Concur Travel FAQs

The University of Kansas has partnered with Collegiate Travel Planners (CTP) and Concur to introduce Concur Travel, an online travel booking tool that compliments our existing Concur Request & Expense. This allows the University to streamline the travel process, offering an integrated 'one stop shop' for pre-approved travel requests, booking travel, and easily completed expense reports for quicker reimbursement. Concur also affords you the peace of mind knowing you are covered under the University’s Duty of Care to receive automated and two-way risk messaging built into the Concur system. Booking through the University's travel program ensures you can be supported by the University and/or our team of CTP travel agents should difficulties arise before or during your trip.

In your web browser, type: concur.ku.edu and sign in using your KU Single Sign-On. If trying to sign in on the concursolutions.com page, you must enter your KU email address which will redirect you to sign in through KU SSO. 

Only active KU employees have access to Concur.  Bookings for non-employee students can be booked by a KU employee using the Book for a guest feature.  Travel Requests for non-employee student travel need to be done by a SSC or LSI/IPSR support staff.

All active KU employees should have access to Concur which should include the Travel booking module.  If you sign into Concur through KU Single Sign On (SSO) and you do not have a TRIP SEARCH box on the left hand side of your Concur home page, please email fsku@ku.edu.  Provide a screenshot of your Concur home page and let them know you do not have access to the Travel module.  They will update your configuration to give you Travel access and email you when it has been added.

The first time you log into Concur, you must update and save your Concur Profile before you first attempt to book a trip in Concur Travel. While updating your profile, please be sure to verify your email address and add your mobile device for safety messaging. Additionally, you will need to activate your E-Receipts. This First-Time User Checklist will help guide you.

Yes, this is done in the online profile within Concur Travel under the Frequent Travelers Program section.

Concur has several required fields contained within the profile and while birthdate is only required for airline reservations, the same traveler profile is utilized regardless of what is being reserved.

Your online profile stores your KU, KUCR, or personal credit cards that you input. Please be sure to identify a default card for each travel type (air, hotel, car, etc.). The Concur site is secure and fully encrypted. You will have a choice of which credit card you wish to use when making the reservation. Please confirm all your credit card information is set up in your profile before booking in Concur the first time. If the information is missing you will not be able to continue with your reservation.

Flights are instant purchases using the card chosen when booking.  Rental Car and Hotel selections are reservations and will require a credit card at the point of sale/check-in. Be sure to have a card on hand while traveling.

Please pay for your air/car/hotel travel expenses with a card issued in your name (KU/KUCR P-card or personal credit card).  We ask that you do not use department p-cards or p-cards issued to others to pay for your travel. 

If you have an issue with your p-card getting declined, contact bpc@ku.edu for UKANS P-Card issues or kures_card@ku.edu for KUCR P-Card issues.  Once the p-card issue is resolved you MUST call CTP at 877-630-1232 (option 1) to let an agent know they can re-run the payment for your flight.

If you have an issue with your p-card getting declined, contact bpc@ku.edu for UKANS P-Card issues or kures_card@ku.edu for KUCR P-Card issues.  Once the p-card issue is resolved you MUST call CTP at 877-630-1232 (option 1) to let an agent know they can re-run the payment for your flight purchase.

If your P-Card or personal credit card saved in your Concur profile has changed in any way, you will need to update it in your Concur profile as soon as possible. This will ensure that any future reservations made online or with a CTP travel agent use an up to date card.

If you need:

• Concur navigation assistance - please contact the KU helpdesk at concurhelpdesk@ku.edu or KU Travel Services at travel@ku.edu.
• Full-service agent booking assistance, need to change or cancel a trip, or have issues with a Concur reservation - please contact CTP at 877-630-1232 and choose option 1 between 8:00 am – 5:00pm CST, M-F and either Julie or Katherine will assist you.
• After Hours Emergency assistance while traveling - please contact CTP at 877-200-1501 from 5:00pm – 8:00am CST, M-F, Weekends & Holidays.

CTM is our travel agency CTP's parent company.  When you book an international trip in Concur or directly with CTP agents, there is an automated check that compares reservation data against your Concur Profile to ensure you have the necessary passport or visa for your trip's destination. 

