They were bought out. That is where the insane rules came from.
oddly, the old rules were not any better. Matt had to be on the east coast for an end of month billing date. the server was going to arrive on the somewhere between the 26- 28th. They knew this over a month in advance. They dithered about the datehe should arrive for over 2 weeks. I thought it was obvious - send him on the 26th - he wasn't going to be doing much on that day. If the server wasn't there on the 27th - 90% of work is dial in anyway. one day of internet access ,and hotel, plus per diem did not equal the idiotic results of dithering. Because they wiated so long instead of a 300- 500 round trip - it was closer to 2000.
They can't do what some companies do - which is say cost to x must be under n dollars, because they fly to too many places. But they could do it by distance - or even if the difference is under 75 - chose the fast flight ... anything over 75 dollar diference - there needs to be justification and approval by manager before flight. simple enough - and they do have a travel agent they are working through - so it isn't that hard...
pisses me off when I have a better idea on how to run the company money than corperate finacial types