staff travel info

How can we help?

• What is StaffTraveler?
• Contact support
• How to get StaffTraveler?
• Inviting friends
• Is StaffTraveler only for non-rev loads?
• I can’t log in
• Where is StaffTraveler located?
• I represent an airline and have some questions regarding StaffTraveler
• View all articles in “General”

Joining StaffTraveler

• How can I join StaffTraveler?
• Can I only join StaffTraveler if I currently work for an airline?
• How can I prove that I work(ed) for an airline?
• Where do I send my proof of employment?
• I'm the spouse of someone who works for an airline. Can I join?
• I'm a family member of someone who works for an airline. Can I join?
• My account is pending, what does that mean?
• Problems with verifying your email address
• View all articles in “Joining StaffTraveler”
• How to request flight loads?
• How to read loads?
• How to request an update of the loads?
• I want to fly from A to B via C, why does this cost two credits?
• My request does not get answered
• The loads I got are incorrect
• I got old load information
• Deleting a request
• View all articles in “Requests”

Responding to requests

• Responding to a request
• I don't get a chance to answer requests
• I have access to the loads of multiple airlines
• My company doesn’t allow us to respond to flights, can I still use StaffTraveler?
• I updated loads but did not receive a credit
• What do the codes in my booking system mean?
• I've accidentally entered the wrong loads, what do I do?
• The credit system explained
• How to get credits?
• I bought credits but don't see them in my account
• Do credits expire?
• What do credits cost?
• How many credits does a request cost?
• An error occurs when purchasing credits
• Changing your name
• Changing your email address
• Changing your profile picture
• Changing your airline
• Changing your home base
• Privacy settings
• How to change my password?
• Changing your credit card
• View all articles in “Settings”

Notifications

• Managing notifications
• I'm not receiving notifications
• Commenting anonymously
• Does StaffTraveler keep a record of the flights I responded to?
• Does StaffTraveler sell my information?
• What information does StaffTraveler store about me?
• When I respond to requests, I don’t want anyone to see my name
• How can StaffTraveler have such low rates?
• Browsing deals on your computer
• How can I manage my hotel or rental car booking?
• How and where do I find car rental prices?
• I have a question about my booking
• Which airlines are represented on StaffTraveler?
• Where do I find airline-specific, non-rev related info?
• I represent an airline
• Thai Airways
• Turkish Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• View all articles in “Airlines”

Collaborations

• I have a business I’d like to promote on StaffTraveler
• Jackpot requests
• Auto updates
• Pin flights
• Favorite your most used airports
• Flight search filters
• Swipe requests to pin or delete
• Quick date picker
• Re-use recently used routes or flight numbers
• View all articles in “Features”
• How to choose the ideal cruise
• Before booking
• After booking
• I need help, who do I contact?
• Eligibility - Who qualifies, and how many cabins can I book?
• VISAs and vaccinations
• Who will process my booking?
• Who holds my money and will process payment?
• View all articles in “Cruises”

Preferences

• Choose a 12 or 24 hour clock format
• Select the starting day for your calendar

• StaffTraveler
• Download app

Introducing the Global StaffTraveler eSIM

Non-rev travel hacks: 9 insider tips from airline employees, spanish and french information now available on the stafftraveler blog, latest in travel  ‣, improving the non-rev ticketing experience.

Discover 7 Fascinating Plane Wrecks

Airports of Wonder: Discover the 5 World’s Most Facilities-Rich Airports

Unveiling the 9 Best Sustainable Safari Destinations Worldwide

24 Hours in  ‣

24 hours in buenos aires.

24 Hours in Marrakesh

24 Hours in Kyoto

24 Hours in Cartagena

Crew life  ‣

Cabin vs. cockpit: differences between pilots and flight attendants.

#33 Monique’s Beach Wedding

#26 Three’s a company

#25 workin your perx with jay.

