Business Combining Personal Travel

Personal travel is any choice the traveler makes other than purchasing a roundtrip ticket for official university business.  This includes but is not limited to:

• Adding travel dates
• Originating/returning airport other than their workstation
  • For Lexington based employees, Cincinnati and Louisville airports are acceptable as well as Lexington.
• Detours
• Upgradeable fares (i.e., business class or first class)

When personal travel is combined with business travel a cost comparison must be obtained to price the airfare for business only travel. However, if the personal portion of the trip is ONLY adding seven days or less at the business destination, a cost comparison is NOT required.

• Must be obtained within three days (either before or after) the airfare purchase date and timestamped
• Should be done for what would have been the business only portion of the travel
• Can be obtained via the Concur Online Booking tool or through a AAA or Avant agent
• Must show the hypothetical itinerary/airfare the traveler would have chosen for official university business travel
• Quick Reference Guide – Obtaining a Cost Comparison through Concur
• Visit here for more information on cost comparisons

The University will not reimburse any personal travel expenses which are other costs incurred related to items not needed to fulfill the business purpose of the travel.

When a traveler chooses to combine business with personal travel on an airline ticket, an airfare cost comparison for business only travel and the actual ticket receipt must be submitted with the airline ticket on the expense report.

• The procard can be used to purchase a combined business and personal airline ticket only if the resulting airfare is equal to or less than the cost comparison airfare for UK business only travel
• A personal credit card must be used to purchase a combined business and personal airline ticket if the resulting airfare is higher than the cost comparison airfare for UK business only travel.
  • After travel is complete, the traveler will be reimbursed the cost comparison airfare amount.

Business Combining Personal Travel Scenarios

Scenario 1: I have an employee that has a conference in Phoenix, AZ.  The conference starts at 8:00am on 08/20 and ends at 5:00 pm on 08/23.  They are wanting to add personal days to the end of this trip and are planning to return to Lexington, KY on 08/26.  What do I need to do in this scenario?

• Based on the start time and end time of this conference, we would allow the traveler to arrive a day early and leave the day after the conference.  This means that the business only dates of the conference would be 08/19-08/24.  The 25^th and 26^th would be considered personal travel.  Since the added personal days are less than seven days at the business destination and there are no other personal travel included, a cost comparison would not be required.
• The University will only pay for lodging for business days.
  • The traveler or department will need to check with the hotel or lodging accommodation to see if they can split the bill between business and personal days.  If they can, the traveler can use a procard to pay for the business only days and their personal card to pay for the personal days.
  • If the hotel or lodging accommodation cannot split the bill between business and personal days, the traveler will need to pay the lodging bill with their personal credit card and seek reimbursement for the business only days.
• If a car is rented during this trip, the University will only pay for the business days.
  • The traveler or department will need to check with the rental car company to see if they can split the bill between business and personal days.  If they can, the traveler can use a procard to pay for the business only days and their personal car to pay for the personal days.
  • If the rental car company cannot split the bill between business and personal days, the traveler will need to pay the bill with their personal credit card and seek reimbursement for the business only days.
  • The University will not pay for any personal expenses related to the rental car including but not limited to a fee to add an extra driver or rental car insurance.

Scenario 2: An employee whose workstation is in Lexington, KY is traveling to Washington, DC for meetings on 11/01 and 11/02.  Prior to this trip they are on vacation with their family in Orlando, FL.  They would like to fly from Orlando to Washington, DC for their meetings and then return to Lexington, KY after their meetings.  What do I need to do in this scenario?

• This itinerary would be considered business combining personal travel as they are departing from an airport that is not their workstation.  The traveler or department would need to obtain a cost comparison for what the business only travel would have been. For this scenario the business only travel would have been roundtrip airfare from Lexington, KY to Washington, DC for 10/31-11/03. Visit here for more information on cost comparisons or check out our quick reference guide on obtaining a cost comparison.
  • Please note that this cost comparison must be obtained within three days (either before or after) the business combining personal airfare tickets are purchased.
  • If the business combining personal airfare tickets are less than or equal to the business only cost comparison, the procard can be used to purchase these tickets.  If the business combining personal airfare tickets are more expensive, the traveler must use their personal credit card for these tickets and seek reimbursement for the cost comparison amount.

Scenario 3: An employee is on vacation with their family in Orlando, FL, they need to leave directly from Orlando to attend a conference in Chicago, IL.  The conference dates in Chicago are June 6th-9th.  They are planning to leave Orlando on June 5th and then add personal days after the conference in Chicago and return from Chicago to Lexington on June 13th.

• This itinerary would be considered business combining personal travel as they are departing from an airport that is not their workstation.   In addition, they are adding personal days at the business destination.  Since the departing airport is not their workstation that triggered the requirement for a cost comparison, this cost comparison will need to be obtained for the business only dates of travel, even though the added personal days are less than 7.  The cost comparison should be ran for roundtrip airfare from Lexington to Chicago for business only dates of June 5th to June 9th.
  • Please note that this cost comparison must be obtained within three days (either before or after) the business combining personal airfare tickets are purchased.
  • If the business combining personal airfare tickets are less than or equal to the business only cost comparison, the procard can be used to purchase these tickets.  If the business combining personal airfare tickets are more expensive, the traveler must use their personal credit card for these tickets and seek reimbursement for the cost comparison amount.