If you have not saved your passport and/or visa in our Concur Profile, the email will say there was "Insufficient Data" and give you a link to CIBTvisas website to double check what the passport and visa requirements are for your destination. We recommend you add your passport and/or visa to your Concur Profile so that data is already listed on your future international booking. No other steps are needed.

If you do have your passport and/or visa saved in your Concur Profile, the email will say that "YES" you have met Passport and/or Visa requirements. No steps are needed.

Yes, you can contact our dedicated CTP agents to ask passport and visa questions about your international travel locations.  They can be reached Monday through Friday from 8:00am - 5:00pm central time at 877-630-1232 option 1 or by email at ku@ctptravelservices.com. 

Yes. Concur Open Dashboard provides a glimpse at system outages and interruptions. We are in the US2 Data Center.

Our Concur flight search now has a 3-tiered 'Custom Default' sort.  Flight options will first be displayed by Shortest Duration, then Lowest Price, then Preferred (contracted) Carriers.  This was done to help show the optimal flights for our trip location/dated first and then prices.  You can use the dropdown to change our sort and filters to narrow down your options however you prefer.

Basic Economy tickets are “use it or lose it” tickets. If you need to change your flight for any reason, you forfeit your ticket and must purchase a new one. No changes are allowed and many times they do not include carry-on bags. Additionally, if a flight is oversold, Basic Economy seats are the first to be bumped from the flight which requires you to purchase a new ticket. For these reasons we have flagged Basic Economy in Concur with a warning.

Even though Basic Economy fares are slightly cheaper, they are strongly discouraged due to their restrictive nature.  Main Cabin, Economy, or Southwest Wanna Get Away fare class is the preferred fare class option. 

A fare purchased that is $500 more costly than the lowest logical fare offered within your search parameters will be considered out of policy. Upon selecting the higher airfare, as denoted by a yellow triangle icon with an exclamation point which is next to the Fare button, you will be presented with a pop-up box and will be required to select a reason code from a drop down box. Your selected fare, along with the less expensive alternatives that were presented to you, and your purchase will be listed on an Exception Report which will be provided monthly to the University’s Travel Service department. It is recommended that the traveler or travel arranger be prepared to provide an after-the-fact explanation, if requested to do so.

Yes, and CTP’s Full-Service Agents can provide you with free quote options if you want their expert assistance but wish to book on your own through Concur Travel. It is recommended to book complex international travel directly through a CTP agent.  Feel free to email travel@ku.edu if you would like some international flight search help in Concur. 

No, Concur only creates the reservation. Our travel agency CTP processes the ticket on our airlines contracts and ensures all information is captured for reporting purposes and quality control checks for trip for accuracy.  Tickets are purchased directly with the airlines, not purchased from CTP as a 3rd party reseller.

You will receive an email directly from CTP which will signify your trip has been invoiced/ticketed. Keep this email as it contains important information you may need prior to or during travel and for your expense report. The SSC will need a copy of this email as the airfare receipt if you did not "Enable" E-receipts in your Concur. Additionally, in your Trip Library in Concur, you will see the status changed from Confirmed to Ticketed (if air is included).

Generally, quality control and ticket processing only take a matter of minutes so long as the system does not encounter any errors. The email provided by CTP is confirmation that your trip has been purchased and ticketing/invoicing has been successfully completed.

When you log into Concur Travel, you should see any unused tickets in the Alerts section at the top of the main Home Page. Additionally, you should see them in your Concur profile in an Unused Ticket section. If you have unused ticket credits that you need to use, when you are finalizing the purchase of a new flight there is a field with a dropdown to indicated that you wish to use your unused ticket credits. This will alert CTP to apply your credit. Remember unused ticket credits are airline specific and can only be applied against purchases from the same airline.

If you have unused ticket credits for a cancelled non-employee/guest flight that you want to try to transfer and use for another traveler's flight purchase, you will need to call CTP and work directly with an agent to assist with the booking of the new flight and credit transfer.

Yes. You can book up to 6 legs of travel on one reservation in Concur Travel. If the Trip Search on the Home Page, choose the Multi-Segment option of the Air search criteria section.

If you are needing to book for more than one employee/traveler and you want them on the same itinerary, it is best to call our CTP agent to make the reservation. Additionally, on the Home Page while completing the Trip Search you can use the Adults # dropdown for booking up to 5 employees together. NOTE: you must be listed as an arranger on their profiles to use this option and the flight MUST be purchased on a KU/KUCR p-card.  It is against policy to pay for the travel expenses of other employees with a personal card.

