Travel Pre-Approvals

All domestic and international travel must be approved prior to booking a trip.

The required approvals are dependent on the type of trip being planned. 

All international travel must be approved using Concur Request. Once a Request for international travel is submitted and approved, the associated Request ID from Concur will be required to finalize your international reservation with a Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) agent or when booking international travel directly in Concur. 

It is recommended that domestic travel be approved using Concur Request as well, however some departments elect to use their own internal travel pre-approval process. Please refer to your department to determine what domestic pre-approval process is appropriate for your travel.

If you make changes to your travel, a new approved travel Request will be required prior to booking your airfare if:

• There was a change in the routing and/or final destination of the trip. All legs of the trip should be included in the travel Request. 
• There was a change in travel dates of more than one day for departure and/or return.

Travel Requests in Concur can be recalled, modified, and resubmited as long as it is done prior to the trip start date. Refer to the the procedures for requesting travel pre-approval at Concur Request: Managing Requests.

Required approvals for all international travel include:

1. The HR Manager or SpeedType approver,
2. The appropriate Officer, and
3. The high-risk travel approver (Chancellor/President, or their designated travel approver) if travelling to any of the following high-risk destinations: Afghanistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Hong Kong (China SAR), Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories / West Bank and Gaza, Russia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria/Syrian Arab Republic, Taiwan, The Gambia, Ukraine, Venezuela, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

The campus approvers for high-risk travel are determined by campus leadership and they are:

• Boulder Campus - Danielle Brunner (Delegate Approver for Russell Moore)
• Denver Campus - Alana Jones (Delegate Approver for Constancio Nakuma)
• Anschutz Medical Campus - Alana Jones (Delegate Approver for Donald Elliman)
• Colorado Springs Campus - Kathryn Kaoudis (Delegate Approver for Jennifer Sobanet)
• System Administration - Leonard Dinegar (Delegate Approver for the CU President)

Non-Employee Travel: 

Travel Pre-Approvals for non-employees: For domestic and international travel by non-employees, the sponsoring department should review and process travel pre-approval outside the Concur system. Approval should be obtained in writing and provided to CBT at the time of booking (if booking through an agent) or attached to the Concur expense report (for non-employee reimbursements from travel booked outside of the CU program). When using University funds to pay for a non-employee’s travel expenses, the sponsoring unit has three options for booking travel - each option is explained below.

Prior to making any travel arrangements for international non-employees, refer to the detailed guidance and required documentation provided by the International Tax Office.  

For travel-related expenses paid directly to a third party (i.e. airline, hotel, etc.) on behalf of an international non-employee traveler, International Tax Office review and approval are required in advance. These payments may be taxable to the individual traveler. Once written approval has been obtained from the International Tax Office. proceed to the instructions for Booking Non-Employee Travel in the Non-Employee Travel page. A copy of the approval email and any other required documentation must be attached to the Non-Employee Expenses report in Concur for reconciliation of payments made using the Airfare Card or the travel arranger’s Travel Card. 

Book travel on behalf of the non-employee using Concur: Travel arrangers can use the Concur Travel & Expense System to book travel for a non-employee. In Concur, this is known as "guest booking". There is no service fee to the department when booking airfare for a guest in Concur.  Travel Arrangers who need access to book for a guest in Concur can email psctravel@cu.edu.  Travel arrangers can also contact CBT directly to book travel for a guest with a CBT agent, however the $20 agent fee will be allocated to the department along with the travel charges. 

Authorize the non-employee to book their own travel through Christopherson Business Travel: Non-employees can be authorized to work directly with a Christopherson Business Travel (CBT) agent for their travel reservations by submitting CBT's  Non-Employee Travel Request form. The $20 agent fee assessed when booking airfare through CBT will be billed to the travel arranger along with the travel charges related to the non-employee booking.

Authorize the non-employee to make their own travel arrangements and request reimbursement. The non-employee can be authorized to make their own travel arrangements and submit the related charges for reimbursement after the trip has concluded. Please note that the reimbursement will still be reviewed against CU travel policy and only allowable expenses will be processed. 

Note: If a non-employee trip is cancelled, for any reason, CU cannot reimburse a non-employee for the cost of airfare. 

For detailed procedures on each of these options, see Concur How-to: Booking Non-Employee Trips.