(FORTUNE Magazine) – ROBERT C. BOWEN, senior vice president of National Computer Systems, has spent as much as 70% of his work year in flight or zipping through airports. Don J. Gunther, an executive vice president for Bechtel Group, the giant engineering and construction firm, flies some 400,000 miles annually. Darryl Parker, director of industry sales for six international regions at Sun Microsystems Computer, routinely spans the world's 24 time zones in logging his 350,000 miles a year. These are corporate road warriors, flying is their way of life, and they know a thing or two about the art of it that may be of use to you. Bowen, for example, understands how to stuff his 6-foot-1 frame into snug coach seats and still work comfortably during long flights. When his body yearns to rest, Darryl Parker, whose trips often last 12 hours or longer, chooses mind control over sleeping pills; he has come up with a guaranteed formula for peaceful slumber. Because Don Gunther is on the road so much, he invites his wife along on some trips to discuss family business. Some of what frequent fliers know is fairly conventional wisdom. To save time and to avoid the frustration of lost suitcases, these corporate roadies never check luggage. ''I only bring what I can easily carry for one-half mile or so,'' says Marc Fors, an executive vice president of Quebecor Printing in Montreal. But while their fellow travelers are swigging wine, these wily veterans also know they should avoid alcohol, whose dehydrating effects you don't need in the dry air aloft; they choose water and juices instead. Their tastes in airlines are informed and decided too: They know which offer the best chance of on-time arrival, friendly service, and an upgrade to first class. Except for one of those occasional upgrades, Robert Bowen, 50, whose Minneapolis company makes image scanners and software, always flies in the back of the plane. First-class travel is ordinarily off limits for all National Computer employees. He's not the only executive back there: As frequent fliers have learned to their dismay, more and more companies, faced with ballooning travel costs, have sharply restricted the use of first class. For tall coach travelers like the rangy Bowen, uncomfortable seats are the worst of economy class's aggravations. A 1991 survey by Consumer Reports Travel Letter concluded that only two tiny airlines have coach seating that's comfortable for long trips on full planes: Midwest Express, a subsidiary of Kimberly-Clark that is based in Milwaukee and has only coach seating, and MGM Grand Air, a sumptuous carrier that flies between Los Angeles and New York. The amiable Bowen, who flies about 350,000 miles annually, has adjusted to the squeeze. He always books an aisle seat so he can get in and out easily. To keep his legs and back from cramping, he walks the aisles at least once every hour. ''If I don't get an aisle seat I am very grumpy,'' Bowen admits. Work occupies most of his time on flights. When he has to prepare detailed reports, he writes the first draft in longhand while airborne. Even if Bowen got the nod to sit in the front cabin, he probably wouldn't. Before joining NCS three years ago, he was one of the executive cadre permitted to fly first class at McGraw-Hill, his employer of 17 years. He rarely did. ''I didn't feel it was right,'' he explains. ''How could I when my operating units were on strict budgets?'' At computer giants Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, the policy is that every employee must buy an economy ticket unless he or she is crossing an ocean. Then, only business class, the mid-priced cabin available on transatlantic and some coast-to-coast flights, is approved. According to Frequent Flyer magazine's 1991 readers poll, 70% fly coach domestically; only 5% buy first-class tickets. Most readers who get to sit in the front cabin are upgraded -- sometimes gratis -- because they have racked up a zillion miles with the airline. Says Hewlett-Packard travel manager Fred Swaffer: ''Even Chairman David Packard uses his frequent-flier miles for upgrades to first class.'' Tom Maxey, chief operating officer of the N.W. Ayer advertising agency, and his colleague Glenn Corlett, chief financial officer, were first-class travelers who have recently learned back-cabin survival tactics. Both ad men, as well as 15 other Ayer officers, were allowed to fly first class until late 1990, when Madison Avenue suffered the worst ad drought in history. Now all Ayer employees fly coach for domestic travel and business class for international. Maxey, 55, tries to beat the crush in coach by booking evening flights, from 7:30 to about 10 P.M., which he says are less crowded. Says Maxey: ''At that hour I can frequently find an empty row in economy so I can spread out and work or sleep.'' Corlett, 48, always books a seat on the emergency exit row, which generally has extra legroom for his 6-foot 3-inch frame. For long coast- to-coast flights, he makes a point of flying MGM Grand Air, which offers coach passengers six inches of extra legroom, curbside check-in, and a sumptuous free lounge, all at about the same price as full-fare coach on other carriers. Or he uses his frequent-flier miles to get upgraded to first class on other airlines. Even with first-class corporate travel on the wane, Marc Fors, 40, has managed to keep his front-cabin privileges. He does not want to suffer again as he did for the first 11 years that he worked in the printing industry: ''In coach my knees always touched the tray table hinges of the seat in front of me,'' says the trim 6-foot-1 Fors, ''and I was nearly decapitated at the knee a few times.'' Fors got his first exposure to first class in 1986 when he was hired by Maxwell Communications: ''The switch to first class suddenly made an airplane a work space instead of a survival space,'' says Fors, who travels some 200,000 miles per year. He says that if he were approached to make a job switch, he would tell prospective employers that he and first-class