Cabin class no longer corporate travellers’ biggest concern in a post-Covid world

Corporate travellers’ biggest worry before heading abroad used to be what cabin they were seated in, but the pandemic has changed that.

In a post-pandemic world, corporate travellers are more concerned about the safety of their destination than whether they’re flying business class to get there.

That’s one of the key findings of a survey by World Travel Protection and Opinium designed to gauge the mindset of business travellers post-Covid-19.

The survey asked 2000 people across Australia, Canada, the US and the UK a series of questions about international business travel, with 84 per cent revealing they now felt less confident about heading overseas for work.

World Travel Protection intelligence and security lead Paul Trotter said the pandemic had certainly changed the perspective of business travellers, no matter what their destination.

“Previously travellers were more concerned about what class of travel they were flying, whereas now we are seeing travellers actively refusing to go on some assignments because they don’t believe the destination is safe, or they don’t believe their employer can keep them safe at that destination,” Mr Trotter said.

Central to those concerns was access to airports and flights, with 90 per cent of travellers worried about being stranded overseas in the event things went awry.

Mr Trotter said those fears had clearly arisen from border closures during the pandemic, and sudden mass flight cancellations.

“It’s interesting to see that once bitten, twice shy mentality a lot of people have where if anything could potentially impact their access to airports and airlines, they’ll try to leave the country straight away,” he said.

“We recently saw that in Peru, where hundreds of travellers were impacted by civil unrest that led to an airport blockade. They all wanted to get out immediately, but in the end they just had to wait it out in their hotel room.”

One of the more amusing findings of the survey was that 71 per cent believed their country’s local embassy would help in the event of an emergency, Mr Trotter said.

“It’s an understandable belief, but unfortunately the reality is much different to the perception,” he said.

“An embassy is not a hotel or a bank, it’s an extension of diplomatic will expressed internationally, and it’s really got very little to do with assistance, other than during major events.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s “Smartraveller” guide, still warned against travel to many countries including Egypt, Pakiston, Ecuador, Ethiopia and El Salvador.

Others like the UK, Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, India, Chile and Hong Kong required travellers to exercise a “high degree of caution”,

Mr Trotter said Smartraveller’s advice was a general guide, whereas World Travel Protection provided bespoke briefs taking into account a travellers’ activity, mode of travel and destination.

“If I was travelling to a certain country for holidays my risk would be a lot lower than if I was an executive vice president, travelling somewhere to fire 50 per cent of the workforce,” he said.

“The smartraveller stuff is valuable, but realistically there isn’t a country on earth that is unsafe to travel to, as long as you’re prepared, and you have that information.”

Corporate Traveller general manager Tom Walley said a “travel risk assessment” prior to booking travel was now a necessity for work trips.

He said such an assessment should take into account not only the personal safety of the employee doing the travel, but the legal, financial and data risks for the company.

Originally published as Cabin class no longer corporate travellers’ biggest concern in a post-Covid world