A look into the world of the traveling businessman from the perspective of a outside observer.
Photo by webintravel.com
By: Rachel Cooper
In 2017, passenger traffic at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport amounted to 103.9 million passengers boarding or exiting planes, making it the busiest airport in the world. Sitting in front of Gate D8 three weeks ago in the Atlanta Airport I could see it with my own eyes. In two hours, I watched hundreds of people stream by traveling from all over the world --families, elderly couples, college students, honeymooners, adventurers. I had been in the Atlanta airport before, but this time what stood out to me, just because of their sheer numbers, was a unique class of traveler, the businessman.
As soon as I walked into the airport and got in line at the general, regular people TSA security checkpoint, there they were cruising past me in the TSA pre-check line with an air of yes, I am better than you and I know it. I got through security and suddenly they multiplied, businessmen, men in their thirties to their fifties, faking prestige. They were wearing blue or white button down shirts, black slacks, khaki pants, or dark jeans, and the younger men sometimes pushed the dress code and wore collared shirts. Black, old school shoes that need to be shined are usually the traveling businessman shoe of choice, but brown or black loafers are acceptable. Almost always they were donning glasses and a fancy watch.
Before their flight, I found them puttering around the airport newsstand stores, flipping through local newspapers and business magazines. But they ended up eventually just buying a smart water. They then walked quickly to their gate holding a coffee. A coffee that was always hot, never iced, and always larger than a small and smaller than a large. They made it to the gate in time to board with the rest of their premium zone buddies and by buddies I mean the other traveling businessmen with whom they exchanged a nod of approval and maybe a short conversation about the weather or the destination they were headed toward or their business. Bulky gold bands on their ring finger showed that most traveling businessmen were married, but they tended to travel alone. Sometimes they ventured in packs like the seagulls from Finding Nemo, and the young travelers, likely newlyweds, sat at their gate looking down at their phones like their family would magically materialize from a picture or a phone call. They then proceeded to stare wistfully into the distance.
I fly about three times a year. Almost always it’s to and from home and college. I don’t think a lot about people for whom it’s their entire culture and way of being. It’s odd that they’re so at home in the airport. Seeing so many businessmen made me wonder about them and how it seemed that the airport actually belonged to them.
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According to SAP Concur, a cloud-based provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, the kind of business travel we know today didn’t take off until after World War II when there was surplus of aircrafts left over after the war. The Douglas DC-3 began flying people from New York to Los Angeles in the same day proving that commercial air travel was possible and profitable. Businesses realized that although flying was expensive, it was worth it to expand their markets.
In 1958, a global aerospace and defense tech company began selling the first business airplanes. By the 1960s, aviation had become the preferred mode of transportation for business in America. And according to the Global Business Travel Association, in 2016 alone, Americans took more than 500 million domestic business trips. And in 2017, according to the U.S. Travel Association, U.S. residents logged 462.0 million trips for business purposes.
Because of the frequency of their travel, an entire set of benefits accrues to them - including airline lounges, TSA pre-check, flight rewards, and first class seats.
Some businessmen take these advantages to the extreme. One business traveler I saw walked inside the Delta Sky Lounge wearing his sunglasses indoors, and when stopped at the entrance of the lounge to be cleared for entry, got visibly annoyed and spoke rudely to the poor young man whose job it was to check those walking through the cloudy glass doors. Even with all these things that make make air travel less stressful, clearly it still is very stressful for some people.
A study of health insurance claims among World Bank staff and consultants found that travelers had significantly higher claims than their non-traveling peers for all conditions considered, including chronic diseases such as asthma and back disorders. The highest increase in health related claims was for the stress-related disorders. A second World Bank study found that almost 75% of the staff reported high stress related to business travel. The benefits can only do so much to limit the disadvantages of constant travel.
When it was about the time that the screen over the gate desk said the plane was supposed begin the boarding process, the businessmen got a little antsy. They stood up and took off their sports jacket and draped it over the handle of their rolling carry on as the universal symbol to the flight staff that they were ready to go. They continued to stand, looking around as if coaxing the entire population of travelers at their gate to join them in protest that, God forbid, the plane was boarding four minutes later than the time on their ticket. Finally, the plane began to board and when first class and premium members were invited to board, it was like they thought that the plane was going to leave without them if they weren’t the first ones to make it to the desk to scan their ticket.
