Idea for change: handling different airports.

[Jim McDonough]

On 05/08/2017 10:50 AM, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
> I went to FOSDEM 2017 (as many Conservancy folks did!), and I just finished
> my reimbursement request (if you didn't do yours yet, it is probably too
> late, I just barely made the 90-day mark yesterday ;), and was reminded of
> something interesting:
> 
> I had discovered that it was much cheaper from my home airport to fly into
> AMS and take the train from AMS->Brussels, rather than flying into BRU.
> 
> While I don't think the policy should demand that travelers spend time
> searching nearby airports and checking train prices, I do think we should
> add two things to the police:
> 
>   * Encourage travelers as a cost-saving measure to consider the
>     possibility.
Perhaps encourage them to ask if there is a local person who might have
knowledge.  SerNet has been very helpful in getting us tips for SambaXP
travel for good costs.
> 
>   * Confirm that if travelers book a flight/ground-transport combo instead
>     of just a flight, that the budget for all of it together is the budget
>     of the original flight.
I would expect the same reasonable fare policy applies.  And I'd say the
budget of the "original flight" would also include ground transport.  We
don't usually have conferences in airport hotels, and local ground
transport isn't always negligible.
> 
> Do folks like this idea?
In principle, yes.
> 
> I've not proposed a patch yet because it's trickier than it looks.  The
> existing policy doesn't really contemplate combo long-haul methods of
> travel, and it should include things like -- as sometimes happens in the
> USA -- flying into a further-away airport and renting a car can sometimes be
> cheaper.
It seems to me if you keep it to the total budget of both options it
wouldn't be so tricky.  If we're not trying to enforce that you must
look for these options, but rather just consider them, you don't set the
bar unreasonably high.
> 
> But, if folks seem to like this idea, I'll try to draft something up
> eventually (although at low priority, so I may not come back to this thread
> for a while ;)
> 
This is how I travel on SUSE funds to Nuremburg or Prague.  I'm
responsible for the budget, so I always check a few options.  It only
adds a few minutes to the search.

Jim