On the Road

Luke Braham travels some 50,000 miles a year in his role as IT Manager at an SAP recruitment company

DETAILS

Name: Luke Braham. Position & company: IT Manager at Red, an SAP recruitment company. Based in: London. Business trips per year: Around ten. Estimated annual mileage: I'd estimate it's around 50,000 miles.

Regular destinations: New York. Most recent trip: Munich. Next trip: New York.

GOOD & BAD

Best business travel experience: A two-week trip to Curitiba, Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. It's a truly incredible country. Worst business travel experience: Flying from Frankfurt to London City recently. We were 90% of the way back to London but had an issue with the plane that meant we had to return to Frankfurt. I’m still not sure what the logic was behind it!

SUPPLIERS

Preferred airline or hotel: Our TMC, Corporate Traveller, is great at keeping us in the loop with our airline/hotel spend and online adoption. My preferred airline is Virgin Atlantic (they offer an incredible amount of food!).

Lido Palace in Lake Garda is a favourite hotel – it’s effectively six-star standard. Loyalty points – obsessive collector or not bothered? Fairly obsessed! It’s the key to cheap or even free travel in the future and your upgrade chances are better. Favourite loyalty scheme: British Airways and Avios primarily, but Accor and Virgin are racking up too.

STEPPING ONBOARD

Flights: work, rest or play? Play! I tend to watch films and eat and drink as much as I can! Onboard connectivity: take it or leave it? Wifi connectivity should be standard on every plane. Onboard habits: Eating too much onboard just because you can is a bad habit of mine.

DESTINATIONS

Happy never to go back to: Penzance. It's a long way west! Send me back to: Rio de Janeiro Top overseas landmark: Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Stunning.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

One thing that would improve business travel: Airports, planes and hotels that are out of bounds to infrequent travellers. Biggest business travel irritation: People who don’t travel on a regular basis simply because they are so slow at security! Pack light or go prepared? I take as little as possible away with me. Never leave home without: Travel adaptors, laptop, phone.

TRAVEL POLICY

Stick to the travel policy or a bit of a maverick? I have a tendency to be a bit of a maverick, but our account managers at Corporate Traveller keep me on track and always makes me aware if I’m booking out of policy. If you could change one thing about your travel policy: Stay at set hotels in each destination, regardless of the cost.

• Red is a client of Corporate Traveller