Employee Proves That Computers Can’t Really Pick The Cheapest Travel Costs

I’ve never gotten to/had to travel for work, but from what I can gather, there are an awful lot of hoops to jump through when making a booking.

OP does travel, and always complied with company regulations – even when they were absolutely not fair.

For background it’s important to know that when I travel for work, I can charge at most 8 hours even if the travel day is longer. But if it’s not an 8 hour travel day I’m expected to log in and work up to 8. Super fair /s.

Then, they implemented a booking system, in which a computer would chastise you if they found a “cheaper” flight than the one you chose.

Additionally, the travel booking tool flags your ticket and notifies your manager if it deems your selected flight is not the cheapest reasonable option.

I’ve never actually had a manager decline one of my choices, but the system was so dumb this time I invoked MC. Instead of a 2.75 hour nonstop home, the system told me I should take the lower cost 1 stop, at a travel time of 5.75 hours, with a savings of $0.39.

OP quickly figured out that – at least some of the time – he could outsmart the computer.

Instead of getting more work done, I got paid an extra 3 hours to watch some extra shows on my iPad and had an extra meal on the company travel allowance at the airport, which was around $30 value. Delicious compliance!

So he did.

Was he right? Smart? Wrong? Reddit’s weighing in!

The top commenter says they’re surprised such a booking tool is in use!

Others have had similar experiences with the same tool.

But this person says it’s the company setting dumb boundaries that’s the problem.

No one likes explaining their reasons over peanuts.

Why do companies enjoy making things harder?

It really does seem like more trouble than it’s worth.

Idk, though, traveling is pretty fun.