Travel Tips and Tricks

Before travel, the traveler will need to notify the department of their intent to travel, the cost of the travel and how they intend to fund their travel. This information is all collected on the universities Travel Authorization Form This form should be completed and signed by the Department Chair prior to airfare being approved. It's likely you will need to provide estimates on the Travel Authorization. That's ok! This is a form used for planning purposes and changes are expected. This section looks at purchasing airfare, conference registration, and hotel reservations.

Purchasing Airfare

PSU uses travel agents to purchase tickets. Contact the agent of your choice (Michelle Maldonado at Uniglobe is the Department Manager's preferred agent) and create an itinerary that works for you. The agent will ask you to give them the name of the department's airfare approver. For the English Department, this is the Department Manager, Melissa Scholl schollm@pdx.edu.

In order for the Department Manager to approve the airfare, they must have a filled out travel authorization form and know what index(es) will be used to pay for the ticket. Once the Department Manager is contacted by the Travel Agent they will ask the traveler to confirm the itinerary. If a student is traveling and a member of the faculty is covering the cost, the Department Manager will require the student to confirm the itinerary and have the faculty member approve the cost.

Once the airfare is approved the agent will issue the ticket.

Conference Registration

If you will be attending a conference and will be using PSU funds to cover the cost the department can use the procurement (credit) card. Please contact the front office coordinator to arrange a time to walk them through what options you would like.

Hotel Reservation

The department cannot make a hotel reservation for you. You will need to call the hotel of your choice and give them a personal credit card number. PSU does have maximum amounts it will allow for hotels. As of January 1 2017 the rates are as follows:

Lodging Rates

MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSES: All miscellaneous expenses must be itemized. Commercial ground transportation requires original receipts if over $75 per item if outside the state of Oregon, $40 in Portland/Metro area; all other miscellaneous expenses require original receipts if over $25 per item.

FOR CONFERENCE LODGING REIMBURSEMENT: Attach conference brochure showing location, dates and conference hotel.

Need Help?

Email travel@pdx.edu or reach the travel through instant message at https://www.pdx.edu/financial-services/travel

Rental Cars

Zipcar:

Zipcar is the best option for short term use; if you are planning to rent a car for more than a day, it’s more affordable to go through one of the other contracted car rental agencies. To rent a car through Zipcar, the traveler must be a member. To register for membership go to https://members.zipcar.com/registration. Zipcar will route the request to the Travel Office for approval. Once approved, you will receive a Zipcard. Minimum age requirement to rent is 21 years old.

Enterprise/National:

When booking through Enterprise, 1) please log into UFS Intranet using renter’s odin username and password: https://fast.pdx.edu 2) Click on the “Campus Accounting” tab 3) Under the “Applications” column, click on “Enterprise/National Car Rental” link. If phone reservation is preferred, an account number will be needed. PSU’s account number is provided next to the Enterprise link. 4) Renter must provide the department index code, contact person and phone number to ensure that charges are being billed correctly to the right index code. LDW/CDW is already included in PSU’s contract so no additional insurance should be purchased. Minimum age to rent a car is 21 years old and car rental must be economy size unless justified for groups of 3 or more, GPS is not allowed.

Hertz:

When booking through Hertz, renter must provide the CPD #221255 which is the corporate account number in order to use the contracted rate and must provide the #1 Applicant Number; call the Travel Office for the number in order to bill it directly. The following are the only 3 options to rent a car and bill directly:

• If booking through one of the contracted agencies, have your Travel Agent enter the #1 Applicant Number in the ID FIELD of their computer system.
• If calling in, contact Hertz Nationwide toll free # 800-654-3131and give Hertz the #1 Applicant Number (if you get the recording, say “AGENT” to get a live body).
• If booking online, go to Hertz.com and on the bottom right side of the page where it says “Travel Agents”-you will see a link that says “Applicant Program”. Select this to enter the Applicant Program Site to make your reservation.

Index code, contact person and phone number must be provided. PSU’s contract covers the CDW insurance; therefore, no other insurance should be purchased. Minimum age to rent a car is 21 years old and car must be economy size unless justified for groups of 3 or more, no upgrades such as GPS are allowed.

Airfare

When booking airfare through our contracted agencies, various flight options should be presented. The agency will provide City-Pair fares whenever available. Once you have chosen a flight, you may contact the agency and begin the reservation process by providing your Index code and Account code. The departmental approver(s) are then sent an e-mail requesting approval. The ticketing process will not be complete until the agency has gotten a confirmation back from the departmental approver. Upgrades are not allowed, all travel involving airfare require a travel authorization to be turned in before the date of travel. Changes for 2017 in RED.