• Off the beaten track

February 7, 2024

A Love Story from the Sky

Love knows no bounds, not even the confines of airport terminals and…

January 22, 2024

The Ultimate Guide to Understanding ‘Sellable Seats’

Uncover the mysteries behind 'Sellable Seats' for non-rev travelers in…

January 11, 2024

Meet Casey: Your Trusted AI Travel Chatbot

AI Chatbot Casey is bringing a lot of knowledge about aviation and a…

January 3, 2024

It's time to revamp the non-rev ticketing experience! How would a 5-star…

January 1, 2024

Your Guide to Balloon Cities and Hub Connections

Standby travel—it’s the thrill of spontaneity blended with exploration, an…

December 11, 2023

Swipe Away with Ease: Delete and Pin Requests in a Flash!

Don't you love the satisfaction of swiping something away to delete it? So…

December 10, 2023

Stay Organized with Pinned Flights

Do you need help keeping track of the flights you are listed on? We've got…

November 26, 2023

How to Respond to Flight Load Requests on StaffTraveler

Learn how to respond to load requests on StaffTraveler and earn credits…

November 14, 2023

24 Hours in Shanghai

October 16, 2023

Book Hotel Rooms at Discounted Rates with StaffTraveler

At StaffTraveler, you have the exclusive opportunity to book hotel rooms…

October 9, 2023

From dive sites to jungle expeditions, explore the world of plane wrecks

September 29, 2023

New on StaffTraveler: Book Cruises and Save up to 95% off!

Starting today, enjoy up to 90% off the original brochure price when you…

Privacy Preference Center

Privacy preferences.

404 Not found

Employee Wellness Is a Growing Priority in Business Travel

Ed Robertson, Skift

April 9th, 2024 at 8:52 AM EDT

Employee wellness had often been an afterthought prior to the pandemic, but more companies are devoting resources to prevent staff from burnout during their work trips.

Business travel has always been unhealthy. If you were into wellness, business travel coordinators might identify local healthy restaurants and hotels with gyms. 

Covid changed that.  

“The wellness concept was flipped on its head by Covid,” said Josh Gunn, head of product marketing for Corporate Travel Management .

“It was less about people getting more out of their trip and more about stopping them getting ill. What we’re doing now is much more focused on the people who are at risk of burnout.”

As a result, the business travel management company has taken a more personalized approach to looking after each individual traveler. It has set up a score system for clients to measure both the amount of travel and how rough an itinerary is, with the idea being to better track the potential health impact. 

This can take into account early starts, red-eye flights, last-minute trips, and long-haul itineraries — all of which can stress a business traveler’s body and mind. CTM staff can make alternative suggestions for a trip, such as adding a hotel stay the night before an early meeting.

“We can put this into the hands of line managers and heads of departments, so they have a better understanding of how much their people are traveling,” Gunn said. 

All-Encompassing Care

Global Travel Collection Vice President Francesca Mendola said the company has focused on adopting a more holistic approach to encourage business travelers to keep healthy habits on the road.

It has previously arranged for yoga mats and Peloton bikes to be delivered to a client’s room, so they can maintain their fitness regimens on the road. The company would like to see more partnerships with local gyms allowing travelers to join classes while away.

GTC staff have even arranged to have some clients’ favorite scent in their room when they arrive. Meanwhile, clients are increasingly incorporating leisure travel with their families into their business trips.

“Providing business travelers with elements of calm or a sense of a home away from home when they return to their room after a long day of traveling keeps them recharged throughout their trip and less disrupted,” Mendola said. 

Business Travel Association Chief Executive Clive Wratten welcomed the focus on wellness but warned the industry still needs to do more to understand the impact of extensive business travel on a person and introduce more programs to keep people healthy.

“This is really important if you want the top people working for you and delivering,” he said, adding that companies need to go beyong introducing blanket policies. He pointed out that a 25-year-old business traveler will have very different needs from someone in their 60s.

“There’s still a long way for companies to go to take it to that level.”

The Daily Newsletter

Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: corporate travel , corporate travel management , health , mental health , wellness

Photo credit: A swimming pool in a hotel Rawpixel

• Share full article

Planning to Combine Business and Leisure Travel? You’re Not Alone.

