In response to the criminal charges filed against
Tri-Pen founder Victoria Wofford for alleged credit card fraud and other white-collar misdeeds, Management Alternatives president Carol Ann Salcito writes: "This is one of the reasons Management Alternatives encourages all companies that if they wish to outsource their travel program (any and all facets of it), it is imperative for them to outsource to an independent source ... one who has absolutely no ties within the travel industry community."
American Express executive Charles Petruccelli wrote to The Beat
in response to feedback on "Petruccelli Attempts To 'Provoke The Status Quo,' Advocates Outsourced Travel Mgmt.," published Sept. 25.
"When I addressed The Beat
Live conference recently, one of my objectives was to get our industry to start challenging the status quo. I'm glad to see a debate emerge around the evolving role of the travel manager. But if we're going to have a healthy debate, it's important to define the terms--so I'd like to set the record straight about my position on the topic of travel management outsourcing.
[UPDATE: Petruccelli wrote a letter to "set the record straight."
Find it here.]
This letter is in response to "
Petruccelli Attempts To 'Provoke The Status Quo,' Advocates Outsourced Travel Mgmt." published Sept. 25.
Although I have learned the logic, and despite spending my professional life around aviation, I still find it incredible that a chunk of metal filled up with people, baggage and cargo can take to the sky. Not only does it do this, but it happens almost every second of the day and night somewhere in the world and it is promoted as being safer than getting in your car. Absolutely incredible--and a testament to the designers and builders who create these amazing, and mainly reliable transporters of people and goods across the world.
Long may it continue; however, the modern world has come up with at least two major challenges to this status quo, and they are terrorism and the acute competition between airlines in a recessionary market.
