Business Traveler Fills A Void In The Fun World Of Travel
Pros:
Is very focused and knows its audience.
Cons:
None that I can think of.
The Bottom Line:
This is an excellent resource for individuals who do a great deal of traveling - especially if you're new at this sort of thing.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Preamble
About two years ago, my job required that I do some traveling. Now being a girl from Indiana, my experience with hopping on planes and just getting out of the state were pretty limited. I had no clue what to expect for airlines, hotels, food, and transportation. When I knew at least a week in advance that I would be going to somewhere, I would try and visit some web sites for that city and/or pick up some travel guide at Border's.
After September 11, travel slowed down considerably for me. But now, it appears that I may need to be traveling more than ever.
Enter the Business Traveler magazine.
What Can I Expect?
The magazine averages about 75-85 pages an issue and to my surprise, it does look at business travel from the perspective of both a USA traveler and an international traveler.
You don't have to go far to find the table of contents - it's the first page you see when you flip over the cover. The magazine is broken down into four sections - Special Reports, Destinations, Lifestyle, and Departments.
Advertisements are extremely focused to the audience of this magazine and take up about a 1/3 of the pages. You'll find ads on hotels, airlines, and various travel reward programs.
Special Reports
This was my very favorite section. Business Traveler examined three very important items: the expansion of airports, an article + survey results of economy class flights on more than 60 airlines, and tips on how to de-stress while on your flight.
Let me tell you how surprised I was by the dimensions of airplane seats and how much they varied. American Airlines has seats that are as small as 16.5 inches in width while All Nippon Airways economy seats are 23 inches in width. Quite a difference.
Destinations
This area seems to highlight a couple of different (and popular) business destinations. The magazine presents articles on Providence, RI, New York, and Marseille, France. Each article gives you a brief summary of 'the basics' (phone code, exchange rate, business hours of important places like banks, how to get around, hotels, and airlines).
Lifestyle
This section was all over the place but I didn't mind that. One article talked about issues with transporting technology while another featured a business travelers opinion on various restaurants.
Departments
I really like this section to. The letters to the editor are actually intelligent. The brief news updates are bits and pieces of what's going on in the world of business traveling. The best part however, is the reviews on various airlines.
The magazine rates airlines on five different areas: First Impressions, Boarding, Seat Comfort, The Flight, and Arrival. The most an airline can get is 25 points. Along with rating each area, the reviewer goes into details about their experience for each category. Surprisingly the reviewers not only have experiences in the first and business class of airlines but also in economy class - that one sucky class that some of us get stuck in.
Subscription Information
You can purchase a 10 issue subscription for approximately $24.99.
The End
Wow! A magazine with a purpose that stays focused on its intended audience. Who would have thunk?! Anyway, I think that this is an excellent resource, especially for someone who hasn't engaged in business travels his or her entire life.
Web Site: http://www.businesstraveler.com
