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schwa
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Yap
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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:42 am Post subject: airfare from a management perspective |
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Hypothetical scenario.
A program gets big, say hundreds of teachers. They have standard contracts guaranteeing reimbursement for airfare (in & out for one year, return fares for those who recontract).
How can a program keep a lid on teachers buying over-the-top expensive tickets (lazy last-minute purchases, undiscounted direct-through-airline tickets, etc) -- sometimes double or triple the cost of a conscientiously bought ticket.
You can see the potential for hemorrhaging budget. What would be a fair way to deal with that?
Setting destination caps? Mandating approved agents? Other ideas? |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:44 am Post subject: Re: airfare from a management perspective |
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| schwa wrote: |
Hypothetical scenario.
A program gets big, say hundreds of teachers. They have standard contracts guaranteeing reimbursement for airfare (in & out for one year, return fares for those who recontract).
How can a program keep a lid on teachers buying over-the-top expensive tickets (lazy last-minute purchases, undiscounted direct-through-airline tickets, etc) -- sometimes double or triple the cost of a conscientiously bought ticket.
You can see the potential for hemorrhaging budget. What would be a fair way to deal with that?
Setting destination caps? Mandating approved agents? Other ideas? |
I worked for a large international company in Canada as a co-op student. They have hundreds, maybe even thousands of students every year go through them. Instead of a plane ticket, I got an upfront travel allowance. How I spent that allowance was up to me, but if I was careful with my spending I could've saved a few dollars, if I wasn't careful, I would've been paying some of the ticket price out of my own pocket. I think from an accounting perspective, this makes a lot more sense. Even if theoretically they could save some money by only paying the ticket price, the logistics of it all makes it more expensive. |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:08 am Post subject: |
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| A travel allowance seems to be the best route here. |
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paquebot
Joined: 20 Jun 2007
Location: Northern Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:08 am Post subject: Re: airfare from a management perspective |
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| schwa wrote: |
Hypothetical scenario. [...] You can see the potential for hemorrhaging budget. What would be a fair way to deal with that?
Setting destination caps? Mandating approved agents? Other ideas? |
One of the contracts sent my way included an allowance limit for airfare - the school would pay up to 1.2 million Won. Anything extra the teacher could keep, anything over would require paying out of pocket. This figure was used to cover (1) arrival in Korea to start a contract, (2) flying home at the end of the contract, or (3) to cover the cost of flying to Japan for a visa run. |
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icicle
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
Location: Gyeonggi do Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:03 am Post subject: Re: airfare from a management perspective |
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| paquebot wrote: |
| schwa wrote: |
Hypothetical scenario. [...] You can see the potential for hemorrhaging budget. What would be a fair way to deal with that?
Setting destination caps? Mandating approved agents? Other ideas? |
One of the contracts sent my way included an allowance limit for airfare - the school would pay up to 1.2 million Won. Anything extra the teacher could keep, anything over would require paying out of pocket. This figure was used to cover (1) arrival in Korea to start a contract, (2) flying home at the end of the contract, or (3) to cover the cost of flying to Japan for a visa run. |
The other side of a fixed price payment for the travel is that it does cost different amounts of money to travel to Korea from different countries ... and indeed different amounts of money depending on the time of year that you are travelling (which is not always in the control of the person travelling) ... The single biggest thing which would probably end up reducing travel costs for Korean employers is actually starting to plan ahead of time ... in lining up new employees .... so that they can actually buy tickets enough ahead of time to get good discount tickets ... rather than the extra amount that buying tickets just before departure adds
Icicle |
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oneofthesarahs
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Location: Sacheon City
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:19 am Post subject: |
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I used to work at a scholarship foundation that had a similar problem. We had a summer retreat every year, and part of the budget was flying the scholars to and from Washington, DC each year. It was really starting to eat up the budget. Here's what we did to save money:
1. Set a deadline that is a week before what any actual deadline would be. That way, the people who were past deadline would feel guilty about being late, and would hustle to get their stuff reserved, even though in reality they were perfectly on time.
2. Work with a travel agent. We had the scholars directly contact an agent with their plans. This saved us money in lots of ways. The agent could find the cheapest tickets for us, and it centralized our payment. We also got racked up some mighty frequent flier miles. |
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Bear256
Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Location: Anacortes, Washington USA
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| Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2007 5:32 am Post subject: In reality..... |
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I am starting my 5th year in Korea this next September 1st and my 4th year at this public school. I ask them about my scheduled vacation at least 3 months in advance and have never gotten an answer right away. They are incapable of planning that far ahead. When I mention the difference in price between buying early and last minute, they call a special meeting of all the teachers and plan when I can take vacation. This allows me time to watch airline websites and travel agents to see when I can get the best price. My flights to Thailand fluctuate 400,000 won from day to day.
In my experience, last minute tickets are the specialty of this country as no one in any position of authority wants to tell anyone anything until they absolutely have to. It's all part of the "I'm the boss/God here" attitude that passes for management in Korea. |
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