CNN Business Traveller

SHOW #88

Business Travel Reality

We’ve spent the last two years adjusting and accepting the repercussions of the global recession where travel budgets have been slashed and have entered the era of downgrading. Business travellers and the industry maybe down but are most certainly not out. This month, CNN Business Traveller looks at the new reality of life on the road.

CABIN FEVER
Most business travellers are coming to terms with turning right instead of left – and so are the airlines. We look at how they're reshuffling the cabin in response to business travellers needing to save money. We speak to Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali about getting rid of first class and Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon about the airline's new premium economy seat - a class that's becoming a comfortable compromise for business travellers.

ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY?
First Class may still have a pulse but there are airlines that are breathing new life into the back of the plane – in Economy. Take Air New Zealand: they’ve redesigned its economy seating whereby paying a little bit extra, you can make 3 into 1…one comfortable sofa. We went behind the scenes in Auckland to see the making of the new Sky Couch and talk to Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe about why the back of the plane is just as important as the front.

PAYING FOR PERKS
First it was charging for extra bags and then extra leg room. Airlines are cashing in where they can other than air fares - it's called ancillary revenue. The latest moves to charge passengers for what was previously included in the fare is by Spirit Airlines - charging to put bags in the overhead bins, and Ryanair - charging passengers 1 euro to use the toilet. Ancillary charges are getting out of control and it's not just the passengers who say enough is enough.

MORNING, NOON & NIGHT
Travel guide Pauline Frommer shows us how to spend less and see more in New York, morning, noon and night.