As employees increasingly add leisure time to their business trips, companies are trying to figure out where their duty of care obligations begin and end.

Credit... Aart-Jan Venema

Supported by

By Amy Zipkin

• April 7, 2024

On a Sunday in late January, Melinda Buchmann, who lives in Florida and supervises client relations for RevShoppe, a 30-person remote company advising organizations on sales techniques and strategies, arrived in Banff, Alberta, to help set up a four-day company meeting.

The last day of the event, her husband, Josh, a director of strategic partnerships for the delivery company DoorDash , who also works remotely, joined her. They spent two leisurely days hiking in Banff National Park and visiting Lake Louise.

“I take advantage, because I don’t know when I’m going to return,” Ms. Buchmann said of the decision to combine downtime with a business trip.

As postpandemic work life has changed, and arrangements now include full-time office attendance as well as hybrid and remote work, so, too, has business travel. The phenomenon known as bleisure, or blended business and leisure travel, was initially embraced largely by digital nomads . But such combined travel is now also popular with people outside that group . Allied Market Research, a subsidiary of Allied Analytics, based in Portland, Ore., estimated that the bleisure travel market was $315.3 billion in 2022 and would reach $731.4 billion by 2032.

As employees increasingly add leisure time to their business trips, companies are struggling to determine where their legal obligation to protect employees from harm — their so-called duty of care — begins and ends. And workers may think that because their trip started with business, they will get all the help they need if something goes wrong on the leisure end. Instead, they should generally consider the leisure part of a trip as a regular vacation where they cover all expenses and contingencies.

Companies are responsible for knowing where their employees are during a business trip, covering expenses if an accident or emergency occurs, securing new lodging if a hotel is damaged, even swapping out a broken down rental car. Still, it’s not entirely clear if that coverage ends completely after the conference or the last client meeting.

Companies recognize that threats are increasing, said Robert Cole, senior research analyst focusing on lodging and leisure travel at Phocuswright, a market research company. They are trying to figure out how to take care of a valuable company resource, the employee, without leaving themselves open to financial risk or potential litigation.

“Crafting a comprehensive policy that balances business objectives, employee well-being and legal considerations can be challenging,” Nikolaos Gkolfinopoulos, head of tourism at ICF, a consulting and technology services company in Reston, Va., wrote in an email.

Employees may be on their own without realizing it and may be surprised by out-of-pocket expenses if they require hospital care abroad or evacuation, said Suzanne Morrow, chief executive of InsureMyTrip , an online insurance travel comparison site in Warwick, R.I.

Ms. Morrow said medical coverage provided by a company “is generally only for the dates of the actual business trip abroad.” If travelers are extending the trip for personal travel, she added, “they would want to secure emergency medical coverage for that additional time abroad.”

Employers and employees are left to figure out when the business portion of the trip ends and the leisure segment begins, a significant detail if an employee has a medical emergency. “Where does the corporation liability end?” said Kathy Bedell, senior vice president at BCD Travel, a travel management company.

Companies have varying policies to deal with the new travel amalgam. The chief executive of RevShoppe, Patricia McLaren, based in Austin, Texas, said the company provided flexible travel options and allowed employees to work anywhere they choose.

Even so, there are constraints. The company requires all employees, including executives, to sign liability and insurance waivers when they are on a voluntary company-sponsored trip, such as an off-site meeting. Such waivers typically place responsibility on employees for their own well-being. And if they bring someone, they are responsible for that person’s expenses.

Employees are responsible for requesting the paid time off and notifying their managers of their whereabouts, although that part is not a requirement. Managers have to ensure adequate staffing, Ms. McLaren said.

Elsewhere, employees may not bother to mention the leisure portion of their trip. Eliot Lees, a vice president and managing director at ICF, said he had been on trips as a child with his parents when they combined business and leisure. His parents were academics, who would piggyback vacations onto conferences.

