1. We do not advise booking flights with Frontier Airlines. If Frontier Airlines is appearing as the first/least expensive option in your Concur search, you are still allowed to book with another airline. If you go to book a different airline and a pop-up box appears asking why you are not booking the least expensive airline, please write “Frontier Airlines is too restrictive” or, indicate that you have received department approval to book a different airline.
2. We advise travelers to book Economy fares instead of Basic Economy fares. Please be on the lookout for this when you are booking tickets in Concur or with Christopherson Business Travel (CBT)! Unfortunately, the PSC has confirmed that there is no way to suppress the Basic Economy fares in Concur. Basic Economy fares are very restrictive. You may also see some airlines call their Basic Economy fares by a different name such as ‘Saver’, ‘Lite’, etc.
3. In most cases, for multi-leg international trips, we advise that you work directly with CBT to book your flights. Beyond fare class, there could be other issues that come up with the itinerary and trying to book via Concur (for example, if you plan to book a ticket in Concur that uses multiple airlines, Concur may not let you even book the ticket and you’ll have to book with CBT anyway). This could also create more issues should your flights be interrupted/need to be re-booked. The CBT agent can help you book the most streamlined itinerary.
4. Travel days: For domestic travel, it is reasonable to travel the day prior to a conference starting and fly home the day after the conference ends.
For international travel, it is reasonable to start your travel 2 days prior to the start of the conference and fly home the day after the conference ends (though we realize that it may ultimately take 2 days for return travel home, which is reasonable).
Any travel outside of what is required in order to conduct your business work is considered a personal travel day and should be disclosed on your travel request. Comparison airfare quotes are required to be provided as part of your travel request when including personal travel days.
5. If you are having issues working with CBT, please email CIRES Travel Manager, Nikki Joy with the date that you were working with CBT, the person you were emailing/working with and the issue that you ran into. The CIRES Travel team will then work with the PSC Travel team to address the concern. CBT is able to look up all interactions in their internal systems so if you tell us a specific case they can also pinpoint the interaction from their side as well.
6. Calling CBT is the quickest way to get a hold of them!
