Announcements and Upcoming Events
Check out current and historical travel announcements as well as upcoming travel events! For travel questions, please email travel@ku.edu.
Travel Announcements & Events
Sign-up for a Virtual Travel Request & Booking Training Session in MyTalent.
Available Sessions:
F 11/15 - 9:30-11am
M 11/25 - 1:30-3pm
TH 12/5 - 10:30am-12pm
T 12/17 - 2-3:30pm
W 1/8 - 9-10:30am
F 1/24 - 1-2:30pm
M 2/10 - 2:30-4pm
TH 2/27 - 10-11:30am
KU Travel Services and Collegiate Travel Planners are introducing monthly Travel Talk Q&A sessions. These Open Office Hours on Zoom are an opportunity for you to ask travel-related questions, learn general information about KU travel, get tips and tricks, and view helpful Concur demos.
NOVEMBER:
DECEMBER:
KU Travelers,
You booked a flight through a general travel website or an airline website and your connecting flight was just canceled. The lines at the ticket counter are long and you can’t get through on the toll-free customer service number. What will you do?
If you booked through Concur or Collegiate Travel Planners, instead of waiting in line you could call CTP and quickly get help with flight changes. We have two CTP full-service agents who exclusively support KU and KUCR travelers. They assist with individual and small group bookings, as well as itinerary changes and cancellations. CTP also has emergency after-hours agents to provide 24/7 support.
CTP services are free for all KU travelers. Travel agency services are paid for centrally by the KU Office of the Chief Financial Officer.
Get to Know Our Dedicated CTP Agents
The two CTP agents exclusively assigned to KU have a combined 55 years of experience in the travel industry. Take a moment to get to know Julie and Katherine, and reach out to them for help with your travel needs.
Julie Repke
Julie has 34 years of travel industry experience with preferred vendors and working with VIP travelers. She worked for United Airlines for 18 years, specializing in international travel.
She grew up in Chicago, and has lived in Magnolia, Texas, for the past 17 years. Her hobbies include reading and crochet, and spending time with her 95-pound Goldendoodle named Bentley. Julie’s favorite travel destinations are Korea, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Alaska.
Katherine Sampe
Katherine has been in the travel industry for 21 years supporting business and leisure travelers, and booking reward travel for credit card companies. She has been a team lead, an online booking tool technical support specialist and a corporate travel counselor.
Katherine lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and she loves music and hiking. Her bucket list travel destination is Japan.
Get Help When You Need It Most
Whether you’re stuck in an airport due to a canceled flight, or simply trying to navigate all of your travel options, personal service from our dedicated CTP agents and the 24/7 emergency support is a key benefit of booking your KU or KUCR travel through CTP and Concur. Learn more on the KU Travel Services website.
Thank you,
Lori Gutsch
Assistant Director, Travel Services & Travel Program Administrator
If you check airline websites and compare prices with Concur Travel, it may initially look like the airfare prices in Concur are significantly more expensive than on the airline websites — especially for Southwest Airlines. But if you dive a little deeper, you’ll see that total trip prices are comparable. That’s because of differences in how Concur and the Southwest Airlines website function and show flight prices. For more details, Read Here.
Concur now offers a simplified and more user-friendly experience when booking transportation and lodging, and a redesigned Concur home page will be available in late August. For more details, Read Here.
American Airlines has now decided to return most fare content to the EDIFACT channels where our Concur gets its content. With the exception of some Basic Economy, Main Select, Main Plus fares which we do not recommend, you should now be able to purchase American's lower priced Main Cabin fare options in Concur or access them directly through our travel agency CTP. Additionally, in early June AA decided to discontinue their plan to limit how AAdvantage loyalty program members could earn miles or points based on booking channels. Therefore, you will still continue to earn your AA Loyalty points by booking in Concur or through a CTP agent.
At this time we are actively working with our travel agency CTP and Concur to get access to American Airlines lower fare prices in our Concur. These lower prices were strategically removed by American Airlines (AA), but we hope to have them back in our Concur soon. However, the lower price fares are available to you if you call our CTP agents to book your AA flight. Please call CTP at 877-630-1232 option 1 Monday through Friday between 8am-5pm central time to get best prices for AA. There are no agency fees to call CTP. I will add another announcement when these lower AA prices are back in our Concur. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your understanding.
Despite the dreary rainy day, we had over 100 KU employees who joined us in the Kansas Union to talk with various contracted travel vendors as well as KU departments that play a role in the travel process at KU. Thank you to all who attended and congrats to the 21 employees who won a door prize! We plan to hold this event again in the future.
The University of Kansas launched a new travel booking interface and mobile app on March 25. The updates improve functionality and provide a more modern look and feel.
Faculty and staff were invited to a demo of the updated Concur system, which previewed the new interface and improved travel booking experience.
The demo walked through the all-new search and selection process for flights and rental cars, and included a sneak peek video of the new hotel search and selection coming later in 2024. There was an opportunity at the end for Q&A.
Two demo opportunities that were available to provide flexibility for employee schedules:
- Wednesday, March 20 – 2:00-2:45 p.m.
- Thursday, March 21 – 10:00-10:45 a.m.
A recording of the demo is available and posted on the Travel website for those who cannot participate in the live demo. Faculty and staff also can sign up for a Concur Travel Request and Booking course in MyTalent.
The updated Concur travel system and other changes to travel processes and policies will improve the KU traveler experience. Please contact travel@ku.edu if you have questions, comments or need assistance.
Please feel free to watch this Concur Travel: The New Travel Experience YouTube video for a brief demonstration overview.
Changes to improve the KU traveler experience
KU now has two dedicated CTP travel agents to support our travelers. Julie Repke and Katherine Sampe are available at 1-877-630-1232 option 1, Monday through Friday from 8am - 5pm central time or via email at ku@ctptravelservices.com.
CTP service fees previously charged directly to traveler are now eliminated. All CTP travel service costs are now covered centrally.
KU has added TripLink, which provides the ability to book directly on participating airline and hotel websites by connecting your frequent traveler/reward program numbers in Concur. In addition, TripLink comes with free use of TripIt Pro, an itinerary management mobile app.
Concur is updating their travel booking system interface to improve functionality and provide a more modern look and feel. In addition to the updated online platform, Concur also is redesigning their mobile app to provide a better user experience. We expect to launch the new travel interface and mobile app at KU in early spring.