No more legroom for bankers

Tough times are forcing the former masters of the universe to fly coach. Will the degradation ever end?

Published October 23, 2008 10:30AM (EDT)

OK, not just Wal-Mart moms with hungry babies are feeling the pinch of tough times. Naked Capitalism spots a Bloomberg News story reporting that "Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG and JPMorgan & Chase Co. are telling senior bankers in Asia to fly coach on short-haul flights and reduce non-essential travel as they step up cost cuts."

Oh, the ignominy. Bankers, in middle seats, knocking elbows with the hoi polloi. That's gotta hurt.

But don't call the penny-pinching banking overseers irredeemably heartless. UBS instructed employees that the new rules only apply to flights shorter than five hours. So if you need to make a transoceanic hop, you can still be coddled in business class. The global economy might be hurting, but the wheels haven't come completely off the bus.


By Andrew Leonard

Andrew Leonard is a staff writer at Salon. On Twitter, @koxinga21.

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