Remember there is no additional cost to the travelers to call CTP to have an agent book your university trip!

Fly America compliant flight options have a blue icon with an i in it that can be seen to the right of the flight price. Click the icon to see if the flight is compliant.

Conferences and meetings generally have hotel rooms blocked at privately negotiated contract rates between the hotel and conference/meeting holder. These special contract rates cannot be loaded into our Concur Travel system and therefore, you should follow the meeting organizer instructions for making reservations.  Feel free to check pricing in Concur to compare rates and book whichever is cheaper.

If you book the hotel directly to take advantage of savings, in your Concur please go to the TripLink page found in the dropdown menu and set up a TripIt account and connect/link it.  Then from your Verified email forward your hotel confirmation email to: plans@tripit.com.  This will create the required electronic hotel Reservation in your Concur for duty of care safety monitoring.

Yes, however, we cannot guarantee they will honor it.  We recommend you always choose the State Government room rate option if  it is offered by the hotel and take your KU ID with you.

The University of Kansas is a State Agency, so technically we are State Employees not Federal Employees.  Many hotels will honor the Federal Gov't rate for our employees, but not all hotels will.  It is at the discretion of each hotel to determine who they feel qualifies.

If you have questions regarding if a hotel in Concur only showing a Federal Gov't room rate will honor that rate for you, call the hotel before booking.

In your Trip Search do not choose a car/hotel while filling in your cities/dates on the Home Page. Continue through Concur Travel as if you are just doing an air-only trip. Upon reserving your flight, you will be presented with the Travel Details page. From this page you have the option to click on the link to Add Car / Add Hotel or Cancel Car / Cancel Hotel. This will allow you to choose where you want the car/hotel and for how long.

Yes. To add a hotel to an existing flight itinerary, click the name of the trip you wish to modify in the My Trips section of the Concur Home Page. From the Travel Details page, in the Trip Overview section you can Add a Hotel to the existing trip.

If you book a hotel separately and not added to an existing flight itinerary, your itinerary items cannot be consolidated into a single itinerary.  You will have separate itineraries, which is fine however you will need to make sure that if you change one itinerary it will not automatically change the other if needed.

No, you can choose and pre-pay for a hotel room, even with a KU or KUCR P-card.

Concur has warnings on pre-paid/advance purchase hotel room options so you can review and thoroughly become familiar with the cancellation and refund policies before making your selection.

If you select a pre-paid hotel room option, you will be presented with a pop-up box and will be required to select a reason code from a drop down list. Once you select your reason, the booking process will continue.

NOTE: If a traveler pre-pays and has to cancel their trip, if there is a cancellation fee or the reservation was non-refundable, the department is responsible for the fees or non-refundable amounts. Project funds cannot be used to pay for lodging cancellations or non-refundable amounts.

If you need to cancel a hotel and you are within the penalty window defined by the hotel, please contact CTP to assist you. If this happens after-hours, please contact the hotel directly or use the after-hours* service noted on your itinerary. *A Fee will be assessed for after-hours services.

No. Unfortunately, Concur cannot be configured to automatically send our KS  and MO Sales Tax Exempt Certificates to Kansas and Missouri hotels with the reservations.  This needs to be done directly with the hotel at check-in as always.  If paying with a KU or KUCR P-card, the P-card has the KS Tax Exempt number on it and the card sleeve has our signed Tax Exempt Entity Information on it.  It is advised that you take a paper copy of the exemption certificate with you to present at the check-in counter.

If you need a copy of the KU or KUCR KS or MO Sales Tax Exempt Certificate, please email KU Payables at payables@ku.edu for the KU certificate -or- complete this Tax Exempt Request form for the KUCR certificate. 

Yes, Enterprise/National is KU’s mandatory contracted vendor where available. Our contracted rates, which include Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) fees, are loaded into Concur. If you must rent a vehicle from another car vendor due to Enterprise/National unavailability, you may choose another vendor notated with the yellow exception triangle and choose the appropriate reason code. Additionally, you should purchase CDW as it is not included in the rental price shown for other vendors. It is recommended that the traveler or travel arranger be prepared to provide an after-the-fact explanation, if requested to do so.