travel are a must package. It's now part of his employment contract with Quebecor. Since air time is work time for Fors, he always travels with a sturdy briefcase that serves as a file cabinet drawer and contains duplicates of everything from his desk file. He also carries an electronic organizer to make summary notes of the voluminous sales reports he reads on the plane. That way he can throw away the report after finishing it and reduce the weight of his luggage. When planes are delayed, the airline club lounge at an airport can be an oasis for weary travelers. These lounges, typically equipped with business centers, food, and refreshments, are free to all business- and first-class passengers on most international flights, but for domestic travel only niche player MGM provides them gratis to all passengers. As a rule, access to lounges in U.S. airports must be bought, typically for $200 the first year or $2,500 for a lifetime. Marc Fors joins the clubs of all the carriers he flies frequently to avoid the frustration of long waits in crowded boarding areas. ''If I get stuck,'' he says, ''I always have a place to go to conduct business.'' Don Gunther, 53, who works for Bechtel out of London, spends his air time on projects that benefit from the un-officelike lack of interruptions: strategic issues, performance reviews, and correspondence. As he moves from continent to continent he generally flies at night, visiting clients and construction sites by day. His routine on international flights, where he travels first class, is to work for a while, then snooze. ''When I need to get myself on the cycle of where I'm going, I will sleep through meals and all the other noises,'' he says. ''The cost differential pays off because I can get more work done and get more sleep in first class.'' GUNTHER USES his frequent-flier miles to keep his family together. He often redeems his miles for tickets for his wife, Mosey, who joins him on about 30% of his trips. For the couple's airborne family meetings, Mrs. Gunther comes prepared with a long, written list of things she wants to talk about. Says Gunther: ''We have a much better chance to communicate on an airplane than when we're at home, where there are lots of distractions.'' For Cam Starrett, executive vice president in charge of human resources at Nestle USA, productivity in the air is a key to success on the job. ''Air time is sacrosanct,'' says Starrett, who flies 110,000 miles annually. ''It is strictly a time for me to work.'' She rarely chats with fellow passengers; she just opens up her briefcase, in which there's a folder for each work project coded by color, and gets busy. If there are flight delays, she doesn't get ruffled: ''I just pull out one of my folders and work.'' For the past year and a half, Nestle has been consolidating its U.S. companies, like Hills Brothers and Carnation, that were previously run separately. Starrett, 43, travels to the divisions, which are scattered across the U.S., helping to sort out common activities. She rarely sleeps on planes, even on red-eye flights, and she always flies first class on journeys longer than two hours. The 5-foot 9-inch executive likes the extra space to work comfortably. As the No. 3 person in Nestle's U.S. operation, Starrett is one of a handful of the company's employees allowed to fly first class. To eliminate wardrobe anxiety -- will she have the right things? will somebody spill wine on her dress during a flight? -- Starrett always wears black from head to toe on the plane. The monochromatic wardrobe also prevents overpacking, she says. Everything she carries must fit into her two pieces of < carry-on luggage, a gold garment bag and a large, black leather bag that holds her briefcase, folders, and portable phone. In her pocketbook she carries a pair of high heels; flat shoes are better for dashing through airports. Frequent fliers know that business-class travel is better than coach, but they worry that its advantages may be diminishing. Business-class traveler Darryl Parker, whose territory for Sun Microsystems includes Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, is certain that airlines are cramming extra seats into the business class section on lucrative routes. ''I feel the difference, especially on the 767s and Airbus 320s,'' says the 6-foot-2 Parker, who was left with a ruptured lower disk after being hit by a car at age 18. ''The 767s are generally so tight now that I can't even sleep on them,'' he says. His main complaint is that business class cabins are inconsistent. On domestic flights they are generally inferior, he says, more like modified versions of coach. Business Traveller magazine concurs: ''The business-class bubble has finally burst,'' the magazine reported last year, in part blaming price increases for diminishing popularity. On the London-New York route, for example, business- class fares jumped as much as 25% from spring 1990 to spring 1991. While airlines added frills like higher-quality food and spiffier airport lounges, what many business-class fliers really wanted was extra legroom. Only a ''very few airlines are generous enough to offer'' more than a standard 40 inches of legroom, Business Traveller concluded, which is about six inches more than the standard for coach. Virgin Atlantic Airways is the champ, with seats spaced 55 inches apart, just a bit less than in the first-class cabins of other airlines. NO MATTER where Parker, 35, hawks his computer workstations, in Korea, Saudi Arabia, or the former Soviet Union, he always tries to have a rudimentary grasp of the client's habitat. So he spends most of his time aloft learning about the history, culture, and language of the countries he visits. He refrains from other work-related projects when airborne: ''I'm not going to pull out all my strategies and trends when the guy next to me could be working for IBM Japan. Many of my competitors, who are trying to sell to the same customers, take the same flights as I do.'' When his flights are ten hours or longer, or