ACTE Global Conference

ACTE Conference Highlights Passenger Safety Still an Issue for Former NTSB Chair Keynote Speaker, James Hall – former National Transportation Safety Board chairman advised ACTE Global Conference participants that airline and airport security have still got a long way to go, even in the wake of 9/11. According to Hall, the government is attempting to resolve the security problem by throwing money at it. “We are putting a huge amount of money in one area: passenger screening,” said Hall. “Yet no one knows if passenger screening was the problem on 9/11.” He does know that the policy of having pilots cooperate with hijackers did contribute to the 9/11 crisis. More incredulous after the developments of last year were some of Hall’s other revelations, like the fact that pilots’ licenses don’t even have photos on them. “This is just a further indication of how lax the basic system still remains. Part of the problem, according to the speaker, is that law enforcement hasn’t reached out to the aviation community. “And we need to be smart about how we spend our resources.” Hall believes a strong line of defense begins by constantly sweeping and mining for information, particularly among other countries. Hall stated that the Transportation Security Administration should begin moving toward a traveler I.D. card to alleviate checkpoint congestion and to reduce the waiting time in airports. (ACTE released its traveler I.D. card initiative the same day.) He cautioned that no system can be totally breach-proof, and that steps will always have to be taken to protect against sleepers.
Majority of Travel Managers Limit Number of Executives on Flights A recurrent question among business travel managers is: “Do you have a policy restricting the number of executives flying on one plane?” In a snap survey of business travel managers attending ACTE’s Global Conference in Montréal, 68 percent reported that they do have such a policy. And of those, 67 percent limit that number to five executives per plane. Some unique exceptions to the numbers rule were a policy limiting no more than 75 percent of one department or team (deemed crucial to the company’s success) to travel on a single flight; and another in which the total number of senior executives was restricted to three (while the number of less senior executives was set at five).
ACTE Joins Breast Cancer Effort There’s a lot more to the business travel industry than airfares and technology. There’s also heart and soul, and quite a bit of social consciousness. On Sunday evening, Navigant International, United Airlines and Diners Club International presented a check in the amount of $5,000 to the Canadian Breast Cancer Association. The Association of Corporate Travel Executives joined that effort by pledging two dollars in the name of each Montréal Conference attendee who completes an electronic post-conference evaluation. “Women in the United States and Canada have a 12 percent chance or a 1 in 9 lifetime risk of developing breast cancer,” said Cheryl Hutchinson. “Yet through research, these numbers are dropping. ACTE is proud to have joined these member companies in making a difference in the lives of women everywhere.”
Trusted Traveler Initiative Launched at Global Conference With business traveler frustration mounting over airport security, ACTE launched a new Trusted Traveler initiative at its Global Conference. This endeavor calls for the creation of a voluntary passenger I.D. card that would enable frequent travelers to supply instant background checks in exchange for taking a shorter, faster-moving line through airport security. “The concept of a special traveler I.D. card isn’t new,” said Earl Foster, former ACTE president and head of the association’s Trusted Traveler initiative. But the card concept is stalled between the secretary of transportation and the Transportation Security Administration. The first step in ACTE’s initiative is to encourage Congress to get moving on the Trusted Traveler concept. Members are being encouraged to write or petition their elected representatives in favor of a traveler I.D. card process. ACTE has prepared special kits listing the names of elected officials in each state, and is supplying sample letters for members to send. This initiative gained momentum as a membership service as surveys and membership polls indicated widespread support for the Trusted Traveler I.D. card process. Conference participants can pick up a copy of the program overview and sample letters at Registration.
New Members and First-Timers Up at Night More than 200 participants filled the First-Time Attendee/New Member Orientation and Reception on Sunday, April 28, making this session the largest of its kind ever hosted by ACTE at a Global Conference. Bill Shaw, president and COO of Marriott International, welcomed the group and spoke of the importance of revitalizing the business travel industry. Greeley Koch, vice president of education and Julie Hylton, vice president of membership, led the crowd in their first ACTE-oriented networking exercise. Ten to a table (under the direction of an ACTE board member), the new members were given a series of questions to answer as a group. They were asked to share their levels of expertise, areas of special interest and their expectations for this conference. And they were also asked, “What keeps you up at night?” The answers were surprising. One response was, “A sudden change in the dynamics of the marketplace.” Another read: “Getting work done in the time allotted.” And a third was, “Purchasing taking over travel.” Yet perhaps, one of the most thought-provoking answers to this question was, “Travelers moving through unstable countries.” The session concluded with assurances by Hylton and Koch that the answers to these questions and others would be forthcoming. Hylton remarked that a new member approached her at the session’s end with the comment, “I didn’t know anyone when I got here; I’m leaving with nine new friends.”
