I’ll be getting on a flight in about three hours. Said flight is approximately 5 hours long with one stop that includes a 25-minute layover. So I decided that I’d pack a sandwich for dinner and bring an empty water bottle and just fill it up there after I get through security. In my luggage I tossed in a few packets of oatmeal and some almonds for snacks alongside my clothes.
My husband thought that was really strange. “But overly,” he says, “your company is paying for this. Buy all your stuff at the airport!”
I’m not a fan of the selections available at the airport and it never looks very fresh. I’m not flying with anyone else, so there’s no one there to care or comment on my food. And I have 25 minutes between flights, which means my next flight will be boarding by the time I land. So I’d rather bring my own dinner and some healthy options for breakfast and snacks in case I don’t have a chance to eat in the morning (the meetings begin at 6:30 a.m.). It’s not like I’m bringing a cooler - my sandwich fits comfortably in my purse along with my e-reader and other stuff.
Additionally, I don’t make the best choices when I buy at the airport, and I’ve lost 12 pounds over the last four weeks. I’d like to keep it that way. What about you - when you go on a business trip, assuming you’re not meeting with clients - do you bring your own food whenever possible or buy on principle or somewhere in between?
I don’t take business trips, but bringing my own food to eat on a plane is perfectly normal.
And not only is airport food generally unhealthy, but at least twice the price of the same chain outside the airport, because they know that you’re stuck there and don’t have any choice.
I generally make a point of using up my per diem while flying in what I suppose is passive aggressive retaliation for being sardined into an airplane, but there’s nothing at all weird about bringing your own food along.
Nothing wrong with bringing your own food, especially if you are watching what you eat. Just because the company allows you a per diem amount, doesn’t mean you have to spend it.
Do you usually turn in receipts for business travel meals or do you get a flat amount per day? When I got a flat amount in cash, I brought my own food from home when I could or bought food at the store when I got there. When I had to turn in receipts, I tended to spent the amount I was allotted as restaurants and stuff since I wasn’t able to pocket the difference.
Not weird at all. Airline food is awful and the airport food is overpriced. WAY overpriced. I usually go to the grocery store and grab some trail mix and snack type things that hold up well to travel and bring them with me when I fly.
Anything (that’s legal) that will make your trip go more smoothly is a good idea, IMO. Especially since you have a layover that’s just long enough to make your connection.
I’m not sure what you’re responding to, but I realize my post wasn’t as coherent as I thought it was.
Where I used to work, they would literally give us our “per diem” amount in cash at the beginning of the week. I spent as little of that as possible, bringing food from home or getting food at the store instead of eating in restaurants, since I was allowed to keep the whole amount in cash whether I spent it on food or not.
Later when I was travelling for a different division of the company, I had to keep all my receipts and they would reimburse me only what I spent. I tended to spend up to my limit since if I didn’t, it wasn’t like I could keep the difference.
So sometimes I spent my per diem, sometimes not, depending on the situation. I was trying to suggest if her situation was like the former, she should definitely bring her own food. If it was like the latter, then it makes financial sense to buy her food at the airport or at restaurants.
I think that they charge for inflight meals now, I’m not sure. I know that they charge for inflight snacks. Soda is still free, or was a few months ago on the flight I took.
AFAIK, hot meals are basically nonexistent on US domestic flights. Even transcontinental flights, let alone flights so short that two of them with a layover only add up to five hours.
Many of the inflight meals I’ve gotten were crap that wouldn’t have been acceptable from a factory cafeteria, plus the majority are incompatible with the most common dietary restrictions.
We’re required to use our corporate card whenever possible and then hand in the receipts with the expense report. We have per meal limit over which you have to explain your expenses (client suggested xyz restaurant, only one available, etc). It’s a pretty generous amount, though I try to eat outside the hotel whenever possible. It’s cheaper and usually LOTS tastier.
I’d be more concerned with the 25 minute layover. If it’s not at least 60, and preferably 90 minutes, I have no confidence that I’ll make it, or that my luggage will join me on the 2nd leg.
