None of the engineering teams I was on at MS had any of this stuff going on.
Heck I was surprised she was being flown first class, with all the cutbacks everyone I know at MS for the last ~4 years has been flying coach even for their first N international flights each year! (I forget what N is.)
Sales people often fly biz class because their customers are. I don't know if it is the same here, and overseas offices have different rules than Redmond (MS China we never got biz class even though many of us flew way more than N times a year on 12 hour flights).
Heck I was surprised she was being flown first class, with all the cutbacks everyone I know at MS for the last ~4 years has been flying coach even for their first N international flights each year! (I forget what N is.)