Rapid Travel Chai

Businessweek continues to impress since Bloomberg took over. The travel issue examines slices of business travel that are rarely covered, eliciting knowing smiles, raised eyebrows and shakes of heads:

• Ballad of the Road Warrior – The secret pleasures of the business trip by Pico Iyer, the leadoff piece is the weakest, though there are amusements in the rambling.
• The Bangalore Express – Lufthansa’s Flight 455 to India is a networker’s dream by Mehul Srivastava, a fascinating look at a flight that is always sold out up front, peopled by IT bigwigs and salespeople that feed on them.
• A Touch of (Business) Class – Porter Airlines brings luxury to the back row by Andi Teran, peeks at the airline for those in the know who breeze in and out of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ).
• Point Kings – The exalted lives of the preferred customers by Joshua Green, in-depth examination of the lengths airlines and hotels go to win unswerving loyalty from their most valuable customers. The look at the psychology of these top road warriors is intriguing, one with a 90-requirement ‘dossier’ of hotel room requirements for his Starwood Ambassador to arrange anywhere in the world. Entitlement grows at light speed and hotels are in an arms race to indulge egos.
• It Can Be Arranged – Your concierge, an expert in satisfying every need by Susan Berfield, delicious ‘do you know who I am’-style anecdotes and tips for working with hotel concierges.
• Where Nobody Knows Your Name – Anonymity is only part of a hotel bar’s allure by Geoff Dyer, a tenuous defense of hotel bars. Personally, The Rapid Traveler finds hotel bars the least appealing way to spend an evening but this gives something of a rationale.
• Batali’s Big Adventure –  A Libertine Chef’s Best-Ever Business Trip illustrated by Till Hafenbrak, playful indulgence.
• Right, a Business Trip – What really goes on at conventions in Vegas? by Joel Stein, the author’s typical humor paired with insight into the business of Las Vegas conventions, such as the ‘Las Vegas effect,’ which boosts attendance by 5 to 10% by being in Las Vegas, but can take an even bigger cut out of the people who actually show up at convention events because of all the distractions.
• Most Wanted – The best parts of business travel by Christine Ajudua, Ira Broadway, and Karen Wise, an unsystematic trifle.
• Baggage – Why can’t anyone make the perfect carry-on? by Brendan Greely, musings on every traveler’s quixotic quest for sublime luggage.