The University offers two designated full-service travel agencies, and a self-booking tool for arranging your official University business airline, hotel, rental car, and rail travel. Please ensure your travel complies with BPM E-5-1 Reimbursement of Travel Expenses. We encourage all travelers to make your official business travel arrangements through Travel Services for the following very important reasons:
- Risk Management Tracking – You are on our radar for alerts and emergencies when you book through Travel Services.
- Competitive Airfares, Local Hotel Rates, and Rental Car Rates
- Air/Local Hotel/Rental Car Discounts – Travel Services offers airline, local hotel and rental car discounts that are not available through other travel booking sources.
- 24/7 Assistance – You remain connected to our Travel Services designated vendors from the time your travel arrangements are made until you arrive back home, to assist with any need you may have. Your airline ticket remains in automated quality assurance/control systems to ensure you receive schedule changes, waitlist clearings, alerts to emergency situations (and then re-accommodation as needed), and any other communication you need for a successful trip.
- Reporting – Travel Services maintains a highly-detailed reporting system for travel data collection that is used to provide risk management tracking of our travelers, to serve as a negotiation tool for vendor discounts, to help departments better manage their travel spend, and to stimulate/improved air service to Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport.
We encourage you to use UK Travel Services’ AAA Corporate Travel Services, Concur Travel, or Avant Travel for all your official University business travel arrangements for air, hotel (other than conference hotels), and rental cars. All travel expenses must be paid with a University procurement card (not a personal card), when possible.
- AAA Corporate Travel Services is UK’s lead full-service travel agency based in Cincinnati, and is required to: (1) administer/support Concur Travel, UK’s online booking tool for air/hotel/rental car arrangements, (2) provide scheduled Concur Travel training for UK users, and (3) consolidate all UK Travel Services financial data from into a web-based reporting system for the Travel Services Director to access. AAA agents are available 24/7 by calling 859-323-5354. Service fees: domestic airline ticket - $28.00, international airline ticket - $38.00, no fee for hotel or rental car reservations. AAA can also help departments that have groups of 10 or more traveling on the same trip. You can reach out to Group Air Services at groupair@aca.aaa.com for help booking air travel for your group.
- Concur Travel is UK’s online self-booking tool, administered and supported by AAA Corporate Travel Services. Access Concur Travel through myUK. Click here to get started on Concur. Contact AAA’s Online Help Desk 24/7 for Concur Travel assistance at (877) 463-0543. Service fees: domestic or international airline ticket - $6.00, no fee for hotel or rental car reservations.
- Avant Travel is UK’s second full-service travel agency. Avant agents are available 24/7 by calling 859-233-0000. Service fees: domestic airline ticket - $33, international airline ticket - $45, no fee for hotel or rental car reservations. Avant Travel is also available to help departments with group travel (10 or more travelers).
Alternate Vendors: INTERNATIONAL TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED THROUGH UK'S AAA, CONCUR TRAVEL & AVANT TRAVEL.
- While the University prefers and encourages you to make your official business travel arrangements through UK Travel Services (AAA Corporate Travel Services, Concur or Avant Travel), you do have the option of using an "alternate vendor" instead.
- An alternate vendor is any vendor other than AAA, Concur or Avant. Examples of alternate vendors are Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, Delta.com, ABC Travel Agency, etc.
- While alternate vendors are allowable we do caution travelers when booking travel through third-party vendors. Many third-party vendors will charge an upcharge on rooms rates and additional booking and services fees. These third-party vendors insert themselves into Google searches by paying for sponsored listings and creating websites to look like the hotel's website. In addition, many third-party vendors do not provide itemized receipts or folios, which will cause issues with the expense is submitted in Concur. To avoid these additional fees and issues, Travel Services recommends if you are going to book through an alternate vendor to book directly with the Airline, Hotel or Rental Car company.
- The University procurement card is the preferred method of payment for alternate vendor tickets; however, a personal credit card can be used as the optional form of payment.
Service Fees & Benefits
All full-service travel agencies and many online booking tools charge a service fee to their clients, since the airlines stopped paying commissions to agencies. Our service fees for Travel Services’ designated full-service travel agencies AAA Corporate Travel Services and Avant Travel are average for colleges and universities. We are glad to advise that our service fee for Concur is among the lowest fees charged for colleges and universities.
Service fees are charged for each airline ticket issued or rail reservation made by Travel Services. Therefore, please keep in mind that if you request a change in an airline ticket that has already been issued (purchased), this may result in a new ticket being issued as well as another service fee being charged. Service fees are nonrefundable if an airline ticket is voided, refunded or exchanged. Service fees may also be charged for any other service performed that may be considered beyond a travel agent’s work scope (such as booking a ticket for a traveler directly through an airline website).
Travel Services Fees
- AAA Corporate Travel Services - $28 for domestic airline ticket, $38 for international airline ticket, and $20 for group travel ticket (for 10 or more travelers on one itinerary)
- Avant Travel Service Fees - $33 for domestic airline ticket, $45 for international airline ticket, $30 for group domestic ticket, and $40 for group international airline ticket (for 10 or more travelers on one itinerary)
- Concur Online Booking Tool - $6 for domestic or international airline ticket
Service Fee Benefits
Our negotiated service fees with AAA Corporate Travel Services, Concur and Avant Travel are supported by the University and carry the following benefits for our business travelers.
- potential to change your reservation once ticketed
- potential to re-issue ticket when fare "drops" and results in net savings
- ability to void a ticket until 11:59 p.m. the next business day after a ticket is issued, avoiding expensive airline change fees
- extensive quality control over your reservation – 24-hour searches for lower a fare, better seat assignments, waitlist clearings, etc., up until the moment of departure
- emergency after-hours call centers with immediate response
- risk management control during states of emergency (domestic and international)
- complimentary accidental death insurance of $200,000 on each ticket
- group travel services (for 10 or more flying on same itinerary) with reduced service fees
- incorporation of your travel data into University travel management reports
- incorporation of your travel data into UK's discount programs with Delta Air Lines and United Airlines to help negotiations for improved discounts for our travelers
- Incorporation of your travel data into reports provided to Lexington’s Blue Grass Airport to stimulate and improve air service for Lexington
Special Note: Reimbursement of alternate vendor service fees will be limited to the service fees for Travel Services.