What the Scott Pruitt Scandal Tells Us About the Misery of Business Travel
Photo Credit: EPA administrator Scott Pruitt walks onstage at CPAC 2017. The latest allegations against Pruitt are proof that business travel stinks for the majority of travelers. Flickr / Gage Skidmore
Skift Take
Corporate travel policies are restrictive, and perhaps no organization is as restrictive as the U.S. government. The Scott Pruitt scandal is a good reminder that business travel is an important part of life wherever you happen to work. Everyone wants to live the good life, but few really can.
Business travel is frustrating. Nobody really wants to fly across the country in the middle seat on a delayed flight, only to end up in an economy hotel next to a freeway due to restrictions on where you can stay and how much you can spend.
Wouldn't it be better to fly around the world first-class or on a private jet, staying at whatever fancy hotel you want, accompanied by a security staff to whisk you around wherever you need? Sounds like the life, honestly.
The unfolding saga this week of Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt's alleged lavish spending on travel is partly a disturbing tale of excess, but also a tribute to the agony of business travel and the draconian methods organizations use to impose a travel policy on employees.
The U.S. government is a bureaucracy nonpareil, and its fragmented natur
