Travel

E-Travel News

September 2020 - Volume 12, Issue 5

In This Issue

• Creating a Fare Quote for Deviated Travel
• Airlines Eliminate Change Fees
• Web Browser Recommendation for E-Travel Online

Creating a Fare Quote for Deviated Travel

AAM 60.080 Interruption or Deviation of Travel for Traveler Convenience is policy that Travelers must follow to ensure proper approval and reimbursement if they plan to deviate from official State business travel.  Travelers should be aware that personal deviations from the state authorized itinerary may negate workers compensation coverage and may have financial consequences if not properly handled.

When a Traveler wishes to combine personal travel with Official State of Alaska business, they must first have approval from their department.  They must obtain a quote in E-Travel Online or with a CTM travel agent, upon the approval, that reflects the cost of the Official State travel; this is called a State Authorized Fare Quote (also known as the Minimum Business Itinerary).  The state will reimburse the lesser amount of either the ticket purchased or the state authorized fare quote. 

One of the biggest issues departments report with regards to deviated travel is that Travelers are not obtaining an actual fare quote prior to their trip departure.  In fact, some Travelers do not indicate their plans to deviate on the Travel Approval.  This creates additional work to reconcile and because a proper quote was not obtained prior to departure, there is no assurance that the State did not pay more for traveler convenience.

There are two options for obtaining a State Authorized Fare Quote:

1. A State Authorized Fare Quote can be requested directly with a CTM agent.  The quote will be emailed, and the full agent fee will be charged and deducted from the employee’s reimbursement.  This service may not be available outside regular business hours. 
• CTM Contact Information: 1-866-762-8728.
2. A State Authorized Fare Quote can be created in E-Travel Online as instructed below and will not incur an agent fee.
   • Log into E-Travel Online.  Employees without a travel profile will need to contact their travel arranger.
   • Enter the State authorized travel dates/times/destination (including car and hotel if applicable) in the Book Travel section.
   • Select the State authorized itinerary, this should be the lowest fare class on the most direct route available to conduct the state business
   • Save the State Authorized Fare Quote as instructed in the Announcement section at the top of the Trip Review and Purchase page.  This quote will be required for reimbursement effective January 1, 2021.
   • Follow the department’s internal approval process with the request for deviation. 
   • Travelers must book their deviated travel on their own time.  Travel arrangers can help with the State Authorized Fare, but they are not responsible for booking the deviated travel.
     • Exception: If the personal deviation is an extended stay at some point in the State authorized destination, departments may opt to pay for the combined trip (State-authorized portion including the personal extension) if the additional cost of the personal portion can be recovered from the traveler's reimbursement after travel is complete. A State-authorized fare quote must be obtained as a basis for determining the reimbursement amount.

Airlines Eliminate Change Fees

Over the past few months airlines have been working hard to maintain service with reduced capacity requirements, allow for flexibility, extend elite status benefits, and provide a clean and safe environment for travelers at all touch points along their journey.  One more notable change is the elimination of change fees!  All this, with the end goal of ensuring peace of mind to increase traveler confidence.

As of September 1, 2020, Alaska Air, American Air, Delta Air, and United Air have announced their plan to eliminate change fees.  Other airlines not listed may have implemented similar changes.  It is important to note that each airline has slightly different rules and restrictions and some may still charge for changes made the same day of travel (same day changes).

The fare rules for trip changes may be different from the rules for trip cancellations, both can be confusing unless you have experience in understanding fare rules.  That said, CTM has access to the most current information and will handle the requested transaction following the airline rules.

For trip changes, the airlines will still collect the difference in fare, but there will no longer be a change fee included in the cost.  For trip cancellations, there may still be a cost to apply the unused value to the new fare as well as any difference in fare. 

Web Browser Recommendation for E-Travel Online

If you use Internet Explorer (IE) as your default browser, you may be having issues with the performance of E-Travel Online and possibly other websites. This is due to the security and regulatory compliance risks of outdated browsers.

When using IE to access E-Travel Online we are noticing sluggish performance and occasional pop-ups stating the system is not responding due to a long-running script.

If you are using IE, please switch to a supported browser such as Chrome or Mozilla Firefox and you should see immediate improvement to the performance of E-Travel Online.

If you are still experiencing performance issues, please email a screenshot of the issue to the E-Travel Manager so we can work on a resolution.

Please share with other system users as needed.