The rest of the flight boarded and as I walked through first class on the way to my economy seat in the back of the plane, I was the lucky recipient of condescending little looks as the traveling businessman got in a last minute business call, flipped through this week’s stock numbers in the New York Times, began their crossword puzzle from the local newspaper, or looked official writing something on their laptop until forced to put it away for takeoff. I finally pushed past the snobby glances, and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. No way. There was a little closet right behind first class for the businessmen to hang their sports jackets. They had their own closet on the plane but I couldn’t take my small suitcase onboard because there wasn’t enough room in the overhead compartment.
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Two hours later, I landed at my destination. The pilot hadn’t even turned off the fasten seatbelt sign yet but best believe the businessmen were up and ready and pulling their carry ons out of the overhead bin. Must be the first off. Places to go and people to see. So, to the peasantry of the travel community like myself, I would suggest getting out of their way. They seemed to not even see me as they stormed through the airport holding their iPad inches from their face, yelling into Facetime.
As I thought about the people who the airport and the airlines were catering to, I realized that it was clearly the business travelers. It all revolved around them. But then, I thought, how long will business travel continue to exist? For all that the traveling business lifestyle and technology have done to alter air travel, I wondered if it was necessary to actually go somewhere to do business anymore?
Most of the businessmen I had already seen were walking around like their cell phones were glued to their ear and every call was of the utmost importance. The veterans of business travel had an earpiece so when they walked right behind me saying “I need the notes on that meeting in the next hour” I wondered what meeting I had missed and I had a brief second of panic wondering where I was supposed to get the notes. Some of them were even Facetiming and walking, holding the phone directly in front of their face. And several were wearing Beats over their head talking obnoxiously loud into them, unable to hear their own vocal volume through the soundproof headphones. According to Travel and Transport, there are ten things that every business traveler needs: a wireless device charger, an electronic device organizer, a baggage tracker, sleep aids, a wireless touchpad, a lightweight carry on, a pocket projector, a portable humidifier, multi-tool collar stays, and noise-cancelling headphones. But even as technology make teleworking possible in many industries, others still prefer the face-to-face meeting. According to the Global Business Travel Association, business travelers most often work for industries such as food processing and services, utilities, professional and business services, social and personal services, transportation services, government, wholesale trade, construction, or real estate. According to Forbes, 94% of American business leaders believe that travel experience directly leads to a competitive advantage in the workplace. Traveling for business teaches important business lessons like the ability to adapt, better communication, teamwork skills, cultural awareness, time management, networking, working with constraints, and leadership. All of which are put to the test in airline travel even if just in a conversation with fellow businessmen at the gate.
The overall makeup of the workforce who fly for business is also changing. According to the United States Department of Transportation, the typical business traveler is likely to be male, 20-49 years old, and have an income well above the population average. Even if they are mostly middle-aged men, according to Inc. Magazine, business traveling women and millennials are on the rise and changing the game. Although right now women make up about a fourth of business travelers, those numbers are expected to increase until women make up almost half of business travelers in the coming years.
These travelers have different expectations. Traveling business women tend to value information about what to do and what to expect in their destination cities more so than their male counterparts. This is partly due to the fact that women traveling alone face higher travel safety risks, and knowing more about where they are staying and the places where they are going at their destination, helps ensure safety. Millennial business travelers are changing the game as well by extending their trips to add leisure activities. Older men are moving out of positions of power and Forbes predicts that the new generation will make up more than 50% of business travelers by 2020.
Sounds like the businessmen I saw in the Atlanta airport will look a little bit different in the years to come. As the number of business travelers become women and millennials, some things will change. The next generation of younger travelers are more technology dependent and overall feel more entitled to certain things. I think we’ll see a rise in virtual communication with traveling businessmen and fancier lounges and bigger benefits instead of just faster lines at security. Women will change travel business by being more involved in the cities they visit, adding more to the local economies through dining and shopping. Business travel will continue to change with the times and I look forward to observing these changes during my future flight travels.