Category: Business travel

~ Your calls to Teddy’s are NEVER met by “dial 3 for reservations” and six other options that “have recently changed”. All calls are simply answered. Instantly. Simple and helpful.

By comparison, I am writing this while I am on hold, on two different lines, with an airline that should remain nameless. Regardless of their robotic declaration that my “call is important to” them, my estimated hold times are 48 minutes and 1 hour and 22 minutes respectively.  I even lied and ‘told’ the automated voice equipment that I wanted to book two first-class tickets to Paris. That used to get me to a much shorter call queue. But now all bets are off with the whole planet working from home.

Imagine if that was you, haulin’ a__ through O’Hare loaded with luggage, a briefcase and overcoat and about to miss your connection home to LaGuardia and frantic to get a seat on the next flight. Folks like you miss far too much family time as it is. We can’t help much with the new flight. But pushing your Teddy’s private car back 90 minutes will only take a few seconds and you’ll only have to touch our phone number once.

So why am I on the phone for this? My new client’s flight out of Fort Lauderdale (FLL) got sent back to the gate. The passengers had to disembark and swapped onto new aircraft. It happens. The new flight is utilizing the same flight number (we think), but all the flight trackers (I’ve got four up) all think the flight was indefinitely “diverted” back to FLL.

Meanwhile the airline’s auto notification text (flight tracking tool #5) told me the replacement equipment was due to depart Florida 8:15. But since I can’t track it online and can’t get the airline on the phone, I can only hope we get it right and don’t miss the arrival time into LGA. After all, to be responsible with your fare dollars, our Norwalk-based chauffeur is sitting at home in Fairfield waiting for news the flight is airborne before driving down to New York.

Teddy’s takes great pride in being the only service you can think of that simply “answers the phone,” live, with a direct professional no matter what time of the day or night

That is why I take great pride in personally working 6 nights a week, 3PM to 10PM during the COVID pandemic business travel downturn. Teddy’s has always taken tremendous pride in being the only service you can think of that simply “answers the phone,” live with a direct professional no matter what time of the day or night: Just so folks like you get your calls, texts and emails answered instantly without having to do anything more than call.

“one call does it all”

As well, one call does it all. If you already have* a traveler profile with Teddy’s, you can spend five to eight minutes on the phone with us and have car service lined up to get you to JFK, meet you a few hours later in Miami, Dallas, LA, etc., even London, Paris and more. We can get you to the distant meeting the next day and back to your flight home when it’s time. Arrange a Teddy’s for your dinner with distant colleagues or clients too.

We can cut staff and make you hold 90 minutes. We’d save a lot of money. But, after all, we are in the business of keeping you stress free and productive in relation to what, I am sure, is usually a brutal business travel schedule. We hope you appreciate the investment and utilize Teddy’s to keep the wheels rolling with your business.

Team Teddy’s eagerly looks forward to helping your team get back on track as business travel starts to resume. If you’d like some tools to get your team set up with Teddy’s travel profiles ..and a preferred business farebook, contact sales@teddyslimo.com or call Charles Wisniewski at 203-866-2231 any time.

*If you are a member of the Teddy’s Platinum Reward Miles program, then you have a Teddy’s traveler profile. To see what’s in it, either log on or we can send you a screen shot.

Teddy’s is seeing a slight uptick in daily trip counts since the end of the election

As you may have seen, in this space earlier, airports and air travel are proving to be exceptionally safe vis a vis the coronavirus. In fact, ‘companywide travel bans have become less common’ according to a State of the Industry report published by Business Travel News (Nov 5, 2020).

Only 5.6% travel managers said business travel is still suspended

The digital article goes on to say that while many business travelers are reluctant to travel, “plenty of companies and plenty of travelers say they want to travel.”

“Smaller companies, which are more growth-driven, are back on the road and traveling at half …their 2019 volume”.

After all, business travel has a 12:1 Return on Investment (ROI). We all now know that “phoning it in” leaves a lot to be said. JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon retorts online meetings lack “creative combustion.”