Yes. To add or modify a car, click the name of the trip you wish to modify in the My Trips section of the Concur Home Page. From the Travel Details page, in the Trip Overview section you can Add a Car to the existing trip. If you add the car separately and not to an existing trip, your itinerary items will not be consolidated into a single itinerary which can cause issues. There is no fee to add a rental car reservation to an existing trip.

For personal leisure rentals - KU employees can take advantage of the State of Kansas Enterprise/National Personal Use rental program.  Please note that for personal rentals under this program, the rate DOES NOT include the CDW or liability coverage. 

For business travel rentals - Please reserve your rental car using the Concur Travel online booking tool or through our travel agency CTP.  Our contract for KU business travel which includes CDW coverage is configured into the system. You do not need our Enterprise/National Corporate ID number when booking in Concur or with CTP.

For the most part, yes.  However ,if you need to rent a pickup truck, box truck, or 12/15 passenger van, it is recommend to make those reservation directly with our Enterprise Truck Fleet manager. Please email KU Travel Services if you need our KU business Account/Client Number.

Enterprise can bring the truck/van to the KU campus if needed/upon request.

Yes. Concur Mobile is available for iPhone, and Android devices. It can be used to book travel, review trip itineraries & expenses, and submit receipts while traveling. It can also be used by Approvers to approve Requests and Expense Reports.

KU's Concur contains comprehensive, real-time inventory provided by the Global Distribution System (GDS) for airlines, rental cars, and hotels. Many of the airline, car, and hotel suppliers around the world maintain their inventory in the GDS.  The advantage that Concur offers is they partner with Southwest Airlines, Air Canada, and other direct connect suppliers so their inventory is more complete than others and our contracted discount rates are built into the system.  We have contracts loaded in Concur with Southwest, Delta, United and American Airlines as well as Enterprise/National Rental Cars.

Contracted rates and discounts can be received using Concur Travel or CTP Full-Service booking with the following vendors: Southwest, Delta, United, Enterprise/National, and various hotels around the world. The Parking Spot also offers KU Employees to sign up for discounts.

Out of policy options are identified in several ways in Concur Travel. Items that are slightly out of policy and may need additional consideration are noted with a yellow caution sign. If booked, it will be listed in a monthly report sent to KU’s Travel Program Manager. Items that are out of policy are noted with a red sign and are not allowed to book or they have been blocked from our Concur content. To identify the reason for the icon, click the icon itself and more details will be provided.

Yes. Any trip booked for a KU employee with a CTP agent will be uploaded into Concur overnight. Guest travel booked directly with a CTP agent cannot be uploaded to an arranger’s Concur profile.

Yes. In their profile, an employee can assign Travel booking access to as many Travel Arrangers as needed.

To do this, go to your Profile, select Personal Information, and either scroll to the “Assistants and Travel Arrangers” section.  Or from the Profile Options page select the “Assistants/Arrangers” link found under the Travel Settings menu on the left side of the page.

Once in the Assistants and Travel Arrangers section, select Add an Assistant to search for and add the person you would like to authorize to book your travel. This person can update your profile, make any travel arrangements for you, and view upcoming your trips. They cannot create a Travel Request for you.

Additionally, if an employee needs to book travel for a student who does not have a P-card, the employee can use the Book for a guest link found in their TRIP SEARCH and use their P-card.

It is recommended that travel is booked by the traveler.  You will need to work with your SSC to determine their level of services provided regarding booking travel.

You can book travel for non-employees traveling on KU business utilizing the Book for a guest link found under TRIP SEARCH on the Concur Home Page.

If you are paying for the guest travel with a p-card, that flight needs to be purchased in Concur or with our travel agency, CTP.  If the guest is purchasing it themselves and seeking reimbursement, they can purchase the flight where ever they wish.

NOTE:  As a general rule, the Book for a guest feature should not be used to book for other KU employees. However, it can be used on rare time-sensitive occasions when the employee does not have a p-card. But remember, it is preferred practice that employees book from their own profile with a p-card issued to them or a personal card.

Changes to flight purchases can be made without penalty within 24 hours of purchase. Contact CTP at 877-630-1232 to assist you with the correction. Otherwise changes can be made in Concur via your trip itinerary. Note: airline change fees and a CTP agent fee will likely apply.