What exactly do you fly on business for?

Rome, GA wrote:

It's usually old people who don't want to learn how to use skype.

Funny to see your handle - I'm in Rome, GA for a few weeks working at the paper mill teaching them how to use some new industrial equipment. It's a nice little town and is my first time spending a decent stretch of days in GA.

@OP - my work travel usually involves commissioning industrial equipment that my employer builds (aka starting it up and using it for the first time). Then there is time spent training the customer how to use it.

working class folk wrote:

When people fly somewhere for business what do they do? What do you do? I live inside the 90k acres of forest we manage, so like, I don’t travel much for work.

are you really this dense?

Aye good to see someone else in the timber business :p even if the paper mill is dealing with smol trees hehehe

Lmao a simple get-to-know the letsrun community question results in someone getting triggered. Who would have thought?

There are times where I have flown to the home office or parent company's office.

You get a lot more out the face-to-face time than you get can out of phone calls, video conferences and emails.

Your working relationship improves and that can lead to better productivity.

That said, I am sure there are more trips than necessary to accomplish this.

And sales people do better when they meet clients in person.

That simply leads to more money, so they expense is easily justified.

Manage people. Hard to form relationships via technology only.

Good question! I spent 30+ years working for a Fortune 50 corporation and I can tell you that 85% of the meetings that I flew to could have been conducted via video-conference...probably more effectively than the stupid waste of time involved in flying.

total waste of time, money, and energy

There is an unspoken pact among business travelers:

"I love my family and my beautiful children, but let's take off for a couple nights a month and eat out without managing kids and get drunk in the hotel bar."

Unless you are a process or safety engineer, you don't have to see it, whatever is. And you never have to see them, whomever they are.

Flew there wrote:

Good question! I spent 30+ years working for a Fortune 50 corporation and I can tell you that 85% of the meetings that I flew to could have been conducted via video-conference...probably more effectively than the stupid waste of time involved in flying.

total waste of time, money, and energy

Well, video-conferencing didn't exist when you started, and it's really only in the last decade that it's gotten really good.

I'm a litigator. I travel to meet clients (always a 1-on-1 for the first meeting). I travel to take depositions. I travel for court hearings. Sometimes I travel to conferences or to do moot courts before an important argument.

To reach my destination.

Conferences mostly, I sit and listen to people smarter than me.

I fly to meet people in person to generate new business. Can’t do that on the web, unless you are a cam girl, I suppose. I own my own company with 50 employees, and though I can afford it I personally do not consider business class worth the extra expense unless I’m very pressed for time and need to sleep. Working yourself too hard can make you sick. Sometimes with multiple international trips in a row I pay the biz class fare to avoid that. Otherwise, economy. No fly=my business shrinks. I do not care about the warm nuts or champagne or “prestige”.