Travel and Expenses

    Yale Travel Management provides travel services to faculty, staff, and students when traveling on official university business.  The department is staffed with a Director, and Travel Coordinator who collectively represent nearly 65 years of combined airline, travel agency, and corporate travel management experience.  From recommending preferred university suppliers, to simply offering professional guidance and assistance, Travel Management’s mission is to provide exceptional customer service and operational excellence in an efficient and cost-effective manner.  Acting as a liaison with the university’s primary travel agency, Egencia, Yale Travel Management will connect travelers and administrators with the proper travel supplier based on their needs, and recommend the correct course of action to satisfy university policy and procedures.

    The Internet has provided opportunities for travelers to search multiple web sites for fares and reservations. The airlines’ dynamic “yield management” system and the myriad of distribution outlets make this a daunting and time-consuming experience. While there is no single web site that will categorically offer the lowest fares 100% of the time, extensive benchmarking of the university’s Egencia site tell us that overall the site is more than competitive in its fare offerings.  In the long run, travel management consultants recommend the use of the managed travel program and the resulting economies of scale gained as a Best Practice for reducing costs. All reservations booked outside of Egencia are not recognized as a Yale purchase and, therefore, dollars are lost at the negotiating table.

    • Time is money. Do you consider the cost of your time when searching multiple sites into your calculation of savings?
    • Are you paying unnecessary transaction fees to your travel agent? Egencia fees are not charged to your department.
    • One-Stop Shopping. Save time and streamline your reservation confirmations for air, hotel, into a central site and add to your Outlook calendar.
    • Lost business negatively impacts the university’s discounts. The sum of the parts is not greater than the whole when you consider how your purchasing habits are negatively impacting the university’s future discount agreements and the potential savings that could be gained for Yale as a whole.
    • Do you reuse your non-refundable tickets that were purchased directly on an airline web site (but canceled due to a change in travel plans), or do they go unused? Egencia will automatically remind travelers that their unused tickets are available and valid for future bookings.
    • Have you ever tried to make last-minute itinerary changes, request refunds, or report poor customer service with reservations made directly on consumer web sites and/or direct with the airlines and hotels? Egencia has professional agents to assist you 24/7/365.
    • In times of emergencies will your department know how to reach you? Egencia will send Care Alerts to keep family, friends, and colleagues updated on your travel plans.

    Getting Started

    Learn how to get started on Egencia.

    Support

    Please let Travel Management know (203-432-9962) if we can assist in any way.

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