Winter/Spring 2008 - Travel Policy Clarification - Approval of Travel Expense Reports (Voucher) Requirement
All travel expenses for Associate Laboratory Directors (ALDs), Division Directors, Deputy Director, and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will be approved by the Laboratory Director’s designee (currently the Business Manager for Laboratory Directorate and Operations, Dan Twohey). Travel expenses for the Laboratory Director will be approved by the Controller (Jeanne Kissel). The new travel and expense reimbursement system that will be implemented later this year will have the direct and indirect reporting structure controls built in as an automatic feature. Reimbursement of Employee Purchased Tickets
- Car Rental News - New Preferred Car Rental Companies for 2008!
In order to effectively take advantage of these new rates, update your frequent renter program with these vendors or create a new account. You may create a new account by linking to the vendor website and adding to your LBNL Carlson Wagonlit/Cliqbook profile. - VISA/Passport Updates - New CIBT Visa/Passport Services Rates Effective January 1, 2008-December 31, 2008 - Airline News - New Destinations for Southwest Airlines [ Read Article ] New Advanced Online Check-in Service with Continental [ Read Article ] American Airlines Enhances Service to Europe Beginning April 24, 2008, and May 1, 2008, American Airlines will begin flying to Barcelona, Spain and Milan, Italy, respectively, from JFK International Airport. For more information go HERE (pdf). United Starts Charging for Second Bag! New policy to take effect on May 5: 'Premier' frequent-fliers exempt. For full details go HERE (pdf). - Travel System Updates - TREX Development Phase Completed The PeopleSoft Travel and Expense Reimbursement System (TREX) will replace the current Gelco Travel Manager. The initial development phase of the TREX system has been completed and the Testing and Acceptance Group (TAG team) has begun user acceptance testing. User acceptance training is scheduled for eleven weeks. General Sciences will participate in a pilot program which is scheduled to commence at the beginning of May. A second pilot is scheduled in late June, and lab-wide implementation in late July. Travel Help Desk System Available to All Travel Help Desk Ticket System is now fully functional and available to all Divisions. To find out how to use the ticket system go HERE. (ppt) Did you Know?
Did you know?...That most traveler's luggage is black or red? Did you ever pull a black bag off the carousel only to find it wasn't yours and had to throw it back? To easily identify your luggage on the carousel, consider investing in a color that stands out, or personalize your bags with colorful handle ties and/or stickers. Using several heavy duty names tags should also do the trick. Did you know?...That your family can track your flight on line as you fly? They will know exactly when you take off, how fast and how high you are flying, and when you touch down. - New Hours for Carlson Wagonlit - New Hours: 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Carlson Wagonlit Travel's reservation center hours of operation have changed to 8:00AM to 5:00PM (PST). The after hours service will continue to answer phone calls until the center opens. TravelPOWER-Cliqbook continues to provide a 24 hour option for making reservations.
For suggestions on how to improve the Travel Express newsletter, or to be removed from our distribution list, please contact Klara Sebek (x7049). |
- Around the Office -
The OCFO would like to welcome Mary Vella Trent to the Laboratory as our new Travel Manager. Mary has 22 years of travel management experience and is a Certified Corporate Travel Executive. For the last ten years Mary was the Manager of Global Travel, Meeting and Event Services at Robert Half International, Inc. in Pleasanton, California. Her key focus has been with client, agency and vendor relationships, policy support, program implementations and reducing travel expenditures. Mary's office is located in building 937 Travel Department 5th floor.
In an effort to better serve our customers, the Travel Office has initiated a new process to help improve delivery of important travel documents to our office. Bright green envelopes were distributed to all Divisions and should be used to submit travel vouchers, original receipts, and any other hard copy items that need to be sent to the Travel Office. Each division should have an ample supply. To order more go to travelhelp.lbl.gov. - Insurance Updates -
More information about the new UC Business Insurance coverage including a Benefits Comparison sheet and Frequently Asked Questions can be found HERE. - Reminders -
Employee purchased tickets may not always fit the allowable airfare. Always check first with the Travel Office. Allowable airfares for certain city pairs are listed on the Travel Web site (HERE). The Laboratory strongly encourages the use of Cliqbook and Carlson Wagonlit Travel for all airline ticket purchases.
As of October 1, 2007 Gelco has stopped automatically processing payments. Hard copies of all vouchers, including those for trips that do not require receipts, must be sent to the Travel Office in order for payments to be made. Online Expense Reimbursement Tutorial Travel Express Archive
Travel Office: |
Travel expenses cannot be approved by anyone who reports directly or indirectly to a traveler who is a director, manager or supervisor as designated by LBNL's Human Resources Information System (HRIS). An individual who is immediately accountable to the director, manager, or supervisor is defined as a “direct report”. An individual who is one or more organizational levels below the traveler is defined as an “indirect report”. 
Effective March 1, 2008 the Travel Office will not reimburse for employee purchased airline tickets until after the trip is taken. This change is in alignment with best practices. Travelers who purchase their own air tickets are highly encouraged to use the LBNL’s travel agency, so that travelers do not have to carry the cost of tickets. Please contact 
The University of California (UC) has established new car rental contracts with National, Enterprise and Hertz for daily, weekly, monthly, and one-way rates. LBNL travelers are eligible to take advantage of these UC rates. The new rates represent an average savings of 15% for LBNL travelers. 
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TRAVEL STAFF Michelle McCan | Jean Ortiz | Maxine Redfearn | Lonnette Robinson | Klara Sebek | Cynthia Thomas | Elijah Walker Travel Manager: Mary Trent |