Internet Airfare

Effective: 07/15/2022

The University has a managed travel program that includes the Concur Travel & Expense System (Concur) for online domestic/international bookings and Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) for group travel and for domestic/international bookings.

All airfare purchases need to be made using the University travel program unless an exception applies as outlined below. If you are considering purchasing airfare through the internet (instead of booking through Concur or CBT), it’s important that you follow the PSC Procedural Statement Travel and the Internet Airfare Policy below to ensure you will be reimbursed for your purchase.

Our travel procedures allow an exception to policy for internet airfare purchases under one of these circumstances:

1. The fare is not available for purchase through the University Travel Program. Limitations could be related to international in-country travel, remote travel, etc.

Exceptions for fares that are not available for purchase through the travel program (Concur or CBT) must be approved prior to purchase by emailing an exception request to psctravel@cu.edu.

Note: Your exception request must include all flight information in addition to an email from the CBT agent with whom you worked stating that airfare is not available for purchase through the CU travel program (Concur/CBT).

2. Significant cost savings are demonstrated to the University.

For an internet airfare purchase to demonstrate significant cost savings, all of the following requirements must be fulfilled:

• Obtain a comparison quote from Concur dated on or prior to the date of the internet purchase. If you cannot locate the exact fare in Concur, contact an agent at CBT. The agent can search for and view airfare that may not be visible in Concur.
  • Comparison quote must be for the exact itinerary – same travel dates, times, routes, and airline/s as the planned internet purchase.
• When compared to the quote from Concur or CBT, the cost of the internet airfare purchase must be:
  • $50 less for domestic flights.
  • $200 less international flights.

NOTE: Cost comparison and justification applies to airfare only. Ancillary fees, such as seat assignment, pre-check, baggage, etc., are not considered as part of the purchase price.

• Purchase must be made using a personal credit card and reimbursement can only be requested after the trip concludes. A copy of a previously obtained comparison quote must be attached to the trip expense report. PSC Travel cannot pre-approve exceptions based on estimated cost shown on airfare quotes prior to the final purchase, as internet airfare purchases often include additional fees that only appear at the time of payment.

NOTE: Personal travel credits in the form of miles, rewards, vouchers, certificates, etc. used toward airfare are not reimbursable and should not be used to pay for reimbursable travel expenses.

All airfare purchases are audited to ensure they meet reimbursement requirements. If you should submit a report that includes an internet airfare purchase that does not meet reimbursement requirements, you may be granted a one-time exception allowing for reimbursement. Any additional purchases not meeting requirements will not be reimbursed.