Flights

Booking Flights

You can book airplane flights any of the following ways:

Use the Concur online booking tool
Submit a reservation request form to one of the university’s contracted travel agencies
Contact one of the university’s contracted travel agencies

Airfares

The state and UT System have contracts with certain airlines that give travelers reduced fees, discounts and refunds. The following information explains the difference between buying state-contract airfares and non-state-contract airfares.

Economy vs. First/Business-Class

The standard rule is that all airfare purchases must be economy class, but there are a few exceptions. For information about these exceptions, see the First/Business Class Approval Request.

State Contract Airfares

View State of Texas contract airfares and rules on the Texas Comptroller’s Web site.
Available through Concur and the university’s contracted travel agencies
Fully refundable and some non-refundable fares available
Changes allowed after ticketing with no airline change fee
Most contracted flights are currently offered on either American Airlines or Jet Blue
These fares are not available to the public and are not for personal use

Airline Published Airfares

Available to the general public
Each airline sets its own rules for refundable and non-refundable tickets (i.e., ticketing deadlines, change fees, how unused funds can be reused, etc.)
The majority of airlines do not allow the transfer of unused funds to another traveler — this makes it very risky to purchase non-refundable airline airfares for prospective employees and official visitors
Many airfares require reservations to be ticketed within 24 hours

Internet Airfares

Available only through Internet travel Web sites
The university’s contracted travel agencies cannot assist with problems
Traveler must seek exception, make purchase and seek reimbursement after the trip
The Office of Accounting will only reimburse the cost of unused tickets if qualifying exception is met, exception approval obtained, and the cancellation is due to a business reason