Travel Planning

Employees should use coach or economy class for UC San Diego business travel, regardless of the purpose of the travel or the fund source. Fees for early check in, priority boarding, or seat selection are reimbursable only when the original ticket is booked in Concur Travel and there is no change to the class of travel. A business purpose for the purchase is required.  

Note: Basic Economy fares are highly restrictive and are not recommended for business travel.    

• Expenses incurred for purchasing air tickets not considered coach or economy class are only reimbursable when: 
• A higher cost service is the only service offered between two points  
• Coach or economy class is more expensive than first-class, business or other typically higher cost service for the desired route due to scheduling difficulties requiring extra hotel and subsistence expense  
• Coach or economy class is more time-consuming than first-class, business or other typically higher cost service for the desired route due to circuitous routing or long layovers when making connections  
• The itinerary involves overnight travel without an opportunity for normal rest before the commencement of working hours  
• A medical need or disability requires accommodation. The need/disability must be certified by a physician and chronic conditions updated annually, except in the case of permanent conditions which require a certification stating this  
• If your trip will include personal travel, comparable airfare is required if personal time is used while on business travel status. The traveler is eligible to receive reimbursement for whichever amount is lower. To gather comparable airfare:  
• Keep documentation of what the flight amount would have been if the traveler had stayed in the trip location for only the business portion of the trip at the time of booking  
• It is required that Concur Travel (Balboa) is used to gather comparable airfare  
• If the original trip date was in April, but the flight was booked in January, then you would search for comparable flights that are three months from the current date.  

Lodging 

• Before booking lodging, please note the UC maximum lodging rate for reimbursement is $275 before taxes and mandatory hotel fees. See policy for more.
  
• A conference where the pre-arranged conference lodging rate exceeds $275, you may stay at the conference hotel without exceptional approval, please include documentation confirming this. Please review policy to confirm the most up to date maximum rate.  
• In-room charges such as gym or movie fees are not reimbursable. 
• An expense for lodging within the vicinity of your home or headquarters is generally not eligible for reimbursement unless an early start time is combined with a distance greater than 40 miles from the headquarters or home, whichever is closest.  
• Keep note that "package deals" are generally ineligible for reimbursement as expenses combined in a package usually fail to meet receipt requirements.
  

Meals  

• Meal costs can be claimed only for travel longer than 24 hours. Effective 07/01/2022 the meal allowance is $79 per day.  
• For international travel, the actual meal expenses will be reconciled, up to the per diem amount.  
• Reserve a room using one of these methods:  
• Follow payment instructions using Concur.  
• Use your Travel & Entertainment Card.  
• Charge the bill to your Travel & Entertainment Card and claim the expense after your trip.  

Travel Expense reports must be submitted within 21 days upon completion of the trip (*VCSA BO internal policy).  

A Concur Travel Expense Report is the form for reporting actual costs of UC San Diego (UCSD) business travel to be reconciled and paid, this includes payments for:  

• University Card (ie. T&E card) transactions  
• Direct reimbursement to the Traveler  

 A Concur Travel Request must be linked to the Travel Expense Report (trip reconciliation) except for Mileage-Only reimbursements.  

A Travel Expense Report is created from the approved Travel Request. Travel expenses purchased with the T&E card can be reconciled on the same Travel Expense Report alongside the expenses paid with personal funds.  

Please do not close/inactivate the Travel Request until the trip has been completed or canceled.  

NOTE: Travel reimbursement requests submitted after 45 days are left to the discretion of the campus, considering the facts and circumstances, whether the reimbursement will be made and if any reporting as taxable income will be required.

Creating the Travel Expense Report  

• Log in to Concur via Single Sign-On  
    
• Select the Requests tab at the top of the page  
    
• Select the approved Travel Request, and under Action select Expense, this action will add the chart of accounts information from the Travel Request to the Travel Expense   

T&E card charges  

• In the open Expense Report, select Add Expense  
• T&E card expenses can be found under “Available Expenses”  
• Select the trip-related card transaction(s) and select “Add to Report”  
• Hover over and select each Card Charge to proceed to the Expense Details  
• Enter detailed business purpose for each expense  
• Update the Expense Type if there is a more appropriate one for the T&E card transaction, e.g. Parking, Meals & Incidentals  
• If a T&E card charge includes multiple types of Expenses (such as Hotel and Parking), create an itemization for each Expense Type in the charge by selecting the itemization tab.  
• An expenditure type is required since our COA’s include a project and task, please search for and enter the appropriate Expenditure Type (depending on type of travel) where indicated: 
  • 536000 - Travel-In-State 
  • 536001 - Travel Out-of-State 
  • 536002 - Foreign Travel  

• Attach receipts by selecting the Attach Receipt Image box, all receipts are required regardless of the expense amount per VCSA Business Office policy.  
• Repeat this process until you have claimed all card transactions for the Expense Report.  
• Personal/Home Address – (PII)  If any receipts/documents include the traveler's personal/home address, please only include the city, state, and zip code OR redact the specific street address from the attachments. Personal/home addresses are considered sensitive information and should not be included within a Concur Expense Report.  
• KBA on uploading receipts
• KBA about the Concur Mobile App

Manually Adding Expenses to a Travel Expense Report  

• In the open Expense Report, select Add Expense  
• In the Add Expense dialog box, select Create New Expense  
• In Expense Details section, enter the appropriate Expense Type, Transaction Date, Payment Type, Amount, and Currency  
• If you are reconciling a lodging Expense, you are required to itemize the hotel folio, for specific guidance refer to the Hotel Itemization KBA
• For out-of-pocket expenses paid by the Employee Traveler (Concur User), use Payment Type: Payment to Employee  
• Attach receipts by selecting the Attach a Receipt box, select Upload Receipt Image, and select the attachment  
• Click “Save Expense”  
• The system will save the expense and return to the Manage Expenses tab  
• Repeat this process until you have added all of your travel expenses  

Submitting a Travel Expense Report  

• Once all the Expenses (manually entered, as well as any T&E card charges) have been added, you are ready to Submit Report  
• Click Submit Report and then Accept & Submit in the dialog box that displays  
• This will submit the expense report for approval  

To view all your Expense Reports and check status:  

• Select the Expense tab from the top of the page, the Manage Expenses and Report Library will display  
• Change the View selection from Open to Completed Reports  
• KBA: How to check the status of a Concur Request or Expense report