... CTP Travel Fair Info

Corporate Travel Planners Tips

What do I need when calling to make a reservation?

• Name of traveler
• Dates and destination traveling to
• Do you need a car/hotel
• Do you want a non refundable or refundable
• PO # (if available)
• Department/School  (i.e. – Dental School-DBB; General Administration-GADMIN; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences-GSBS; Harris County Psychiatric Center-HCPC; Medical School-MSB; Mental Sciences Institute-MSI; School of Health Information Sciences-SHIS; School of Nursing-SON; School of Public Health-SPH)

What happens after I call CTP to make a reservation?

Step 1 - The agent will make a pending reservation and e-mail you the itinerary. The documentation will say:

**the lowest non refundable fare is $200.00 plus the $13.89 service fee. Last day to purchase is June 15 by 4p.**

**the lowest refundable fare is $500.00 plus the $13.89 service fee.

When you receive this itinerary, it is your responsibility to ensure the dates and times are correct, your name is spelled correctly and the destination is correct. Remember if you make changes after ticketing, you will possibly incur additional fees or increase in airfare.
 
Step 2 - You call CTP back and advise the agent you would like to ticket the reservation at the (non refundable/refundable) fare and give the PO#. The agent will inform you at this time if the airfare has changed. If the airfare has changed, then you will need to change the airfare amount in PeopleSoft including the Cost Travel Page as the agent cannot ticket until the information is corrected in PeopleSoft.

Step 3 - The agent will then clean up the reservation. The agent will document the record that you accepted the non refundable/refundable fare and add any additional information HSC Houston requires in the reservation.

Step 4 - Once the reservation is ticketed the itinerary will be e-mailed to you Virtually There and you will know it has been confirmed when you see ***your e-ticket confirmation is BNJFGT***
Again, it is your responsibility to ensure you receive a confirmed e-ticket

PLEASE NOTE: Pending reservations that say must ticket by June 15 means that CTP can hold the space or itinerary for 24 hours; it does not mean the fare is guaranteed. No fare is guaranteed until ticketed. This is not a CTP rule this is the same for other agencies and airlines.

Matching Quotes

 CTP is the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston’s (UTHSC-H) contracted travel agency. A traveler should call CTP to make a pending reservation in which CTP will e-mail you a pending reservation.  If you choose to go online to shop for a cheaper fare, remember that the quote must be a mirror-image of the quote you received from CTP.  If you find a fare saving $50 or more, contact the UTHSC-H Travel Manager, Diane Cupples at 713-500-8405 and advise her of the difference.  If CTP is unable to match the fare found online saving $50 or more, Diane will review the documentation to consider an exception to using CTP. 

Past Date Quotes

CTP will only offer a past date quote through uttravel@ctptravelservices.com. CTP will quote the lowest fare available in the market to present to accounting.

Researching past date fare quotes can take an agent anywhere from 5-15 minutes. The agent has to go back to fare history and read rules to make sure they are giving you a correct past date quote then once they get the fare they have to e-mail the information to the caller. This takes away time from clients who are calling CTP to make reservations and are utilizing our services.

State Rates

The Texas Building and Procurement Commission (TBPC) has negotiated airline contracts effective April 01. 2006 through March 31, 2007. CTP is not involved in this process. A list of awards can be found on the TBPC web site (http://www.window.state.tx.us/procurement/prog/stmp/). Please note that city-pairs on the TBPC site are listed in alphabetical order, shown as one-way and no dot include airport fees, security fees and other charges added to the base ticket price.

Key Travel Tips
Following these tips will help you reduce your wait time at the security checkpoint.

Before the Airport

• Do not pack or bring Prohibited Items to the airport. Place valuables such as jewelry, cash and laptop computers in carry-on baggage only.   Tape your business card to the bottom of your laptop.
• Avoid wearing clothing, jewelry and accessories that contain metal.  Metal items may set off the alarm on the metal detector.
• Avoid wearing shoes that contain metal or have thick soles or heels.  Many types of footwear will require additional screening even if the metal detector does not alarm.
• Put all undeveloped film and cameras with film in your carry-on baggage. Checked baggage screening equipment will damage undeveloped film.
• Declare firearms & ammunition to your airline and place them in your checked baggage.
• If you wish to lock your baggage, use a TSA-recognized lock.
• Do not bring prohibited items to the airport.
• Do not pack wrapped gifts and do not bring wrapped gifts to the checkpoint. Wrap on arrival or ship your gifts prior to your departure.  TSA may have to unwrap packages for security reasons.

At the Airport
Each adult traveler needs to keep available his/her airline boarding pass and government-issued photo ID until exiting the security checkpoint. Due to different airport configurations, at many airports you will be required to display your boarding pass more than once.

• Place the following items IN your carry-on baggage or in a plastic bag prior to entering the screening checkpoint:
• Mobile phones
• Keys
• Loose change
• Money clips
• PDA's (personal data assistants)
• Large amounts of jewelry
• Metal hair decorations
• Large belt buckles
• Take your laptop and video cameras with cassettes OUT of their cases and place them in a bin provided at the checkpoint.
• Take OFF all outer coats, suit coats, jackets and blazers.

 

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
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Last updated January 30, 2009