Now he does the same. “I don’t think I ever asked for approval,” he said. (ICF has no formal business-leisure travel policy. It’s allowed as part of personal time off.) After a conference in the Netherlands last year, he spent four days hiking in the northern part of the country.

“I go anywhere, and take more risks than I should,” he said. He said he didn’t carry personal travel or accident insurance.

Any nonchalance may quickly evaporate if a threat emerges. Security experts say even low-risk locations can become high-risk for a few days or weeks of the year.

“Companies are concerned about losing visibility into a traveler’s whereabouts if they booked flights and hotels outside their corporate travel management company,” Benjamin Thorne, senior intelligence manager in London for Crisis24, a subsidiary of GardaWorld, wrote in an email. “The company may think the traveler is in one city when, in reality, they could have booked a holiday package to another nearby city. This lack of visibility by the company makes it difficult to support travelers when a disaster occurs.”

He also raised the possibility that “a traveler with bleisure travel reservations and expectations may find their work trip canceled due to changes in the risk environment or company policy, disrupting their leisure plans.”

Will a company step in off hours if there’s a problem? “That depends on how you are booked,” Mr. Cole, the senior research analyst at Phocuswright, said. A rule of thumb is the further you get from corporate control, the greater the gray area gets.

Half of GoldSpring Consulting’s clients take the responsibility for the entire trip, said Will Tate, a partner at the consultancy based in Cross Roads, Texas, and a certified public accountant. They don’t want the reputational risk. The other half say: “The business trip ended Friday. That’s when we end our duty of care.”

Some companies are trying to define and narrow the gray area. “If you are clearly on personal time, there is no legal requirement for your employer to provide for you,” said Nicole Page, a lawyer whose practice includes employment law at Reavis Page Jump in New York.

Uber provides employees with advisories before a trip, travel assessments, safety tips while traveling and emergency travel assistance, including medical aid, airport travel support, urgent and emergency assistance, and lost or stolen personal property insurance whether they are on business or pleasure travel or a combination.

And at DoorDash, Chris Cherry, head of global safety and security, wrote in an email that “while personal travel is not something we track, we have received requests to extend our travel support capabilities to personal travel.” Mr. Cherry said in those cases, the company has manually added employee leisure itineraries to its travel risk management system and “provided the same level of overwatch that we do for regular business travel.”

The Buchmanns plan to travel this month to Barcelona, Spain, for the McDonald’s Worldwide Convention. DoorDash will have a booth, and Mr. Buchmann will work on the exhibit floor and also entertain clients.

Ms. Buchmann will accompany him. She plans to go sightseeing in the morning, and work in the afternoons and evenings Barcelona time. She will also take three days of paid time off and has shared her plans with Ms. McLaren, the RevShoppe chief executive.

They will stay a day after the conference and plan to visit the Dalí Theater and Museum in Figueres. “I’m sure there will be no shortage of tapas and window shopping along way,” Mr. Buchmann said. He expects to be back at work the next Monday.

Explore Our Business Coverage

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping the world of business..

Stopping a Huge Cyberattack: A Microsoft engineer noticed something was off on a piece of software he worked on. He soon discovered someone was probably trying to gain access to computers all over the world .

Hoping for an A.I. Productivity Boost:  Economists doubt that A.I. is already visible in productivity data . Big companies, however, talk often about adopting it to improve efficiency.

Cashing In on Graffiti:  Brands, developers and even officials are embracing the global appeal of street art , but the boom comes with questions about preserving a neighborhood’s cultural cachet.

‘Twitter Menace’ or True Believer?: The deep-pocketed tech investor Garry Tan says he wants to save San Francisco. But his pugnacious online habits are making him enemies .

A C.E.O.’s Bold Claims:  Amira Yahyaoui, a human rights activist, promoted the success of her student aid start-up, Mos. Some of her statements do not add up .

Advertisement

Solar eclipse path across New York and how long will it last: Explore these interactive maps

The first total  eclipse over New York in 99 years  will be visible April 8. It's a sight not to be missed. Should you skip this one, the next total solar eclipse that can be seen in the United States will be in 2044 (visible in North Dakota and Montana) and 2045 (crossing from California to Florida.)