Data Security and Ownership Issue Introduces Philosophical Question At first glance, an education session on the ownership and protection of travel data may not seem like an earth shaker. Yet just below the surface of this mild-mannered presentation on information (Data Security and Ownership, Monday, April 29, 16.30 - 17.30) lurks the essence of international intrigue, high crime and espionage. Furthermore, it’s an issue that affects everyone with an electronic identity or a stored credit card number. A majority of ACTE members polled at registration were well aware of the dangers of stolen or pirated information. But few were aware of government regulations that might affect them in the U.S. or the EU. The U.S. federal government has a number of bills regarding the manner in which financial institutions handle data protection laws. In the EU, it is illegal to pass on certain types of information, like residential telephone numbers, in transferring data. The right to privacy now demands a common definition of the standard for privacy. ACTE members are among the first of a new generation to have to decide if information profiles (constructed through financial transactions and collected through legal means) can be traded, bought or manipulated by third parties. The problem is more than philosophical. The issue ties in directly with the concept of a traveler I.D. card, which will go one step further in allowing a government agency total access to all personal information. This year’s conference will mark the first time that travel managers will be asked to think about the philosophical question of who owns their identity and that of their travelers.
ACTE Appalled by Slow-Moving Security Initiatives “What’s taking so long?” is the question being asked of the U.S. government by the leadership of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives in the wake of disturbing reports regarding the state of airport security. “We’re trying to reinstill traveler confidence,” said ACTE President-elect Cheryl Hutchinson. “Yet every headline you read about airport security has just the opposite effect.” Hutchinson is referring to the latest round of arrests of workers at major U.S. airports. Many of those arrested had access to terminals, parked aircraft or other sensitive areas. Less than a month ago, a report from the Department of Transportation revealed that in a test situation, more than half of the weapons attempted to be carried onto commercial aircraft by DOT inspectors passed undetected. “What is the solution?” asked Hutchinson. “We all thought the power and the authority of the federal government would resolve the security issue. Yet it just seems to linger.” One session at the ACTE Global Conference “Effective Security with Minimum Hassle” deals with a variety of ways to reinstill passenger convenience without compromising traveler safety. The association is moving forward with a frequent traveler I.D. card initiative. According to Hutchinson, the concept is stalled someplace in government, even though studies of business travelers indicate growing support for such a program. The ACTE initiative may go so far as to create a sample prototype or to offer the association’s resources to set up a test case. It’s taking the government forever to determine the best approach to screening potential terrorists. “All we want to do is eliminate the need to extensively check everyone by eliminating the obvious,” said Hutchinson. “And in doing so, we hope to bring back a little of the old familiar convenience without compromising security.” The traveler I.D. card concept has met resistance from privacy advocacy groups not yet convinced of data firewall security.
ACTE Global Conference Rocks Industry with Survey Results and White Paper The Association of Corporate Travel Executives opened the Global Conference in Montreal amid a point-blank broadside of industry-wide surveys and declarations. Both the Business Travel Coalition and GetThere recently released the findings of major surveys (each conducted in conjunction with ACTE), while the association stirred the aviation industry with the publication of a white paper calling for airfare reform. The 2002 U.S. business travel survey (initially released by the BTC on April 23), stated that 74 percent of its respondents confirmed that a “portion of travel budget cuts made in 2001 are intended to be permanent.” One analysis of the BTC survey carries grim news for the airline industry: 60 percent of the participants are seeking to further reduce expenditures on airline service in the next year. Furthermore, it was revealed that for January and February of 2002, 57 percent of all tickets purchased were non-refundable, representing a 13 percent increase in the use of discounted tickets in a two-year period. The BTC survey indicated the domestic U.S. airfare structure is creating problems for major carriers, forcing business travelers to go over the fences built around low-fare offerings. And for those carriers thinking of higher fences, 86 percent of survey respondents expect to increase the use of technology-based substitutes “such as video teleconferencing” in 2002. GetThere, a Sabre Company, released the startling results of a new survey on April 30, the last day of the ACTE Conference. This survey, which was conducted in conjunction with BusinessWeek and ACTE, pinpointed an amazing incongruity in the way most companies handle business travel management at the top. According to ACTE Executive Director Nancy Holtzman “It’s become apparent that while many CEOs and CFOs understand the relationship between profitability and business travel, few know how to get the most from the relationship.” The GetThere survey targeted BusinessWeek’s Market Advisory Board (319 senior managers who have corporate finance responsibility--presidents, CFOs and executive vice presidents of firms with more than 1,000 employees). GetThere uncovered a major upper management error in many current business travel management strategies: that while there are dozens of ways companies strive to contain travel costs during good times, they simply cut travel during hard times -- effectively curtailing sales, growth, and competition. ACTE’s white paper on airfare reform created a stir when it was released to carriers, companies and the press on opening day of the conference. The paper has finally put into words what key components of the association have been thinking for the last two years: that the corporate consumer is looking for simplified airfares, with equal access to Internet fares. The focal point of the conference’s last session “The Need for Domestic U.S. Airfare Structure Reform (Tuesday, 16.45 - 18.00)”the white paper touched off a lively discussion. Proponents of airfare reform believe it’s a crucial step in the recovery of the business travel industry. ACTE’s leadership contends it is the beginning of a long-awaited dialogue. Back to Index