While Teddy’s is delighted to be back to helping our clients with a few airport trips each day we have not done much flying ourselves and wondered about the screening process you will face upon flying back into the Greater New York City airports, LaGuardia, John F Kennedy, Newark, Westchester County and Teterboro (codes LGA, JFK, EWR, HPH & TEB respectively).

Well Team Teddy’s member Emerson Osorio just got back from his very first trip to the Colorado Rockies and besides being very stoked about the majestic mountains, filled us in on his experience flying back into LaGuardia Airport today.

In a nutshell, all passengers boarding in Denver were told to visit https://forms.ny.gov/s3/Welcome-to-New-York-State-Traveler-Health-Form and fill out the quick form. He completed his before boarding, worried about intermittent internet access while airborne.

HOWEVER, it looks like if you are only passing through a New York City airport, to stay in Connecticut, you are actually responsible to submit a report to Connecticut. More below.

I started the NY form while here at the Teddy’s offices, but did not want to finish it because I’m not actually traveling today. The first page advised you not to submit the form more than 24 hours before you enter the State of New York.

The form’s first page called for name and birth date. Page 2 was phone numbers and contact info. Three was travel date and mode of transportation, i.e.: check a box for airplane, bus, private car, public transport, ship or train. Page 4 was about dependents traveling with you. There were 8 pages altogether and I’m sure I would have finished in 3 minutes.

Once finished, you were to screen shot the findings of the site. If the site returned a green checkmark, you did not have to quarantine. I’m not sure what the alternative response page looked like.

Just passing through NY to Connecticut?

Failure to submit this travel health form or to self-quarantine may result in a civil penalty of $500 for each such violation.

An Affected Traveler is a person entering into Connecticut after spending 24 hours or longer in one of the Affected States or Affected Countries within 14 days prior to arriving in Connecticut and who is staying in Connecticut for 24 hours or longer. To control the spread of COVID-19 in Connecticut, all Affected Travelers are required to (1) complete the “Connecticut Travel Health Form” and (2) self-quarantine for a period of 14 days from the time of last contact with an Affected State or Affected Country, for any portion of such 14 day period they spend in Connecticut.

Can travelers be tested for COVID-19 instead of self-quarantine? Yes, an Affected Traveler is exempt from the self-quarantine requirement if the Affected Traveler (1) has had a test for COVID-19 in the seventy-two (72) hours prior to arrival in Connecticut or at any time following arrival in Connecticut, (2) the result of such COVID-19 test is negative, and (3) he or she has provided written proof of such negative test result to the Commissioner via email to: DPH.COVID-Travel@ct.gov or via facsimile to: (860) 326-0529.  (see more at item 14 here.)

For an ever-changing list of the Affected States, click here.

Hope it helps! Stay tuned while we keep an ear out for the process into Bradley (Hartford/Springfield) and Boston Logan. (Or if you know, please tell us by calling or writing contact@teddyslimo.com and we’ll post it here.)

For more about Teddy’s COVID safety protocols, click here.

Safe travels!

Team Teddy’s

Can you nail your bonus with a ‘secret” extra work week every month?

 ~  plus you’re looking for ways to get back to work without the trains anyway

Think about it: Ninety minutes or more into New York City every day from Weston, Wilton or New Canaan, right? (or Chappaqua, Pound Ridge or Bedford, NY for that matter)  …and double it to come home.

That’s 15-20 hours a week (60 hours a month, conservatively) lost to schlepping from house to car to railroad parking ..with a long walk to the platform. Then: train, subway and how many blocks to your office. ..never mind sometimes shoveling snow to start that whole process. With a Teddy’s, you work or rest door-to-door each way.

Try just a slice to start: Grab another commuter from your ‘social bubble’ and share the ride each day. Try 3 days a week, maybe only inbound – at least that cuts your exposure to crowded trains in half those days. We had two Goldman guys do that for years – they met their Teddy’s driver at the Westport train station three mornings a week for the ride in – at a great discount – and took the train back home. The hardest part was how to split their Teddy’s Platinum Reward Miles. Want to see some math on this? Contact sales@teddyslimo.com.