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July 2012
July 2012




Cover Story
I Pledge Allegiance
Airline alliances are growing up fast. What will that mean for travel programs of the future?
Every now and then an airline will paint its jumbo jet in the livery of the alliance to which it pledges allegiance – Star, SkyTeam or oneworld – just to remind you about all that connectivity they promise. Soon, and perhaps sooner than you t...

Special Reports
London Times
The 2012 Games may bring some Olympic-sized headaches for business travel.
On July 6, 2005, the International Olympic Committee on the fourth ballot awarded London the rights to host the games of the XXX Olympiad. But in reality, plans for the winning bid had been in the works since 1997, marking 15 years of toil, b...
Special Reports
Risk On/Risk Off
These days, betting that bad things won’t happen is a losing strategy. 
Corporate travel managers are often unaware of the stresses and strains that travel can inflict upon employees. Whether driving hundreds of miles on the road or taking a jetliner across the seas, business travel can be just as exhausting as i...

Departments
Airport Monitor
Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport
Australia’s prime air portal has its positives, but do the numbers add up?
Does Sydney really need a second airport, one way out in the hustings at a place called Wilton? Consider this: Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International is a mere five miles from city center; Wilton is 38. The problem is, SYD’s three-runway layo...
Editor's Notes
The Out Box
In The Midst Of Gloom, SMEs Offer A Bright Spot
Green shoots? These days, one can get whiplash trying to follow the gyrations of the stock market, foreign currency exchanges, oil prices and the hodgepodge of government ...
Going Global
Focus On Istanbul
Astride two continents, this ancient city is becoming a modern business crossroads. 
Straddling the Bosporus, Istanbul is a vibrant amalgam of east and west. While one third of its population lives in Asia, its commercial and historical center remains on the European side. The confluence of the Sea of Marmara, the Straits of ...
Industry Profile
T&E’s Impact On The Bottom Line
Optimize technology, data and policies to get the most out of your travel and entertainment program.
Travel has long been considered an accepted cost of doing business. The economic downturn and most organizations’ moratorium on travel are still fresh in travel managers’ minds, and businesses have realized that travel’s impact on the top and...
Managed Travel ROI
Negotiations 101: Hotels & Meetings
The hotel negotiating environment is getting tougher. Still, with the right partners the effort can pay off.
Again, I find myself on an airplane getting ready to write about negotiating strategies for hotels and meetings. I have just completed a personal trip during which I stayed in a hotel in the center of a major city that attracts both corporate...
Speaking Freely
Insiders' Observations
Responding to the House-passed amendment preventing the use of US taxpayer funds to impose the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme on US airlines: “We appreciate the House recognizing that this unilateral approach is wron...
Strategic Meeting Management
Change Management
It’s one thing to encourage compliance with a strategic meetings management policy. It’s another thing to communicate the need for change — and actually accomplish it.
No aspect of strategic meetings management (SMM) is easy to achieve. But some are harder than others. And one of the most difficult – and also one of the most important – is change management. Without it, practitioners of SMM universally agre...
TM/T Convergence
Mobile On The Move
Smartphones are smarter, travelers are better connected and travel managers need a plan to keep up. 
The use of mobile and social media in managed business travel continues to be the hottest of hot topics. Travel managers have seen a flurry of featured content at many of the most recent industry events, vendors have been cranking out reams o...
Travel Buyer's FYI
Short Subjects
Low Cost Airlines Climb While Legacy Carriers Lose Ground
Low-cost carriers continue to improve passenger satisfaction, while traditional carriers are left struggling to meet travelers’ expectations, according to the J....

Association News
GBTA Wraps Successful Legislative, Sports Symposiums
ACTE Rome Conference Keynote Speakers Announced
NYCBTA Asks: Travel Procurement – Who Needs It?
Extraordinary Gifts
GBTA Finds Sustainability Is Important For Travel Programs