An urban myth suggests that the word “nylon” originated in the confluence of NY and LON because these were the two cities in which the ubiquitous plastic product was first launched. The connection, according to snopes.com, the urban myth verification website, turns out to be false. However, for many transatlantic business travellers, the letters NY and LON frequently appear together in the coding on their airline tickets.
If the US and Britain have the “special relationship”, New York and London are joined at the hip, a bond often strengthened by lively debates as to which of the two cities is the more important financial centre.
However, business travel between the cities is not limited to bankers and traders. “This is the most heavily travelled transatlantic route,” says David Messing, a spokesperson for Continental Airlines. “And the business travellers on it are as diverse as the whole business sphere.”
Moreover, travel managers say the route’s popularity is increasing with choices likely to widen as the open skies agreement, which opened the route to more flights and carriers, introduces more competition into the transatlantic market.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen an increase in travel of 15 per cent,” says Dale Eastlund, director of Air Solutions at CWT Solutions Group, part of Carlson Wagonlit Travel. “Travellers are going more frequently, and with Eos and Maxjet [all-business class airlines] and some of the low-cost carriers flying into Stansted, it’s created more competition.”
Hotel managers are noticing the increase. London’s hotels are enjoying high occupancy rates and are charging premium prices for their rooms. And in New York, a recent expansion in the range and quality of hotels has added to the appeal of the city.
“The quality of hotel accommodation has made a huge difference,” says Paul Charles, director of communications at Virgin Atlantic. “Many business travellers will look at four- or five-star hotels to start with as a hygiene factor for them, so because New York has invested in better quality hotels, there’s a bonus from that.”
And having a decent hotel to retreat to at the end of a flight is important for business travellers who, by and large, have to take night flights in order to maximise their time for meetings and minimise the time during which they are unreachable by phone or e-mail.
Mr Charles says that Virgin’s flights have tangibly different customers at different times. “We get the business travellers on the night flight and the leisure travellers on the day flight,” he says.
When arriving in London, there are a wide range of public transport options for those who would rather not sit in a traffic jam in a taxi with the meter clocking up the pounds. The Gatwick Express takes passengers to Victoria Station in 30 minutes, the Heathrow Express is a 15-minute ride into Paddington Station and the Stansted Express is a 46-minute journey into Liverpool Street Station, in the heart of the City. Airport buses provide another alternative, while the Piccadilly underground line runs from Heathrow into central London.
“I never get a car or a taxi from Heathrow, I always get on the train, which works well,” says Mark Arena, a UBS managing director and spokesman. “Whereas I find getting to the airport [in New York] a bit of a hassle because you have to order a car and then you end up having to over budget for time in case there’s a lot of traffic.”
Despite the difference in options, however, there is a substantial difference in cost. Getting to JFK from the FT’s midtown office in New York costs $21, or £10.50. By comparison, the trip from Heathrow to the London office is £30.60, or $61.20. This difference is only exacerbated by the recent weakening value of the dollar.
London’s security procedures have also come under a measure of criticism, and not only from disgruntled passengers: last month, the UK’s Competition Commission attacked BAA, the private group which, in addition to Heathrow, owns Gatwick and Stansted, London’s two other major international airports, for poor standards of service, particularly its management of security queues.
Of course, the most noticeable difference in the experience of travellers in the two cities is in the amount of money that comes out of their wallet. Mr Eastlund says that the strength of sterling is affecting traffic volumes. “We’re seeing a larger growth out of London to New York than from New York to London,” he says. “We’re seeing 150 more tickets out of London per month than out of New York.”
And when they arrive, New York travellers are having their budgets squeezed while Londoners in New York feel as if they can live it up.
For this reason, says Mr Charles, business travellers flying in from London often tag a few days’ holiday on to their business trips. “What many do is bring out a partner on the [air] miles that they’ve accumulated over the years,” he says. “And with the exchange rate from the UK now, it’s not hard to do.”
Sarah Murray’s book, Moveable Feasts: From Ancient Rome to the 21st Century, the Incredible Journeys of the Food We Eat, is published this month in the US by St Martin’s Press. For more information, go to www.moveablefeasts.org
