.

None of the companies surveyed will prohibit the use of non-refundable tickets, while most will prohibit e-ticket usage as well as require hard copies of all travel documents for the crossover to 2000.