In addition to New York, the eclipse will travel through 11 other states. Two others (Tennessee and Michigan) will see small parts of it.

The shadow will be traveling at an average of about 2,300 miles per hour across New York state and will only take about 10 minutes, from one side of state to the other, said Dan Schneiderman, of Rochester Museum & Science Center.

Across North America, notable cities in the path of totality include Mazatlán and Torreón, Mexico; San Antonio, Austin and Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Buffalo and Rochester, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and most of Montreal, Canada.

Follow the path of totality for solar eclipse 2024

What time will eclipse be on april 8, 2024, in westchester and new york city.

The Hudson Valley will not be in the path of totality but will see between 88 and 99 percent coverage. Starting at 2:11 p.m. April 8 in Westchester County, the moon will begin to appear to move in front of the sun. Maximum coverage begins at 3:25 p.m. By 4:36 p.m. the moon will have moved past the sun returning the light to normal.

2024 total solar eclipse arrival times in US

What happens during total solar eclipse.

The moon will line up perfectly between the Earth and the sun, blotting out the sunlight. It will take just a couple hours for the moon's shadow to slice a diagonal line from the southwest to the northeast across North America, briefly plunging communities along the track into darkness.

Among the cities smack dab in the action: Dallas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis, Cleveland, Ohio; Rochester, Buffalo, New York; and Montreal — making for the continent’s biggest eclipse crowd.

But, practically everyone on the continent can catch at least a partial eclipse. The farther from the path of totality, the smaller the moon’s bite will be out of the sun.

How to safely view the eclipse

Do not look at the sun directly during the eclipse. Sunglasses will not protect your eyes, only use International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 12312-2 certified eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewers  from a trusted source .

The American Astronomical Society states on its website:

• Always inspect your solar filter before use; if scratched, punctured, torn, or otherwise damaged, discard it. Read and follow any instructions printed on or packaged with the filter.
• Always supervise children using solar filters.
• If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on. Put your eclipse glasses on over them, or hold your handheld viewer in front of them.
• Stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer before looking up at the bright Sun. After looking at the Sun, turn away and remove your filter — do  not  remove it while looking at the Sun.
• Do  not  look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed Sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or other optical device.
• Similarly, do not look at the Sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while using your eclipse glasses or handheld solar viewer in front of your eyes — the concentrated solar rays could damage the filter and enter your eyes, causing serious injury.
• Seek expert advice from an astronomer before using a solar filter with a camera, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device; note that solar filters must be attached to the  front  of any telescope, binoculars, camera lens, or other optics.

Specific to the April eclipse:

• If you are inside the path of totality, remove your solar filter  only  when the Moon completely covers the Sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets quite dark. Experience totality, then, as soon as the bright Sun begins to reappear ,  replace your solar viewer to look at the remaining partial phases. Note that this applies only to viewing without optical aid (other than ordinary eyeglasses). Different rules apply when viewing or imaging the Sun through camera lenses, binoculars, or telescopes; consult an expert astronomer before using a solar filter with any type of magnifying optics.
• Outside the path of totality, and throughout a partial solar eclipse, there is no time when it is safe to look directly at the Sun without using a special-purpose solar filter that complies with the transmittance requirements of the  ISO 12312-2 international standard .

One can also indirectly view the eclipse through a pinhole projector, where one views a projected image through a small opening made in an index card or a piece of cardboard paper. Need to know how to make one? The  Jet Propulsion Laboratory  has instructions.

Hartriono B. Sastrowa r doyo contributed to this report

US tells staff in Israel not to travel outside cities amid Iran threat

• Medium Text

The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Sandra Maler

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

World Chevron

Haiti decrees long-awaited transition council, but questions remain.

Haiti's government formalized the creation of a nine-member transitional presidential council on Friday, a long-delayed move intended as the first step in restoring security to the gang-ravaged Caribbean country.