The Fall Travel Supplier Showcase at the Big House is right around the corner! The showcase is the perfect opportunity to meet some of the university’s preferred travel suppliers, learn more about U-M’s travel program, enter to win some fantastic prizes, and pick up some swag!

Other highlights to look forward to:

• All attendees will be entered into a random drawing—taking place during the event—to win one of several fantastic prizes, such as a UM-branded backpack or carry-on luggage. 
• Demos and Q&A sessions with our travel experts: 
• 11:30 a.m.—Lightning 101: Booking U-M Business Travel
• 12:15 p.m.—Lifecycle of a CTA Transaction: From Booking to Expense Submission
• 1:00 p.m.—Chrome River: U-M's New Expense Reporting Tool
• TSA PreCheck will also be onsite for new enrollments. If you’d like to enroll at the showcase, see the TSA PreCheck Interviews section on our website for detailed instructions. 

Show details:

Tuesday, October 15

11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Jack Roth Stadium Club, Michigan Stadium

Employees must bring their Mcard to enter the show

Although an RSVP is not required to attend, your response will assist us in planning. Please use this form to let us know if you plan to attend or not.

More information, including parking options and a list of exhibitors, is available on the Travel Supplier Showcase webpage. We hope to see you there!

Trip, our new travel and expense AI assistant, has launched on the Travel webpage. Trip is an efficient, robust tool that can answer your questions about U-M's travel booking process as well as its expense policies and procedures.

You can access Trip by clicking on the animated suitcase icon in the bottom right-hand corner of our travel and expense webpages. Once open, you can request answers to pre-populated questions or pose a question of your own.

For your convenience, Trip offers options to copy the answer you receive to your clipboard or create a PDF for your reference. These options are located in the upper right-hand corner of Trip’s search box.

Trip's content is generated solely by AI tools, and there's no option to interact with a live representative. If you need more information on a particular topic, you can create a ticket to request more help from the Travel Program Team. This option appears at the bottom of Trip's pop-up window once a response is provided.

With Trip, answers to your travel and expense questions are just a click away!

Delta One seats are now considered Business Class under U-M’s Travel Policy and can be booked with CTP in Lightning or via agent assistance. Business Class can be booked for flights with flying time of eight hours or more. 

It’s recommended that employees check with their unit leadership to verify their budget before booking any travel. Delta One seats are available on an increasing number of international flights and planes typically also offer Comfort+ and Premium Select cabins. 

These cabins also offer multiple benefits over the main cabin such as extended leg room, more seat recline, and dedicated overhead space. These cabins may be more preferable over Delta One depending on budget constraints. Read these Delta Airfare Class Guidelines for more information.

As of October 1, the Lightning Profile page was divided into sections to make navigating to the section you want to update much easier and faster. Please note that a mobile phone number is required under the General section.

U-M travelers—thanks to U-M’s corporate partnership with Southwest Airlines—can receive complimentary Southwest A-List status for 90 days! To participate in this promotion, visit Southwest Airlines and register by October 31, 2024. Travelers can extend this A-List status for an additional 12 months by booking and flying three round trips or six one-way flights during their 90-day promotional period. Learn more about the benefits of being an A-List member with Southwest Airlines.

Beginning May 7, 2025, travelers will need a state-issued REAL ID compliant license or identification card, or another acceptable form of ID—such as a passport—to fly within the United States. Please visit the Homeland Security website for additional information regarding REAL ID.

Starting in 2025, U.S. passport holders—along with visa-exempt nationals from many other countries—will need authorization via the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) to travel to 30 European countries. 

Once authorized through ETIAS, travelers may visit those countries as often as needed for short-term stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period. Applications—once available—can be submitted using the official ETIAS website or the ETIAS mobile app. 

The application will cost seven euros (approximately $8 USD), and the authorization will be valid for up to three years. Similar to passport application fees, the ETIAS application fee is not reimbursable as a U-M business expense since the authorization can also be used for personal travel.

Most applications should be processed within minutes, but may take up to four days. Some approvals could take up to 30 days if additional information is required. Be sure to apply well in advance of your trip. The ETIAS website recommends applying at least 30 days in advance of your trip. You must have a planned trip to one of the included countries to apply, as the first country you visit is a required field on the application. 

The official ETIAS website and this FAQ have more information about the new authorization requirements and process.

Since Chrome River went live on August 1, 15,418 employees have used the tool to submit 33,637 card transactions and 55,485 employee reimbursements on 23,190 expense reports! That is over $18.1M in U-M expenses processed through Chrome River in just two months! 

Resources:

• Chrome River Approvals: Read this article for more information on the single expense report approver approach in Chrome River.
• Chrome River Reporting: Learn about the various Tableau and Business Objects reports available for reviewing Chrome River data.
• Chrome River Knowledge Base: Bookmark the KnowledgeBase landing page for easy access to work instructions and additional support.
• Chrome River Project webpage: Visit the project webpage for updates, resources, and FAQ.

The Expense Management Team will also continue to offer live virtual sessions for training and office hours Q&As. Upcoming dates:

• October 23, 2024, 2 to 3 p.m. (Training)
• November 6, 2024, 2 to 3 p.m. (Q&A)
• November 18, 2024, 10 to 11 a.m. (Training)

Use the Zoom link and passcode below for all sessions.

https://umich.zoom.us/j/97330976833

Passcode: 253097

Representatives from both CTP and the U-M Travel Program will be available to answer your travel-related questions during the following virtual sessions. We look forward to seeing you and encourage you to add these dates to your calendar. 

• October 23, 2024, 1 to 2 p.m. (Training)
• November 7, 2024, 10 to 11 a.m. (Q&A)
• November 20, 2024, 1 to 2 p.m. (Training)
• December 4, 2024, 9 to 10 a.m. (Q&A)
• December 18, 2024, 11 to 12 noon (Training)

Use this Zoom link and passcode below for all 2024 sessions.

https://umich.zoom.us/j/96013633019

Passcode: 684564

Dates for additional sessions will be published on the Procurement Services travel webpage as they are scheduled.

We encourage you to join the U-M Travel Program’s Slack channel, #travel-program, to stay up-to-date on all things related to U-M travel, including program updates, announcements, travel tips, events, and more. 

If you haven’t heard of Slack, we encourage you to check it out! Creating an account is easy and we hope to see you on Slack soon!