Road Warrior: N-day for Cork, Lyft and Uber out run taxis and car hire

Travellers on business calling app ride-hailers

Uber and Lyft, those ride-hailing, app-based companies have overtaken both taxis and car rental usage in the US for business travellers.

The data came from expense management company Certify, which tracks corporate spend across major categories such as airlines, meals, accommodation and transportation.

General Motors, by the way, has taken a $500 million (€436 million) investment in Lyft.

Norwegian outfit awaits okay for Cork-Boston route

Fingers crossed for the right result for Cork on Friday the 13th. The US Department of Transport is expected to give an answer on the issuing of a foreign carrier permit to the Irish-registered Norwegian Air International.

If the permit is granted, then expect flights to begin from Cork to Boston as early as August. A Cork-New York service is planned for next year. Fares will be very competitive.

Lost luggage at a low thanks to electric tagging

Consolation for regular travellers from IT company Sita: baggage mishandling – lost and delayed and major annoyance to you and me – is at the lowest ever recorded rate.

According to Sita’s Baggage Report 2016, mishandled bags were 6.5 per thousand passengers, down 10.5 per cent on the previous year and less than half the rate in 2003.

Electronic bag tracking and tagging is expected to reduce this figure further in coming years.

Bay City beats NY as priciest for per diems for 3rd year

The Business Travel News annual survey of per diems across 100 US cities shows average costs up by 3.9 percent, with San Francisco the most expensive city three years in row. Average per diem in the Bay City is $547.34, followed by New York at $523.05 and Boston, a former leader at $522.69.

At the bottom end of the list the best value city for doing business is Norfolk at $248.15. Fastest growing rates were in Detroit, with an increase of 22.5 per cent to $344.21.