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To: Campus Unit Finance Leads, University Business Managers, Travel Arrangers
From: Rebecca Spanos, Director, Travel and Payment Card Services 

Travel Services is pleased to announce two updated processes for booking airfare with World Travel, Inc.

First, when booking airfare through the Dedicated Agent Team, please utilize the new Travel Request Form and submit it via email. This form contains all the required information for booking an airline ticket and should be used when booking employee airfare as well as student and guest airfare via CABS. The use of this form will limit the back-and-forth communication with the agents and improve the turnaround time to book an airline ticket.

Second, when booking international airfare on federal funds, travelers will experience an improved process regarding compliance with the Fly America Act. As a reminder, the Fly America Act requires air travel funded by the federal government use a “U.S. flag” air carrier service. Exceptions apply in limited circumstances, but they require the completion of the Fly America Act Waiver Request (download and open with Adobe Acrobat) and documentation of search results performed at the time of booking to validate the requested exception.

When booking online via Concur Travel and through the Agent Team, flights that are not Fly America Act compliant will require selecting an allowable reason from an updated list of reason codes. Upon completion of the flight purchase, travelers will receive two emails: the first will be the ticketed invoice, which travelers are used to receiving. The second will be a Final Ticketed Itinerary containing the reason for the exception and three comparable flight options to validate the exception. This documentation and the completed Fly America Act Waiver Request must be submitted when reconciling the airfare purchase.

As a reminder, ticket cost and convenience are not allowable exceptions to the Fly America Act. A U.S. air carrier must be utilized if you do not qualify for an exception as detailed on the Waiver Request. This includes codeshare flights: you must purchase the flight via the U.S. airline’s designator and flight number, not the foreign airline. Airfare that does not comply with the Fly America Act and does not qualify for an exception cannot be charged to federally sponsored projects.

Please reach out to Travel Services with any questions regarding these updates.

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