Booking Domestic Flights 

All employees with appointments in UC Path have automatic access to Concur and are able to book airfare online using the system. BCD Travel is also available to book airfare and can be reached either by phone or email: 

BCD phone: (877) 885-8632 or +1 (818) 238-4445 (please call before 4pm PST to avoid an additional after hour fee) 
Email: bcd4uc@bcdtravel.com 

If you will be taking any personal time during this business trip, please scroll down to the “Personal Time” section of this website.   

Airfare booked though Concur/BCD Travel is automatically covered by UC travel Insurance. All airfare booked outside of Concur/BCD Travel will need to be registered with UC Away in order to be covered by UC Insurance. Please scroll down to the “Insurance” section of this website for additional information.   

The UC strongly discourages travel to any area where the U.S. Department of State indicates Do Not Travel or Reconsider Travel. Consult Travel Advisories

Tickets classified as economy or coach class, including economy-premium, economy-plus, economy-elite or similar label as well as charges for seat selection are allowed without exception.

Booking Foreign Flights 

When charging airfare to a federal funding source, it is federal policy that a “U.S. flag” carrier (an airline owned by an American company), is used regardless of cost or convenience. Please read the Fly America Act and Open Skies Agreement Guidance before purchasing your airfare.

We strongly encourage all international travel be booked through CONCUR using BCD Travel agents who are well versed in the Fly America Act. Please advise them when your trip is federally funded.  If you choose to book foreign airfare yourself outside of Concur/BCD Travel and plan to charge a federal funding source, it is your responsibility to ensure that a U.S. flag carrier is used. Failure to do so, will jeopardize reimbursement of the flight. U.S. Certified Air Carriers.

Tickets classified as economy or coach class, including economy-premium, economy-plus, economy-elite or similar label as well as charges for seat selection are allowed without exception.

Codesharing

When using federal funding you can use a foreign airline carrier when there is a code-sharing arrangement. Under certain conditions, a code share flight on a foreign air carrier is considered the same as one operated by a U.S. air carrier and is therefore compliant with the Fly America Act.
Occasionally, two or more airlines will "codeshare" a flight by publishing and marketing the same flight under their own airline designators and flight numbers. You can purchase a seat on each airline’s designator and flight number, but the flight is only operated by one of the cooperating airlines. For example, you book a flight with American Airlines and they will be using (code sharing) an Air Tahiti Nui plane for the flight. To comply with Fly America regulations, you must purchase the flight via the U.S. airline’s designator and flight number if the flight is shared between a U.S. and a foreign airline.

See below a few examples of codeshare flights:

Travelers who are unable to honor a reservation shall be responsible for canceling the reservation in compliance with the cancellation terms established by the vendor. The traveler must return any refundable deposits to the University.

Charges, fees or lost refunds resulting from failure to cancel reservations, registrations, etc. shall not be reimbursed unless the traveler can show that such failure was the result of unforeseen circumstances beyond the traveler's control. A business justification must be submitted and approved by the approving authority.

Travelers (not active in UC Path) will need to be set up with a guest traveler ID #. To obtain a guest traveler ID, please reach out to the MSI Travel coordinator via email and include the following information:  

Guest Traveler Info:
First Name
Last name
Affiliation
Phone number
Email address
Address
City
State
Zip

Once the traveler ID # has been assigned, a department delegate must book the airfare on behalf of guest traveler. (Guests are unable to access Concur or book their own airfare)  Alternatively, a guest traveler may contact BCD Travel directly via phone or email to book their flight. When returning from the trip, the traveler will need to complete a guest traveler worksheet that can be found on our website and send it to the MSI Travel Coordinator along with all itemized receipts related to the trip. If airfare charged to the UCSB travel card was the only expense related to the trip, the guest traveler is still required to complete the worksheet. 

Guest Traveler Reimbursement Worksheet

International Travelers | Immigration Status Form and Back Up required

All international travelers will be reimbursed for travel expenses via a wire transfer and will need to complete the Declaration of Immigration Status by Non-U.S. Citizens form.  

