“Starbucks is allocating $250,000 in its annual budget to incoming CEO, ex-Chipotle head Brian Niccol, so that he can commute via private company jet to Seattle.”

I saw this article in one of the financial publications and I had to take a moment to review it. Starbuck’s, yes, THAT Starbucks that trips all over itself trying to embrace the latest sustainably green policy, is going to fly their CEO weekly in a private jet back and forth to work between California and Seattle.

So, I started to wonder, is there any market for those of us in the travel industry to pick up some of this really delicious super commuter travel business for our agencies? An article in The Muse by Melissa Torrieri provides some background. Below is some of what she wrote:

For super-commuters, the distance to and from work is 180 miles or more, which, for some, can mean hopping on a plane. (Others may choose to take a train.) This subgroup of professionals accounts for about 3-10% of the working population—and that number is only expected to rise.

According to the NYU report, super-commuting is becoming more popular across the country. A few of the well-traveled routes becoming even more common? Boston to Manhattan, Dallas-Ft. Worth to Houston, Austin and San Antonio to Houston, and Northern California to Los Angeles.

“People are more likely to be mobile in regard to their jobs and homes because of the collapse of the real estate market,” says Mitchell L. Moss, one of the co-authors of the NYU report and a professor of urban policy and planning. When people get a job in a new city, he explains, they can find it difficult to sell their home in their current city, so they’re forced to wait it out.

While some people are forced to super-commute because of a slow real estate market, others go the distance for work simply because there’s greater opportunity elsewhere. Plus, with increasing mobile technology, says Moss, “there’s more flexibility in the modern workplace.”

Three years ago, Ian Bearce, a 40-something dad who lives in Minneapolis, landed his dream job working for an ad agency in Manhattan. He did the math and weighed his options: Finding a similar job in Minneapolis would be tough, but the cost of living in the New York City metro area was so much higher. Plus, in the Midwest, he and his wife, Megan, have a bigger family network, an invaluable resource that meant built-in babysitting and help with their two kids, ages six and four.

“We were put in a situation where we had to decide: Do we uproot our family? Can we financially even do that?” says Megan, who is a licensed family and marriage therapist in her late 30s.

The answers: no. And no.

So, now, every Monday, Ian wakes up, says goodbye to his wife and kisses their two sleeping children before leaving the house and hopping on a plane at 7 AM to get to the office by noon. During the week, he sleeps at his apartment in Brooklyn, and then on Friday he leaves the office between 4 PM and 6 PM to head to the airport and make it back home by 9 PM—at the earliest.

Ian admits that his schedule sounds like a whirlwind, but he’s got the back and forth down to a science. “Like anything in life, it has positives and negatives,” he says. “You have to take the long view. It was definitely harder in the beginning, but now we all have a rhythm down.”

The Costs and Benefits of a Super-Commute

As you can imagine, flying to work can get pricey, so who pays for a super-commute?

Sometimes employees don’t have to be concerned with cost-cutting because their employer is footing the bill.

Take Nick Ensig, 30, who isn’t exactly a super-commuter: The 150-mile round trip between his home in the Pennsylvania suburbs to his office in downtown Manhattan falls just short of the researchers’ definition by 30 miles. His employer fully compensates the travel costs associated with his daily four-hour commute. Ensig, who works as a building commissioner, loves his job, but says he still feels the pinch of having to trek so far away from home. Still, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Our quality of life is better here,” he says. “My wife has a great job in a public school as a guidance counselor with great benefits that save us about $7,000 a year, and we have family who live a few miles from our house.”

Initially, Ensig’s gig in New York City, though it came with a hefty 40% raise, was a hard sell to his wife, whom he praises for the sacrifices she has made. Without her support, he says, he’d never be able to make it work—or make it to work. Still, he worries about the downsides of being constantly on the go.

Interested in growing your business with the help of super commuters?

Here is a list of the top super commuting cities published by “allWork” which shows the rate of increase since 2020.

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ: Increase in super-commuting of 89% in New York City
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA: Increase in super-commuting of 20% in Los Angeles
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN: Reduction in super-commuting of 4% in Chicago
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX: Increase in super-commuting of 29% in Dallas
Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX: Increase in super-computing of 18% in Houston
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA: Increase in super-commuting of 6% in Atlanta
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-VA-MD-WV: Increase in super-commuting of 100% in Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD: Increase in super-commuting of 28% in Philadelphia.
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Wes Palm Beach, FL: Increase in super-commuting of 6% in Miami.
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ: Increase in super commuting of 57% in Phoenix.

Speaking for me, personally, I would like a gig where I can live in Lisbon and commute to my business in London. Nothing yet, but I’ll keep looking.

Mark Altman
Forte Business Travel Solutions
516-624-0500 x5072
maltman@travelsavers.com

Source: The Muse, https://www.themuse.com/, Life as a Super-Commuter: What it's Like to Fly to Work posted by Melissa Torrieri on June 19, 2020. Click here for a direct link to the article.

Is Super Commuting a part of our future?