Complaints from business travelers

Everyone hates long lines at the airports but for business travelers delayed flights and hours of waiting to clear immigration means lost time for business, and that means lost money. A survey released this week by Avis discovered that airports aren’t the only place where business travelers are losing out.

Those who rent cars, it seems, will spend an average of one and a half hours per trip stuck in traffic, getting lost or waiting in line to pay a toll. More than 80 per cent of those who responded to the survey said that on a three day business trip, they spend an average of 44 minutes waiting in traffic. Half said they waste half an hour when they’re lost and an average of 12 minutes is spend waiting in line to pay tolls.

The survey data comes from 42,000 business travelers renting Avis vehicules who were asked to fill out a survey in May this year.

“Any lost time on the road is a productivity issue for companies,” says Caleb Tiller, spokesman for the National Business Travel Association. “When employees are on the road, companies want them working — not sitting in traffic.”

Spokesperson for Avis, John Barrows, confirmed that the most significant delays occurred at the airport. “A lot of people focus on the delays of getting to a destination, but there’s a fairly substantial amount of productivity that gets lost after you arrive,” he pointed out.

For business travelers concerned with saving time, it may be worthwhile to avail yourself of some of the extra services provided by most car rental companies such as navigations systems and electronic toll-collection devices. A frequent business traveler Jeff Price also suggests that business travelers schedule flights to arrive after rush hour and stay at a hotel in the area where you will be doing business to avoid spending long hours in traffic.

www.avis.com