If you have any questions please contact the MSI Travel Coordinator. 

UC Business Travel Insurance provides additional coverage to UC employees traveling on official University business for emergency medical evacuation, out-of-country medical expenses, loss of personal effect, and security extraction.

If you book your travel through Concur, your travel will be automatically insured.

If you book your travel outside of Concur, you are required to register your out of state and foreign travel plans. Register at UC Away login.

UC Travel Risk and Insurance Information: Travel Risk and Insurance

Additional travel benefits can be found in the Business Travel Benefits Summary.

Graduate students must review Graduate Division policies before traveling: GradDiv Policies

Insurance FAQ: UC Travel FAQs

The UC strongly discourages travel to any area where the U.S. Department of State indicates Do Not Travel or Reconsider Travel: U.S. Gov Travel Advisories

Local Hotels

MSI is set up with direct billing with several local hotels. This allows travelers not to incur any out of pocket costs and the hotel will invoice MSI directly. Please contact the MSI Travel Coordinator to book one of the hotels listed below.

• The Best Western South Coast Inn — 5620 Calle Real, Goleta, CA 93117 | This is the preferred hotel as it is the closest to campus and they offer UCSB generously discounted room rates rates.
• The Club & Guest House at UC Santa Barbara Building 581, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-7040-non-member nightly rates are $260, the member nightly rate is $211
• The Franciscan Inn — 109 Bath St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
• The Upham — 1404 De La Vina St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Domestic lodging reimbursements are allowable up to $333 per night excluding taxes and mandatory hotel fees. All lodging must be supported by original itemized receipts, regardless of the amounts incurred, and must be reasonable for the locality of travel. When the traveler is unable to secure lodging at $333 per night or less, they must submit additional documentation such as price comparisons within the proximity of the meeting location that supports the higher lodging rate incurred. The price comparisons should be performed at the time of booking.

Please note, while on travel status, the traveler must be at least forty miles from the headquarter location or home, whichever is closer, to be reimbursed for an overnight stay.

Foreign lodging rates vary depending on location and can be found at Foreign Per Diem Rates by Location

Airbnb

When booking an Airbnb, we strongly recommend using the Airbnb for UC program. Your reservation will be automatically registered with UC Risk Services travel insurance when you book via the Connexxus Web Portal.  Be sure to select ‘Business travel’ when making your reservation.

Please note, per UC Policy the cost limitations for an Airbnb are $333 per unit, not per room. The Connexxus portal will default to properties under $333/night.

If you are unable to secure an Airbnb for less than $333 per night, then please work with the MSI Travel Coordinator in getting pre approval for the Airbnb exception.

Domestic

The domestic daily max allowance is $92/day for Meals & Incidentals.  This is a meal cap and shall not be treated as a per diem. Receipts are not required for meals under $75. Please complete the meal log below to claim your actual daily expenses and upload it into your Concur report for reimbursement.

Please note that certain agencies always require itemized receipts regardless of UC Policy. Agencies such as OPC/OPC flow-through have strict requirements and you will not be reimbursed without actual receipts. It is your responsibility to know which awards require actual receipts and to share this information with any staff traveling on your awards. If you are uncertain, please reach out to your Budget Analyst to confirm.

Meal Log

Foreign

Foreign meal per diem rates vary depending on location and can be found at Foreign Per Diem Rates

Foreign Per Diem Rates

University travelers normally shall not be reimbursed for expenses paid on behalf of other persons; however, an exception to this rule may apply to an official group leader. Claims for reimbursement of expenses paid for others shall be submitted by the group leader and must include the names of persons on whose behalf expenses were incurred and itemized receipts.

Mileage reimbursements may be claimed when using a personal vehicle for business travel. This can be done in Concur when creating the travel expense report. Please select ‘Personal Car/Business Use – Mileage’ expense on the report. Traveler will need to include the license plate number and confirm that the vehicle is insured. 

Guest travelers, will need to email a completed guest traveler worksheet along with a Google map indicating the total mileage for the trip to the MSI travel coordinator.

