Here are some reminders…
Approval: Before you make any reservations for airfare, lodging or rental car expenses, you need to request and receive approval for your trip from CIRES Travel. You can start the process by filling out the required information on the CIRES Employee Travel Request form in InsideCIRES.
Approval from Waleed Abdalati and the Vice Chancellor for Research’s (VCR) Office is required for international travel. The CIRES Travel team will help obtain these approvals by entering your request for you in Concur.
Travelers supported by Task II funds should work with their NOAA divisions to obtain the appropriate acknowledgements for upcoming trips. The current list of contacts for NOAA Task II Travel can be found on InsideCIRES: Travel Services > Approval.
You will receive two emails regarding the approval status of your trip:
- Email from CIRES Travel, with the subject line, “Travel Approved for [Name] to [Destination] from [Trip Duration]” and indicating that your trip has been approved by CIRES Travel. Take a look at the instructions and notes from CIRES Travel provided in this message. The 4-digit Concur code that you need to book airfare will be listed in this message.
- Email from Concur Travel, indicating that your Concur travel request has been approved and you can book your airfare. The 4-digit Concur code that you need to book airfare will be listed in this message
Airfare: Once you receive both approval messages, you can purchase your airfare by making a reservation in Concur or with a travel agent at Christopherson Business Travel (CBT). You will need to provide the 4-digit Concur code for your trip to make your airfare reservation. CBT charges a fee of $20 per reservation.
After you have purchased your airfare (either through Concur or CBT), any changes, cancellations or applications of a travel credit to your ticket needs to be arranged with a travel agent at CBT and communicated to the CIRES Travel team.
If the changes to your airfare include adding personal travel, you must receive approval from the CIRES Travel team before changing your tickets through CBT.
Until further notice, the university is not reimbursing the cost for any internet airfare purchases. If you do not purchase your airfare through either Concur or CBT, the cost will not be reimbursed.
Please try to request and receive travel approval well in advance of your intended trip dates. If your trip is unexpectedly scheduled with short notice, you’ll need to: (1) work closely with CIRES Travel to ensure your trip receives necessary approvals; and (2) make your airfare arrangements with a CBT agent to ensure you are ticketed for your flights. Airfare reservations made in Concur within 24 hours of a flight’s scheduled departure may not be ticketed.
Travel Card: We encourage you to apply for a travel card to support your expenses during your trip, if you don’t already have one. Take a look at our instructions on InsideCIRES for info on how to apply for a travel card.
If you already have a travel card, but the card is expiring soon, the CU Procurement Service Center (PSC) will automatically issue you a new card. These cards are mailed to your attention at the CIRES Message Center. When your card is received there, the CIRES Message Center will contact you and arrange delivery of the card to you, if you haven’t returned yet to your office on campus. If you’d like your replacement card mailed directly to your home address, please contact CIRESTravel@colorado.edu and we can arrange that for you.
Cards expire at the end of the month listed on the card; you may use the card to make purchases through the end of the expiring month.
Conference Registrations: Check out our previous blog post Purchasing Conference Registrations for more information on attending and paying for conferences.
Memberships: Check out our previous blog post CIRES Policy Change – Membership Dues for information on purchasing individual memberships in professional organizations as part of attending a scientific conference.
New Employees: If you are new to CIRES and you’re travelling within your first month of employment, please reach out to us at CIRESTravel@colorado.edu. We’ll help you get set up with the necessary access in Concur to get started on your travel plans.
Response Times: To the extent that your work allows, please provide CIRES Travel with information on your upcoming travel plans and prepare your trip request well in advance of your intended travel dates. Response times from CIRES Travel depend on current travel volume in the institute, as well as the complexity of a request. While the university continues to require multiple levels of departmental and campus approvals for travel, please plan for additional time to get your travel approved.
The CIRES Travel business hours are 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. Our team typically responds to emails within 24 hours. Approvals for upcoming trips may take longer than 24 hours, depending on complexity and whether campus officer or funding agency approval is also required.
Last-minute trip requests may not receive approval. Travel costs associated with trips that did not receive approval from CIRES Travel may be considered the personal responsibility of the traveler(s).
