One-sided NY Times article paints bleak picture of 2006 business travel. I beg to differ.

The New York Times’s Christopher Elliott seems to think that 2006 is going to be the worst year ever for business travlers. He reports that problems from rising hotel costs to devalued frequent flier miles, and the obvious decline in airline customer service are causing business people to eschew travel whenever they can.

Despite the problems - and I admit there are many - I predict that the average traveler’s experience won’t change all that much for the worse in the coming year. Let’s face it, travel for business or pleasure has always been unpleasant. Even the best possible experience of getting from point A to point B could be characterized as “endurable” at best. And it’s always been a crap shoot, with something going wrong more often than not. Issues with pricing, service and even the weather may increase the probability of a horrible moment or two, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that every trip will be a disaster.

I’d even go so far as to say that Elliott paints only one half of the picture. After all, there are new developments that could offset some of the more unpleasant aspects of traveling next year. We’ve posted about a few of them. Here’s a recap:

• Competition between European airlines makes for better customer experience.
• Corporate egalitarianism makes for airline innovation
• More travel information available on the internet means better decision making capabilities for travelers.
• Online travel agencies offer new features
• Comfy new seats from SAS.
• More inflight Internet.
• Self defense from aggressive seat recliners.
• Technology concierges make all the difference.
• Online travel agencies step up the customer service.
• Better shopping at airports.

And before you go on one more complaining jag about how long it takes to get through the TSA lines, stop and think about the people doing the screening. I’m not sure whether they’re making us any safer, but scanning people’s luggage for potential threats isn’t an easy job. I heartily encourage you to check out MSNBC’s TSA simulator for a little bit of perspective on how hard it is. It might just make you a little less frustrated the next time you wait in line.

One of the big differences between the mainstream media and the blogosphere is that they’re driven by market forces that we don’t pay attention to. This sometimes leads them to sensationalize or tell only the bad side of the story. After all, bad news sells more papers. I respectfully submit that this is the case with this particular article. They could have offered a more well-rounded perspective. Yes, 2006 is probably not going to be the most pleasant year on record for business travel - but we should all try to look for the silver lining.