Notifications
Clear all
Airline Tickets
7
Posts
5
Users
0
Reactions
2
Views
Topic starter
We had a great conversation yesterday during the webinar regarding managing your Unused Ticket Credits with your TMC. But it brought up an interesting question that I'd like to see if anyone has solved for. We have a soft-mandate where travelers are required to book via our OBT/TMC unless they can document a cost savings by booking direct with the airline. Now that our contract with American is gone, we have a feeling we will see more and more flights booked direct as a result of this. American makes up about 30% of our airline spend so despite my best efforts, we won't stop flying them completely.
Our policy states that any bookings made outside of our OBT/TMC must be done out of pocket and not on their University-issued Travel Card, but people make outside bookings on their card all the time. The concern is that if that trip gets cancelled, the unused ticket credit will be issued directly to the traveler and we will have no insight that this even occurred nor any visibility into how the credit is used in the future. Travelers could then use these university credits for personal travel, both accidentally and on purpose.
I am pondering the idea of requiring travelers to sign an attestation for outside bookings made on their T&E Card which states that if any credit is issued as a result of a change or cancellation, the value of that credit can only be used for future University travel. Have any other campuses implemented something similar? Or do you have any other suggested solutions which you can share?
Posted : 29/02/2024 9:37 am
Rebecca this is a concern we also have! We have told them that they can only use for future College travel but nothing in writing. Also what happens when they leave and still have that credit?
Posted : 29/02/2024 12:20 pm
Don't they have to reconcile the Travel Card charges? So, if they don't have a business flight to reconcile, the transaction will remain outstanding, and you could pursue reimbursement from the traveler at that point?
Posted : 29/02/2024 4:44 pm
Topic starter
Jessica: another good point! It's still the University's money that they would be "stealing" if they used that credit even after they departed.
Justin: yes, but typically the charge is reconciled before the trip because the ticket is purchased in advance. We ask that Travel Card charges be reconciled within 30 days of purchase for pre-trip expenses such as airfare or conference registrations. So if they make the purchase and reconcile it, but then the trip gets cancelled, we would never know.
Posted : 01/03/2024 2:01 am
Oh, interesting. For travel, we don't allow reconciliation until after the trip ends. The company credit card bill is paid monthly regardless.
Posted : 01/03/2024 3:45 am
Yes, we also don't allow reconciliation until after the end of the trip. We can then make note of the e-credits that were issued in the employee's name and try to stay on top of that unused ticket that was booked outside of our system.
I reach out to the department head and let them know as well, so it is not just on the employee to be ethical and make sure the credit is used for business travel and not personal. If the employee is leaving, then the department head can use the credit for another employee by doing a name change on the credits. It does cost money to change the passenger's name, but a lot of the time is less than purchasing a whole new ticket.
Posted : 04/03/2024 5:20 am
I am very interested in this topic as we are non-mandated and many users use their own personal credit card to purchase airfare and then request reimbursement prior to the trip. But, if they don't end up going on the trip - who's managing this ticket? I'd really love to hear what other universities are doing to manage their unused tickets.
Posted : 27/03/2024 8:07 am
©2020 Society for Collegiate Travel and Expense Management