Oh those precious corporate travellers with their gripes about business lounges being full of normal folk these days and the wine not chilled enough when they turn left on entering an aircraft.
Not really.
But Carlson Wagonlit Travel has taken a look at what REALLY annoys business travellers when they hit the road, speaking to 6,000 regular jet-setters from nine global companies.
The study asked travellers to rank 33 co-called stress factors that can occur at different stages of a journey according to how much it winds them up.
It discovered there are basically three categories of stress associated with business travel: incidents which break a routine; surprises; and when time is lost.
Alongside pulling together the list of top worries, CWT found:
- Stress increases with age and the frequency of travel (perhaps not to surprising there)
- Women are generally more stressed out than men
- Top execs are generally more stressed out (probably not entirely travel-related)
- North Americans have higher stress levels than those from other countries when faced with a language they do not know
So here, in order of greatest stress triggers (look out for the tech, web and distribution-related anxieties):
- Lost or delayed baggage
- Poor/no internet connection
- Flying economy on medium and long haul
- Delays
- Inconvenient departure/arrival times
- Low hotel category
- Inconvenient hotel location
- Last-minute requested trips
- Not able to eat healthily
- Travelling during weekends
- Length of journey to reach destination
- Flying indirect versus direct
- Required visa application
- Not able to maintain workout routine
- Getting through customs and security
- New language at destination
- Using restricted fares
- Reimbursement
- Geopolitical context at destination
- Long stays (+3 nights)
- Flying to a new destination
- Working long hours at destination
- Different time zone (jetlag)
- Getting to the airport/station
- Immigration control at destination
- Flying a non-preferred airline
- Using an online booking tool
- Carrying cash
- Flying economy on short haul
- Renting a car
- Contacting a travel agent
- Taking a taxi
- Fear of flying
The importance of reliable internet access is paramount again, although some maybe be surprised that passing through customs and security did not feature higher than 15th spot.
Fear of flying? Shouldn't have accepted the promotion there...
NB:Angry business traveller image via Shutterstock.