The Challenge: When Hurricane Helene hit the US in September this year, a client in the FMCG sector had to urgently get multiple C-suite travellers back to their home destinations across the world, following a board meeting. Keeping travellers safe was paramount.
The Solution: Speedy action from Reed & Mackay’s dedicated travel consultants meant all travellers were able to fly out and return home safely.
Travel to an important board meeting on the US south-east coast, for the international C-suite of a client in the FMCG sector, had been arranged and booked several months before it was due to take place in September 2024.
Reed & Mackay Business Travel Consultant Kit Payne manages all the bookings for this VIP group throughout the year. She personally checks them all in to their flights and monitors all departures, informing the travel bookers if there’s even a 10-minute delay. Outbound travel to the board meeting had gone smoothly.
“However, on the Tuesday, as the travellers’ return flight was approaching on the Friday, we started to hear about the rapid change in weather. And that a hurricane was coming in,” Payne says. “After communicating the update to the client, we decided to move everyone’s flight from the original departure airport on the Friday. It would be too risky to fly from there. We immediately set about rebooking all of the flights and getting all the tickets reissued.”
Managing complex travel situations
However, by the Wednesday, the weather situation was looking increasingly worrying. The client’s travel bookers requested that everyone left the US sooner than the original departure date. This was a complex request considering the amount of other travellers looking to rebook and leave at the same time.
Payne and her team researched options and, with few direct services from the US location back to the global destinations the C-suite were based, the consultants recommended flying them out of the state. This was the first step to ensure they would be out of the hurricane’s path.
“Yet we had to wait on a decision from the client’s chairman. He had to make that call. And, when it came in at 1pm on the Wednesday, it was all systems go,” Payne explains.
Understanding a client’s travel policy inside out and having a strong working relationship with its travel bookers was integral to finding solutions for this complex travel situation.
“We worked solidly until 10pm with the client’s travel bookers to make sure everyone had a flight out of there,” Payne says. “We also aimed to keep within the client’s strict travel policy. This included ensuring the company’s C-suite didn’t all travel together on the same flight.”
Constant communication
Perseverance and dedication from the Reed & Mackay team meant everyone was rebooked on to new flights and checked in personally. While it sounds straightforward, Payne explains that all bookings are quality checked and communication with the client’s travel bookers is constant, particularly in situations as challenging as these.
“We had such positive feedback from the client’s travel bookers and they were really grateful we were able to get everyone out safely,” Payne adds.
“Our whole team was great. Everybody stayed on late to help out in this challenging situation. And, while you can’t predict what’s going to happen in travel sometimes, traveller safety is paramount. Yes it was challenging to co-ordinate everything but we learnt a lot from these last-minute situations that we can apply if it happens again. It’s about being there for the client and helping them get to where they need to be safely and securely.”
The client’s PA to the Chair says: “With Hurricane Helene fast approaching and our required departure time looming, Kit and the team worked calmly, quickly and professionally to ensure we were all able to get away before the severe weather hit. The (Reed & Mackay) team nailed it!”
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