To: Campus Unit Finance Leads, Business Managers, AAdvantage Members
From: Rebecca Spanos, Director, Travel and Payment Card Services
During the last year, American Airlines has made many changes to the way they provide content and fares to Travel Management Companies (i.e. World Travel, Inc.) and thusly to online booking tools (i.e. Concur Travel). Travelers shopping for flights on American Airlines may have noticed additional options and/or different fares when searching on AA.com versus options presented in Concur or through the agents at World Travel.
We understand the importance of having access to all options as well as being able to secure the lowest available flight prices. To support this and pull the content into Concur, the University has launched the use of Travel Fusion for flights on American Airlines. Travel Fusion provides us with a direct connection between American Airlines and the options presented in Concur.
When selecting flights on American Airlines in Concur, you will now notice the following changes:
- After selecting your desired flights, you will be presented with a Flight Options for American Airlines screen. All fields are optional except for Date of Birth which will be prepopulated from your profile. If you choose to populate any other fields, the information will be saved for future bookings on American Airlines.
- Purchases are now Instant Purchase and require you to acknowledge this before purchasing the flight. When you click Purchase Flight and Continue, the University’s Airfare Direct Bill Card or your T&E Card will be charged, and the ticket will be issued immediately.
For our AAdvantage members, we also want to mention that there is no change to the way you earn frequent flyer miles on bookings made through Concur or the agents at World Travel. American Airlines had originally communicated that a change might occur on May 1, 2024, but that date has been extended and further information will be shared at a later date. As a reminder, frequent flyer miles acquired by a state employee while traveling on state business at state expense, are the property of the state and should be used, to the extent possible, by the state employee on future state business trips.