Business travel: how to choose between ground and air transportation.
For the longest time the United States economy has been growing and prospering providing Americans with steady employment and companies with a high level of new clients to grow their business. During those years the winning strategy for most of the businesses was to generate more sales, which would lead to higher revenues. It was a supplier's market. As the economy reached its peak and started to slow down, more companies became price sensitive shoppers.
Part of the cost of closing new business for many companies is the cost of travel. Even during our era of technology and ease of reaching businesses and individuals via phones, fax or e-mails -- there are certain aspects of business that can only be discussed in person. Many businesses faced the problem of high cost of travel and almost no ways to reduce that cost.
One way to reduce the cost of travel is to use ground transportation instead of air transportation. Most of the business travelers are familiar with a service of prearranged transportation. It could be found under different names like limo service, car service, chauffeur service or limousine service. And even though all of the companies that provide such services are the same in nature of their service, they differ in the way they take care of their clients.
Keep in mind that you could be saving money even if you choose the most reputable company and end up paying a little bit more for the service. I urge you to choose your car service provider based on the quality of service not the price. The choice between ground and air transportation should be made based on what is of more value to the company - time or money. By looking at Madison, WI airport as an example, we can see how factors of time and money can impact one's decision to fly or to take a car. Most of the flights that are coming to Madison connect either in Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver or Detroit.
We will analyze the flights that are coming from Chicago and Milwaukee. If time is money for a business then car service makes more sense. First we look at the flights that are connecting through Milwaukee. It takes one hour and thirty minutes to get from Milwaukee airport to a hotel or place of business in Madison, WI when using car service. Should you have to catch a connecting flight from Milwaukee to Madison it will take at least two hours and thirty minutes to get to your hotel or business meeting. If you are lucky your plane will not be cancelled, you will only spend one hour at the airport between the flights, fly for about 30 minutes, wait for about 15-20 minutes to get your bags and travel for about 20-30 minutes by car to your final destination.
If we look at Chicago airports the picture is even worse. It only takes about two hours and thirty minutes to get from O'Hare International Airport to your hotel or place of business in Madison, WI when using a car service. Should you have to catch a connecting flight from Chicago to Madison, you will spend at least an hour at the airport, up to an hour in the air, 15-20 minutes getting your baggage and another 20-30 minutes getting to your final destination in Madison for a total of about 3 hours.
Even though both ground and air transportation can be slowed down and be factors that cannot be controlled, chances of being on schedule are higher with ground transportation. Even though time is a valuable factor to any company, often the decision maker has to go with a lower overall cost. Price factor is not always in favor of ground transportation, but there are times when it makes more sense to use limousine service compared to air transportation.
If we had to hire limousine service from Milwaukee Airport to Madison, WI, round trip fare would be $370 for a sedan with three-passenger capacity (subject to change). The price of round trip ticket from NYC to Madison, WI is $371 non-stop flight (flight A) and $304 with one layover (flight B). At the same time the prices of round trip from La Guardia Airport, NY to General Mitchell Airport, Milwaukee, WI is $164 for a non-stop flight. Simple math shows that by flying from NYC to Milwaukee Airport a company can save $207 per person in comparison to flight A and $140 per person in comparison with flight B. If a company sends two employees, then they will save $37; if there are three employees traveling, a company savings totals $244 (based on comparison with flight A).
As we can see from a couple of the examples, use of limousine service as an alternative to air transportation can not only reduce travel time but can also cut down the overall travel expenses. Part of the service to our clients is providing comparative analysis of the cost for air and ground transportation.
Keywords: Limousine service, limo service, car service, airport limo, corporate limo, corporate travel, Limousine Madison, Madison limo
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