I'm a union chairman that works with my airlines scheduling department. We're looking to see what alternative ways to book travel and hotels exist. I feel that the fractionals have the closest travel requirements (on the fly, last minute bookings, etc.) to what my carrier does.

I'm looking for how your carrier books it's travel needs? Do you have an in-house travel department or do you use a third party to book travel and hotels? In what kind of time frame is your travel booked? Is it mostly booked on a last minute basis or can/does your company book it in advance.

Feel free to respond to the thread or PM me.

Thanks

I'm not the expert but I do sit on the receiving end...

All travel/hotel booked last minute (even SWA A-listers get no A) and is done in house. They tried to have a third party do it, but it ended up more expensive/hassle. The common destinations have a number of preferred hotels and they go down the list if they are full. For uncommon places, usually a hilton/holiday inn brand is undisputed. Best info for a new travel department is the local FBO, most have great discounts for crews. Sometimes hotel contracts can be made, but you need to have a fair bit of financial muscle to make it worth your time.

It boils down to having good people making good decisions to keep the employees and accountants happy. Oh, and did I mention use the local FBO??