Please note, fuel receipts are only reimbursable for rental vehicles.

Current mileage rates can be found on the BFS website: Mileage Rates.

Mileage Rates

Reimbursement of travel packages through online vendors such as Expedia, Travelocity, etc. are only allowed if you can provide an itemized breakdown for the expenses (i.e. the exact amount charged for airfare, car rental, lodging, etc.). Travel packages should not be booked unless you have confirmed that each aspect of the package will be separately itemized.

Please use caution and investigate the details before booking.  Typically, itineraries and receipts from these packages do not include itemized expenses and do not provide sufficient detail to support reimbursement. Without the proper detail, you will not be reimbursed.  It is strongly recommended that you book your travel via Concur.

Do you plan on taking personal time to explore a city while you’re on business?  If the purchased airfare is an indirect route and/or includes personal time, please print a comparison quote that shows what the cost of a roundtrip ticket would have been to the destination on the actual dates of business.

The comparison quote will need to be submitted in addition to your actual airfare receipt. The quote should be obtained and printed on the same date that you actually purchase your ticket, using the same airline and booking method. The reimbursement amount will be for whichever is less (actual travel or quote).

Once the airfare has been booked and a comparison has been obtained, please email a copy to the MSI Travel Coordinator.

The University of California has a system-wide car rental program with Enterprise, Hertz, National, Dollar, and Thrifty. The contracts offer business travelers the most economical pricing that includes comprehensive insurance for rentals in the United States. When renting a vehicle under the terms of a University agreement, liability insurance and comprehensive and collision insurance are included in the rate. Please remember to decline SLI and LDW/CDW coverage and let the vendor know that you are an employee of the UC system. These are not reimbursable expenses.

UC Policy requires that an economy, compact or intermediate model be requested. These models should be used unless a no-cost upgrade is provided. Justification will be required for cars larger than midsize when requesting reimbursements.

Recommendation for UC employees: Use Concur! Car rental reservations made through Concur are automatically booked under the UC contract, at discounted rates with full insurance coverage included.

The University’s system-wide agreements with auto rental companies do not apply to auto rentals outside the continental United States or in foreign countries. Therefore, you MUST purchase SLI (supplemental liability insurance) and LDW/CDW (loss damage waiver/collision damage waiver) coverage when you rent vehicles in Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, and foreign countries. The cost of this insurance will be reimbursable.

UC Insurance

UCSB Transportation Services (TPS) Rentals

For local vehicle rentals, UCSB TPS is the preferred option. TPS rentals are automatically covered by UC insurance and payment of the rental is made via recharge, so that no out pay out of pocket expense is incurred by the traveler.

For TPS rental information go to https://www.tps.ucsb.edu/.  Authorized drivers include faculty, staff, students, and non-University persons, including consultants, provided they have been approved by the appropriate campus official, and the vehicle use is for official University business.

UCSB TPS

You may request a travel advance for expenses incurred prior to a trip, which could include payments for yourself or to a vendor. You must submit original receipts for travel scheduled more than 30 days prior to the departure date. The Travel Advance Worksheet must be signed by the PI and then emailed to the MSI Travel Coordinator who will prepare the advance request on your behalf.

Please submit advance requests at least 15 business days before travel commences.

Clearing out an advance: Upon returning from your trip, you will need to submit a travel expense report via Concur in order to clear the advance. This step is required, even if you don’t have additional expenses to report. A travel expense report must be submitted to the Accounting office within a reasonable amount of time, not to exceed 45 days after the end of a trip. If your actual expenses are less than the Travel Advance, you will be required to reimburse the University for the difference. Checks should be made payable to UC Regents.

Please refer to the UCSB Travel Office website for additional information.

Please read the UC Travel Regulations (Policy G-28).

The travel reimbursement request must be submitted to the Accounting office within a reasonable amount of time, not to exceed 45 days after the end of a trip. In order to meet this deadline please submit your expense report via Concur along with supporting documentation in a timely manner.