Ask the Expert
Travel Incident Alerts and Your Traveler Emergency Response Plan
With so many natural disasters, security breaches and airport closures over the last few weeks, traveler safety is top of mind for many travel management professionals. We checked in with Disaster Recovery Planning Manager, Renae Martin to learn about the behind the scenes process for keeping Egencia Travel Managers up to speed on the latest news impacting their travelers.
Q: Renae, what's your role at Egencia?
A: As part of my role on the Egencia Global Customer Service Team, I manage the Travel Alerts for our clients. These notices cover incidents impacting corporate travel such as storms and natural disasters, strikes, airport closures, plane crashes and safety threats.
Q: Could you walk us through the travel alerts process?
A: Sure. We monitor several news sources around the clock for any incident that could impact corporate travel. For instance, British Airways' unions threatened to strike between Dec. 22 and Jan 2, a move that would have caused travel havoc in the UK. We know that industrial action can have a big impact on flights, particularly during the holiday season.
Once we identified the strike threat on Dec. 14, we immediately sent an alert to Egencia Travel Managers via e-mail. As a next step, we worked with our reporting team to determine if any Egencia Travelers were directly impacted by the planned strike. We had approximately 25 travelers with reservations on British Airways during the expected strike period. We sent a list of affected travelers to the respective Travel Managers, and to the appropriate account managers. We then messaged our travel consultants so they could provide callers the most recent information about the event. As so often happens with industrial action, the strike was cancelled and we were able to communicate the resolution to our Travel Managers.
Q: How does Egencia determine which travelers have been impacted?
A: We leverage our reporting to review all trips in progress in the impacted area and create a list of all Egencia travelers that will be affected by the event. We then share this list with the relevant Travel Managers.
Q: How can I run my own impacted traveler reports?
A: To access your company's most current list of travelers, from your Egencia home page, select "Run a Report." From there, click on "Air" Reports, then select the detailed extract report. Select your dates and run the report to see where your travelers are by airport code.
Q: Are you able to locate impacted travelers that booked outside of Egencia?
A: Unfortunately we are not able to find travelers that booked outside of Egencia.
Q: Are you able to locate travelers anywhere in the world?
A: Yes, we can locate by flights or hotel as long as they booked their travel through Egencia.
Q: Once a Travel Manager learns that his/her travelers have been affected by an emergency, what is the best next step?
A: Many Travel Managers reach out directly to their travelers using the contact information in their Egencia profile. They also coordinate with Egencia Travel Consultants to determine the next steps for getting travelers home safely.
Q: What advice do you have for Travel Managers who may not already have an Emergency Response Plan in place?
A: As a first step, I would recommend documenting a plan that outlines the basics:
- Clearly define the type of events warranting outreach to travelers. This will provide consistency and help set traveler expectations
- Determine the level of response based on the event. Severe flight delays, for example, could be handled very differently than plane crashes.
- List internal employees who should also be informed of events impacting travelers, and determine the best communication methods.
- Provide travelers appropriate company contact information for emergencies. Consider the best contact information for after-hours emergencies.
- Be able to access updated traveler information, including emails and cell-phone numbers.
- Review and update the plan on a regular basis.
Q: If Travel Managers are not already receiving incident alerts from Egencia, how can they sign up?
A: To begin receiving Travel Alerts, click the sign up button below. These notifications are complementary for Egencia clients.
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