Credit Card from ClientCo

[northernladuk]

And just to note.....You've got away with it this time.... Next time make sure you post in the professional forums NOT General....

[vetran]

Do you like films about Gladiators?
Have you bled the radiators?
Do you have Walter Mitty fantasies?
Are you into Squirrels or Guns?
Where is the party?

Plenty posting much cheapness.

[clearedforlanding]

EDIT : Have you checked what they book you? Some company booking agents end up giving the clients a worse deal and booking it yourself can get much better flights at a better cost.

There is a reason behind this and HMRC bless them allow multinationals to do this.

All the big travel agencies, AMEX, Carlson Wagonlit et al. offer a scheme where companies are issued & pay for tickets from a higher fare bucket, but have pre-negotiated rates with the carriers. At the end of the year the client will receive a rebate based upon the the volume & difference in prices. Of course this rebate is paid to a subsidiary of the client in a tax friendly country, having already offset the ticket and VAT in the country of purchase.

Additionally there are advantages to letting the clientco book for you. If your ticket is from a higher bucket (fare basis) than the discounted ones available on from OTAs, there are advantages in frequent flyer miles, many OTA fare buckets are 0.5x and the bucket higher buckets are first in line when revenue management offers OpUps (free upgrates) let's look a BA:


Premier (invitation only elite level)
Gold and/or Full Fare paying passengers
Silver
oneworld Emerald
oneworld Sapphire
Blue
Other

As an example take a flight with 30 free seats in Economy & the following buckets

Y7 K5 M4 T6 E8

M, T & E are not going to offer you tier points, Y & K are, and if the airline has space in J & F and revenue management's yield calculations predicts they will not be sold they may decide to extend the K bucket (technically they open up another bucket, but let's not get too detailed) by a further 7 & proactively upgrade the fully paid Y ticket & gold card holders to the J (or WT+) cabin. This rolls up through J & F buckets.

Paid upgrades offered though Manage My Booking (MMB) follow a similar principle.

To maximise your chances, delay booking the flight (in this example keep an eye on BA.com) and as soon as the restricted & semi flex tickets no longer show, and use the usual high fare flights - Monday mornings, Friday evenings, do not stay over a Saturday etc.

Many corporate policies dictate economy only travel, the airlines know this so a fully flex Y is only nominally cheaper (or indeed more expensive) than discount C/J. Call up the airline & pay 50 quid odd to be bumped up a cabin and at least double your frequent flyer miles.

Don't feel guilty. Clientcos fares are pre negotiated (if they are a large company) and they'll be getting that nice rebate in addition to the offset with HMRC.

Using your own BA AMEX, through the company travel agent would be the goal in the UK. If you can invoice your travel you want to maximise the churn on the card and reap the Avios.

*Not just airlines by the way. On the Caledonian Sleeper an Economy Sleeper for solo use is cheaper than a First class sleeper, because of corporate travel policies not permitting First class tickets.