Business air travel is often a necessary evil.

Often you need to meet with clients in another state or country and a phone call just will not do.

Other times, a business seminar or tradeshow is only held a significant distance from your home. Although necessary, business class air travel does not need to always be a hassle.

It used to be when you flew for business reasons that your company would get you business class air travel for your trip.

This was because business class air travel offered a bit more room so you could work while en route without the expense of first class. Business class flights also provide a few other extras that made travel easy for those who were in the skies quite a bit for work purposes, and flying that much in coach was more of a pain than anything else.

Today, the business class flights you used to see are slowly going away.

More and more airlines are cutting out a lot of their business class air travel and sticking with just coach and first class flights. A big reason for this is expense. It is much cheaper to buy new planes with just two classes, and this is keeping the business class flights you used to use down in number to the point where you may not find them when you need them. A friend of mine works for an airline, and she agrees that while business class air travel was helpful to the business passenger, it was indeed some of the first changes airlines started to make when money started to get tight. Airlines have to make changes to survive, and sadly, this was one that had to be made.

If you are still looking for business class air travel, you can still find them if you look hard enough.

They may not be as easy to find if you live in a smaller community, but they are out there somewhere. You may even have to take a coach connection to a larger city to get a business class flight to your final destination. If you can afford it, you may have to consider going first class from now on if you need the extra room to spread out and work while on a flight.

If you have no choice in the matter, you may find that your company begins to put you in coach no matter where you are going.

This may become more and more common as time goes on, and this may change the way your company does business. Today there are ways around business travel, including videoconferencing and the like, but some know that this will never replace the need to have a person on the spot to get the job done.

If you are a frequent business air traveler, you may want to check with the airline and see if they have an elite flier program.

If you fly often enough, you may qualify for extra perks like upgrades to first class or business class instead of having to settle for coach. It may not always work and it may not be available with all airlines, but it could help make some of your business air travel a bit more enjoyable.

We can all hope that business class air travel will eventually return.

After all, if the airlines just want to make money. If there is a call for it or one airline becomes well known for providing the service to business travelers, other may see a need to follow.