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Comment by pklausler | Hacker News Reader

And what do you do about the corporate travel policy that requires you to book the cheapest available fare?

The same thing as when you disagree with any other policy or action your company might set.

Which is? Submit, quit, or be fired/disciplined?

If I'm not getting paid enough, or I want to change my work hours to account for new circumstances, or I don't want to be forced into a sub-economy cattle class flight, I'll just talk to my manager about it.

If they don't agree and the issue is big enough for me, I'll find a new job.

Negotiate an acceptable situation. Change the company if needed.

Book the more expensive one and expense the cheaper one (i.e., you pay the difference). I have yet to have an employer say I can't do this.

That's kinda illegal unless you upgrade the existing ticket yourself and not change the airline it was booked with.

I think what he is saying is... a lot of companies let you pay for the ticket yourself and expense (ask for reimbursement) the cost of the ticket. Most companies will pay the price of the cheapest ticket but won't care if you pay more than that. They just limit how much they pay you back.

So if the cheapest ticket is X dollars and the ticket you buy is Y. The employer will reimburse you for X and you pay the Y-X yourself.

Nothing illegal about that, it's the same as if a company says they will reimburse you for half your gym membership. You pay half the company pays half.

companies get tax deductions for those expenses which means they need to submit receipts.

They can't expense a random "market price" but an actual ticket, if you then upgrade it it's fine, if you just say airline a had it for 200 and airline b had it for 300 and you can't expense the cheaper one.

I know this thread is dead, but just for reference in case you or someone else in the future are curious... Sure they can! No auditor is going to look at this situation and say, "Wait a minute, you took a deduction lower than you could have? That's a penalty" so it's generally not a problem. If you do the opposite (book a cheaper flight and then expense a more expensive one), that's definitely a big problem and also probably illegal.

However, if your company has strict policies about receipts and expense amounts you can always do the slightly shady "book two, cancel one" move - book one seat at the cheapest rate and another that's actually comfortable, print the receipt for the cheaper one, then cancel it within 24 hours to get a refund. I don't recommend this of course, but it is a way to get around excessive red tape.

I was going to say something similar but I gave up. Just adding, anecdotally, I've never met a company that won't let you expense less than the receipt amount so haven't needed to do the refund thing. But I'm sure they exist.

Don't work for that employer?

Pray that the airlines do not introduce a Steerage class in the baggage hold?

It's not immediately clear whether I'd prefer

(a) being crammed in a space uncomfortable for anybody over 5'2" or 120 lbs between two chatty salesmen mutually disapproving those who think the world is ca. 600,000 times older than they think it is, or

(b) being shot with a tranquilizer dart and shipped in a dog crate.

I mean, I'd seriously consider (b) before sighing and going for (a) + alcohol.

Honestly I'd love sedation travel.

What does that have to do with this? This is a problem with your job.

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