AIRFARE GUIDELINES

STATE FUNDS

1. State of Texas Contract Airfare is effective from 6/1/08 to 3/31/09.
   
   
2. The contract airline fares are designed for last minute or fully refundable travel requirements. State agencies and institutions of higher education are encouraged to utilize 14-day advance or other lower cost airline fares for planned travel requirements to obtain lowest possible cost to the state.
   
   
3. Airfare can only be purchased with the State of Texas Corporate Card, either the department's CBA card or the individual corporate card.
   
   
4. City-pair listing are one-way, in alphabetical order only, and are applicable in both directions.
   
   
5. Domestic contract airfares include the Federal Excise Ticket Tax, but do not include segment fees, passenger facility charges, security fees, fuel surcharges or any other mandatory fees that might be assessed.

International fares do not include any taxes, segment fees, passenger facility charges, security fees or any other mandatory fees.

6. The fare basis codes of “YCATX” and “___CATX to use when booking contract airfares. (Exception: Southwest fare basis code is Y). The YCATX fare is last seat availability. The ___CATX fare basis code is capacity controlled and only a limited number of seats are available.
   
   
7. Receipt requirements for a airline ticket
   1. Name of the person that is traveling
   2. The fare basis code
   3. Name of the airline company
   4. Ticket Number
   5. Amount of the airfare with a cost breakdown of the base airfare, taxes, segment fees, and passenger facility charges.
   6. Class of Transportation
   7. Origin and destination of each flight
   8. The dates of travel
   9. The form of payment
      
      
8. Exception is required only if the airfare is more than contract airfare.
   
   
9. When booking airfare consider the following:
   1. When travel requirements allow, booking and purchasing tickets at least 14-days in advance will aid in obtaining lower fares.
   2. Flexibility in your departure and arrival times will also impact your ability to price the lowest cost available fare.
   3. Compare two or three airlines in order to check for the lowest airfare.
   4. Remember that non-refundable tickets incur a penalty of usually $100.00 to cancel or make changes.
      

10. Options for booking airfare:
    1. National Travel Systems – A State of Texas contracted Travel Agency. Call 1-877-717-7768 with a fee of $14.75. Using their on-line fee if $8.75.
       
       
    2. Travel agency – Call your preferred travel agent/agency. Request that they look for the lowest fare that would meet your travel needs.
       
       
    3. Direct with airline company – This can be by phone or on-line. Some airlines are charging a fee for phone bookings. Check two or three airlines in order to find the lowest fare that meets your travel needs.
       
       
    4. On-line Broker (Travelocity, Expedia, or Orbitz) – If the traveler chooses to use this method they will need to consider that all airlines may not be listed. Receipts may be provided by the online booking source rather than the airline vendor, which may not meet reimbursement requirements. Most brokers do not include the fare basis codes on the travel itinerary. Also consider the transaction fees that are incurred by the online booking source when evaluating various booking methods, for the lowest total cost. Oftentimes, booking direct with the airline will provide a lower total cost.