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Re-add height taller than 1.95m / 6.5ft and long flight upgrade options on flights for travel expenses

Why is this change being made?

I'm 2m / 6.5ft tall, and travel always is a challenge for me. I love to travel, and my role as Developer Evangelist requires me to speak at events, join meetups and meet the wider community and customers. When considering joining GitLab in 2019, I was amazed by the travel expense handbook giving me a documented option to upgrade seats because of height problems. Sticking in an economy seat for 2+ hours is pain, and I wanted to ensure that this works without limitations.

Changes to the handbook removed this example from the option to upgrade. Physical limitations with manager approval work; this MR is to refine the wording and re-add the example so that someone very tall does not have to worry.

Policy for flights longer than X hours

I also saw team members wondering where the policy for flights longer than 8 hours went; there was no announcement in Slack. With travel and events returning, a documented policy and announcements will help. The full old policy is shown below for discussion.

I did not re-add the additional reimbursement options, which have been removed, in this MR, but we can do so with discussions and suggestions.

Edit: Re-added for discussion and review with fbda21b6

  • Re-add the travel upgrade options into a sub FAQ section in the travel handbook.
  • Link the upgrade options from the expenses handbook table, so that everyone can find the details.
## Travel and Expense Guidelines

### Travel

1. If you are taller than 1.95m or 6'5", you can upgrade to Economy Plus. There is no dollar restriction on this since it will be hard to fit in economy with that height.
1. For flights longer than 8 hours, you can expense:
   * Up to the first [$300 USD](https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/) for an upgrade to Business Class on flights longer than 8 hours if you are taller than 1.95m or 6'5".
    * Up to the first [$100 USD](https://www1.oanda.com/currency/converter/) for an upgrade to Economy Plus (no height restriction) on flights longer than 8 hours.
1. GitLab does not cover expenses for significant others or family members for travel or immigration. This includes travel and visas for GitLab events.
        * There are other things that [the company will not reimburse](/handbook/finance/accounting/#8-employee-reimbursements---expensify), such as dog boarding.

For additional Company Travel related questions, please refer to our [Travel Handbook](/handbook/travel/#booking-travel-through-tripactions-) regarding booking travel through TripActions.

Research on changes

Looked for the Git commit that removed the taller than text.

git log -c -S'taller than' sites/handbook/source/handbook/finance/expenses/index.html.md

The full text was removed in !102765 (merged), saying it was a duplicate. The table entry and removed text differ.

Author Checklist

  • Provided a concise title for this Merge Request (MR)
  • Added a description to this MR explaining the reasons for the proposed change, per say why, not just what
    • Copy/paste the Slack conversation to document it for later, or upload screenshots. Verify that no confidential data is added.
  • Assign reviewers for this MR to the correct Directly Responsible Individual/s (DRI)
    • If the DRI for the page/s being updated isn’t immediately clear, then assign it to one of the people listed in the Maintained by section on the page being edited
    • If your manager does not have merge rights, please ask someone to merge it AFTER it has been approved by your manager in #mr-buddies
  • If the changes affect team members, or warrant an announcement in another way, please consider posting an update in #whats-happening-at-gitlab linking to this MR
    • If this is a change that directly impacts the majority of global team members, it should be a candidate for #company-fyi. Please work with internal communications and check the handbook for examples.

Edited by Michael Friedrich

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