You may think a 10 Downing Street Christmas party the most unjustifiable, unpopular event of any festive season 每 but you would be wrong. Try instead the Gongs In Travel, or GITs, my annual awards for the business travel industry based entirely on my personal ignorance, prejudices and petty grievances (not so different from the way Number 10 is run after all, come to think of it).
Who are the unlucky winners of the 15th GITs? Let＊s open the envelope (assuming the organisers have handed me the right one) and find out ＃
J.R. Ewing Cup for Family Feudin＊ in the State of Texas
JOINT-WINNERS: American Airlines and Sabre
Once upon a time, until 2000 in fact, travel tech giant Sabre was a subsidiary of American. Now the two companies like to while away their days fighting each other. American inherited a two-year-old dispute with Sabre when it bought US Airways back in 2013. Astonishingly, they are still arguing over it today. That＊s right: bickering over a contract with an airline that hasn＊t even existed for eight years. Note 25 April 2022 in your diary for the trial start date in the unlikely event you are interested. Meanwhile, just for good measure, a fresh legal punch-up started in 2021, with AA sueing Sabre over incentives it pays agents to book flights with Delta Air Lines. I don＊t know if anyone in Dallas has noticed but there＊s a global pandemic causing a few problems for the travel industry right now. How about kissing and making up for Christmas?
Hallmark Trophy for the Politician Least Likely to Receive a Christmas Card from UK Business Travel Executives
WINNER: The Right Honourable Grant Shapps MP, Secretary of State for Transport aka Secretary of State for Non-Transport and Minister for Confusion
Travel management company bosses are not renowned for their militant politics, so when even they start demonstrating outside Parliament over your handling of Covid rules, you know you＊re not Mr Popular. Seemingly arbitrary, unscientific decisions about which countries could and couldn＊t be visited without quarantine probably frustrated travel pros most of all. Grant Shapps is ※incredibly ineffective as Secretary of State for Transport,§ said IATA boss Willie Walsh. To be fair, the Irishman had some kind words too: ※Since 2005, I have worked with ten Secretaries of State. I can＊t say Shapps was the worst,§ said Walsh. ※I would put Shapps at number nine.§
William the Conqueror Award for Norman Comeback Word of the Year
WINNER: Lien
I assume I wasn＊t the only person reaching for the dictionary back in September when CWT announced it was recapitalising by creating ※new first lien debt of $625 million§. It means the right to hold another＊s property until the debt on it is paid, apparently. Verily, these are lien times.
Silver Lined Plate for Most Unwanted Travel Growth Sector of 2021
WINNER: Covid test providers
RUNNER-UP: Passport and visa specialists for handling post-Brexit travel
Mandatory testing up to three times for travellers returning to the UK became a metaphorical licence to print money for the providers of those tests in 2021. What a shame the UK government didn＊t think to issue any real licences to regulate them as well. Instead, it forced travellers to choose from a long list of vendors who merely had to self-declare they met minimum standards. The deluge of complaints about price rip-offs and botched service was as predictable as it was aggravating. Who has just this week spied an opportunity? Jeff Bezos, of course. Meanwhile, it＊s been a golden year for passport and visa companies after the the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement led to many business trips between the two requiring visas or work permits when previously no paperwork (beyond a passport) was necessary. Brexit: the gift that keeps taking.
Dented Alphabet Soup Can for Most Unpopular Greek Letter
WINNER: Omicron
Delta was cruising to victory in this category until being overhauled at the very last minute by a letter most of us had never even heard of before: Omicron. We have yet to confirm just how damaging this new Covid variant is for the industry, but with travel shutting down again just after TMCs had started to re-hire the staff they let go in 2020, it could be the final nail for some.
Golden Bitcoin for Most Discussed but Least Understood Topic in Business Travel
WINNER: Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Any idea what＊s sustainable about Sustainable Aviation Fuel? Fear not, almost no one else in corporate travel does either. The suspicion lingers it is a cunning phrase to make people think they can stop fretting inconveniently about air travel＊s impact on the environment. From what I have figured out so far, in certain circumstances SAF can cause lower net emissions than regular fossil fuels, but only if the right crops are grown under the right controls and the claimed carbon savings are audited far more convincingly. Also, SAF is only available at present in tiny volumes. Regrettably, for now the one truly sustainable way to fly remains not flying at all.
The Friends Reunited award for Travel Managers＊ Surprise New Best Ally of 2021
WINNER: Lufthansa
Germany＊s flag-carrier and its corporate clients have failed to see eye to eye numerous times over the years (NDC and various contentious contract T&Cs, to name a couple). Yet 2021 saw not one but two changes of heart to cheer travel managers. First, Lufthansa extended its Pay As You Fly fares to all business customers. Then it cancelled its contract with Prism, the data consolidation tool to which Lufthansa previously required clients to submit booking information. With the decade-delayed Berlin Brandenburg International airport, recipient of too many GITs to mention, managing to survive its first year of operation despite cash shortages, bacteria in the drinking water and numerous other calamities, it has veritably been a golden year for German corporate travel.
? Can't get enough of the GITs? Revisit last year's awards.