The end of the same-day, out-and-back business air trip has been a long time coming — despite dire predictions of its side-effects. In 1973, a British Airways executive warned of the stress suffered by “businessmen who think that they can be 100 per cent effective on a there-and-back-in-a-day trip”. “Just watch some of our customers losing control of themselves when told of a delayed departure or read complaint letters written in flight or just post-flight,” he told an FT conference.
Travellers are now encouraged to group multiple encounters into fewer, longer trips: three- to five-night stays account for 40 per cent of business travel, according to a GBTA survey. Then comes the recognition that the BA manager’s warnings in 1973 were well-founded. What looks like efficient use of time is in fact a burden on the travelling executive, which any disruption or delay exacerbates. Finally, there is the environmental benefit of scrapping day-return flying.