if the time zone difference where he is headed is greater than 12 hours from home, Parker tries to get as much sleep as possible. Describing himself as a ''programmed sleeper,'' he says he can doze off whenever he has to. He just packs the necessary accouterments and follows a simple routine: He drinks lots of water and juices to avoid dehydration, and eats lightly. Then he removes his contact lenses and blows up his inflatable back rest, which is like a pillow that gives lower lumbar support. Next he inflates his neck brace, wraps it around his neck, and plugs in his portable CD player to drown out noise. No airline Muzak for this jazz lover, who grooves to Wynton Marsalis, Miles Davis, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. Finally he covers his legs with a blanket and slips on his mask with the DO NOT DISTURB sign flipped up. Says Parker: ''My intention is to sleep until the plane touches down. Then I can beat jet lag by staying awake at my destination until my normal bedtime.'' Of the major U.S. airlines, our veteran travelers overwhelmingly favor American. Flights are always available, they say, and they like its on-time performance record -- the two most important features of an airline for frequent fliers. Nearly every recent airline survey, from a Zagat consumer poll to Wichita State University's quality report, concurs. American also gets high marks for pampering its regulars. ''American's frequent-flier program is very progressive,'' raves Parker. ''Quite often I get gratis upgrades. The agent will say, 'Mr. Parker, you've had a long trip; let us fly you back first class.' '' Also frequently mentioned as domestic favorites are those two niche players, Midwest Express and MGM Grand, which are praised for roomy seats and gourmet meals. On MGM, which caters to show-biz folks and investment bankers, first- class passengers are treated to fully reclining swivel seats, leather- covered toilet lids, and a stand-up bar. ''MGM is a lot of fun,'' says Philip Rowley, chief financial officer of the recording and publishing company EMI Music. Rowley would like to fly MGM more often. The trouble is that the airline has only two departing flights per day in the two cities it serves, Los Angeles and New York, and can't always accommodate its fans. Continental Airlines is usually near the bottom of customer satisfaction surveys, but our corporate road warriors and their travel managers praise the bankrupt carrier's responsiveness to budget-squeezed companies and its liberal frequent-flier and promotional programs. Especially popular is the deal - whereby full-fare coach passengers on domestic flights are upgraded to first class when space is available or given double mileage. Even discount ticket purchasers can get bumped up to the front cabin, free of charge, if they have racked up 40,000 miles with Continental. Nor are the freebies the only attraction. Bechtel's Gunther flew Continental frequently before moving to London and likes the airline's friendly crews: ''All of the captains and the flight attendants called me by name, and I knew their names also.'' For international travel, corporate fliers are smitten with the Asian carriers, especially Singapore Airlines. They say that without exception, the Asians give superior service, and their opinion is verified in poll after poll. In 1991, for example, Singapore Airlines won Conde Nast Traveler's readers poll for best airline for the fourth consecutive year. What's surprising is that Singapore Airlines, with its youthful fleet of planes and lovely sarong-wearing flight attendants called Singapore Girls, maintains its lofty rank despite its stingy seating configuration. Singapore's business- class seats are a cramp-inducing 38 inches apart, two inches less than the industry standard and 17 less than indulgent Virgin Air's. More controversial is British Airways, or BA, which until it was privatized in 1987 was known by the derisive sobriquet ''bloody awful.'' Even though it has improved service since then, many of its former passengers have climbed aboard upstart Virgin Atlantic, owned by swashbuckler Richard Branson. ''I made the switch from British Air to Virgin two years ago,'' says Thomas Maxey of N.W. Ayer. He loves the extra legroom, and says Virgin's flight attendants are more enthusiastic about their jobs. An American investment banker based in London who has yet to defect says, ''British Air has the worst food, the worst seats, and the rudest flight attendants in the world.'' So why does this dealmaker, who refuses to be identified for fear of reprisal (''I'm a Gold Card member, and the airline will have me marked'') continue to buckle up with the carrier? ''I get sucked into British Air because it has the right flights at all of the right times,'' he allows ruefully. For intra-European travel he says he goes out of his way to fly SAS or Swissair, and will choose even TWA, with its aged fleet, over British Airways. British-born Rowley of EMI Music thinks British Airways is tops, by contrast, because he knows a trick others don't. Rowley, who works in New , York, flies first class, and travels frequently to EMI's London headquarters, is particularly fond of British Air's version of an upgrade. Says Rowley: ''If I get to the airport early, the ground crew will sometimes put me on the Concorde, which leaves 30 minutes before the regular flight to London.'' The SST cuts the flight time to London by more than half, and spending less of their lives in the air is a goal of just about all frequent fliers.

BOX: THE VETS' AIR TRAVEL TIPS

-- If you're flying coach, try to do so in off hours -- evenings are typically less crowded. And get an aisle seat. -- Pack only clothes that go with one another. For women travelers this might mean everything in a single color. -- Avoid alcohol, which will dehydrate you further in the dry air aloft. Drink lots of water or fruit juice. -- Constantly check for special deals. Continental, for instance, upgrades full-fare coach passengers when there's space.