Travelling as a contractor

[Scoi]

I've been asked to attend a meeting the other side of the world for the second time in as many months. First time was last minute so i left it to the secretary to sort out travel arrangements, the PM told her what class I should be in. On return someone asked how it was, I explained that a 13 hour flight in Economy+ isn't the best and was asked why I wasn't in business as the policy is >5 hours and you get the upgrade.

Is there any argument that I should be treated as a full time employee should or is it a negative of being a contractor?

[NotAllThere]

You DON'T want to be treated as an employee. You need to negotiate on a different basis - like arriving fresh, being more productive. All the reasons they use for employees travelling business clas. Is anything about travel written into your contract?

Mine says that all travel for my client is economy. If I'm asked to fly thirteen hours, then unless they pay for business class, I'll decline.

[Scoi]

Nothing in my contract unfortunately. I think its down to the right arguments for the upgrade. I have a good relationship with my pseudo line manager who is on my side but the PM who holds the budget, I've barely met him and is trying to claw back money on a loss making project so is billing the client for the upgrade and sending me on the cheap. Don't want to cause tension by giving an ultimatum as its time for contract renewal.

The bad thing is I agreed to go and only now thought about the seats, should have said 'only if you sort out my flight class' when originally asked. Hindsight

[Scoi]

On a slightly different note, what hours to book while travelling. 13 hour flight + 2 hours at the airport + 1 hour taxi this end + 1 hour to get out of airport and into hotel. 34 hours total, is that pushing it if I don't actually work on the flight?

6 months into contracting so its all new to me.

[bless 'em all]

On a slightly different note, what hours to book while travelling. 13 hour flight + 2 hours at the airport + 1 hour taxi this end + 1 hour to get out of airport and into hotel. 34 hours total, is that pushing it if I don't actually work on the flight?

That sounds about right. You're not a charity, so why would you want to do all of that for free?

Be up front and tell your PM or whatever that this is the way it is. It's up to him to decide.

[northernladuk]

I have done this quite a few times. The reason for the >5 upgrade is on health and safety reasons. The few clients I have travelled with all had this policy and it covered contractors as well. As they are sending you they hold some responsibility. I paid for the flights and invoiced as normal but they were all more than happy for me to follow the same process. It isn't about permie/contractor it is about the company asking you to do something and then imposing limitations that could leave them open to trouble.

If they want you to fly for 13 hours and won't let you upgrade they will be held liable if you get DVT for example.

[northernladuk]

On a slightly different note, what hours to book while travelling. 13 hour flight + 2 hours at the airport + 1 hour taxi this end + 1 hour to get out of airport and into hotel. 34 hours total, is that pushing it if I don't actually work on the flight?

6 months into contracting so its all new to me.

Personally, I enjoyed the travel and my client was pretty flexible with a bit of spare time at the other end to look around and not expecting me in the office before or after (depending on timings) to recover from jetlag and hassle. I didn't feel the need to bill him for all the extra time as we were able to come to a suitable agreement.

I would say think about what you want from this, bit of time exploring at your destination, some downtime after to relax or just cold hard cash for every hour spent. Take that to the client and see what he says. From my experience of travel the project understands the hassle and are pretty understanding.

[Scoi]

I'm all about the bottom line, can't handle the humidity out there. Maybe i can be a little less bothered about sitting in cattle if i can hear the bank account ticking over whilst eating rubbish food and watching movies. Still worth a shot, its the difference between a bronze and silver card as well.

[Paddy]

Any travel I have agreed with client co; payment starts from leaving home. I do not get up at 3am to get a 6am flight for free. No other profession does that either.

[psychocandy]

Any travel I have agreed with client co; payment starts from leaving home. I do not get up at 3am to get a 6am flight for free. No other profession does that either.

Not so easy if you're on a daily rate though is it?