Airline Travel Procedures and Egencia Reservations

TO:  All Departments
FROM:  Tim Thornton, Director of Purchasing
DATE:  April 26, 2017
SUBJECT:  AIRLINE TRAVEL PROCEDURES & EGENCIA RESERVATIONS

Alabama A&M University’s adoption of Egencia in 2013 as the University’s standard air business travel solution has streamlined the process of arranging and reserving flights for faculty, staff, students, and guests.

All travelers are expected to book their flights exclusively through Egencia.  Travelers who wish to book their travel without using Egencia have the burden of proof to provide all necessary receipts, approvals, and other supporting documentation with the Travel Expense Report before reimbursement will be granted.  The University reserves the right to deem the supporting documentation provided as insufficient and deny a request for reimbursement.

Travel arrangers should follow these procedures every time a flight is to be reserved in Egencia:

1.    Go to Egencia (www.egencia.com), as if you arranging the flight reservation, to generate a quote for the airfare.  Do not reserve the flight at this time.

2.    Use this quote as a baseline to create the encumbrance for airfare in Banner INB.  Ensure the encumbrance’s value is sufficient to cover the flight cost as found in Egencia.

3.    One encumbrance (FGAENCB) should be established to cover all travel costs. There should not be one encumbrance established for airfare and a different encumbrance established for all other travel expenses. Detailed expense data, as noted in the University’s Travel Policy, Section IIb Procedures, must be provided in the Document Text field of FGAENCB.

4.    The details of the flight’s encumbrance must be provided on a Travel Authorization Request Form. There must be one Travel Authorization Request Form per encumbrance. At a minimum, the Travel Authorization Request Form must be signed and dated by the Traveler and the Department Head. If funds from externally sponsored programs are to be used, the funding department, i.e. Title III or the Sponsored Programs Office, must also authorize the travel request by approving the Travel Authorization Request Form.

5.    The approved Travel Authorization Request Form must be emailed to the Director of the Purchasing Department or his designee. The Purchasing or Travel Department within the Office of the Comptroller may require incomplete or inaccurate forms to be resubmitted.

6.    The approved Travel Authorization Request Form must be received and the Travel Encumbrance must be approved in Banner INB before the flight can be booked.

7.    Go to Egencia to reserve the flight. The Purchasing Department will approve and book the flight.

8.    Egencia should only be used to book flights. Hotels and vehicle rentals should not be reserved within Egencia. For the University’s reimbursement policies regarding hotels, personal vehicle mileage, meals, and incidentals, please refer to the University’s travel policy.

9.    Travelers are encouraged to choose Delta Air Lines, the preferred airlines of Alabama A&M University, for each flight.  However, any airline is accepted.  Travelers should obtain the most economical, Economy/Coach fare available except when such accommodations would (a) require unreasonable routing; (b) require travel during unreasonable hours; (c) excessively prolong travel or flight duration; (d) result in increased cost that would offset transportation savings; or (e) offer accommodations not reasonably adequate for the medical needs of the traveler.

In determining the most economical option, the time of the flight plays a major part. Acceptable travel times start as early as 5:00 A.M. Central Standard Time.  Travel requests may be disputed or denied if more cost effective choices exist. Special circumstances will be considered on an individual basis.