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Colleagues,
Increased lodging rate
To respond to increased inflationary pressures, Travel Policy G-28 has been updated to include an increase to the lodging rate for travel within the Continental United States (CONUS) to reflect the highest rate available for all UC locations as published by the U.S. General Service Administration for January 2024. The nightly lodging limit for travel for CONUS has been increased from $275 to $333, excluding taxes and mandatory hotel fees. This must be supported by original itemized receipts, regardless of the amounts incurred, and must be reasonable for the locality of travel. This revision is effective immediately, strictly on a going-forward basis and we have already updated the UC Berkeley Travel resources and the reimbursement system. If you have questions about this update or other issues related to travel, please contact the UC Berkeley Travel office at travel@berkeley.edu.
Daily parking at Oakland airport
If you are parking at the Oakland airport you could save up to $7 a day in Daily Lot parking. You can get $3 off Daily Lot parking when you reserve your spot in advance. Plus, you can save an additional $4 off Daily Lot Parking when you make a reservation for five days or more. When you reserve in advance you can just scan in and out with the QR code on your phone and you’ll never have to worry about losing a ticket again. Follow the link on the Parking page to book parking in advance.
Summer travel tips
With potential summer travel on the horizon, we encourage you to review these tips to make your travel as smooth as possible.
- Plan and book ahead as much as possible: Airfare prices continue to increase and the availability of decently priced hotel rooms continues to go down. Travelers are at risk of being priced out of reasonable rates if they wait too long to confirm trips.
- Book the first flight out to your destination: Delays compound throughout the day - if possible, book the nonstop flights (which potentially reduce CO2 emissions).
- Stick with the same airline to your destination: Airlines can only commit to their schedules and if one cancels it is not the responsibility of the other to adjust your connecting flight.
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Carefully note airline schedule changes: Do not act on them immediately, unless your flight is within a couple of days of the change (our webinar “Dealing with Airline Schedule Changes” found in the ConnexUC travel portal, dives into why you should allow yourself time to research your options from full cancellations to destination changes to airline switches).
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Understand your rights and options in the event of major cancellations or excessive delays.
Loyalty program options
Travelers who sign up for the mileage and loyalty programs may have additional advantages. While UC’s contracts offer various benefits such as priority boarding, access to free preferred seats, and potential for premium class upgrades at the airport (based on availability), loyalty programs could elevate some of these benefits even more and possibly provide free checked bags, all of which may present travelers a significant cost savings benefit. Especially with car rentals, drivers may be able to skip excessively long lines at the airport counter and directly drive off the lot.
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If you have a higher status for a particular airline, you may be able to take advantage of UC-specific status match programs with Alaska, Delta, and United. More information is available in the ConnexUC travel portal under “Partners” – “Air”.
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Link your personal United, Uber, Hertz, and Enterprise accounts to UC and gain significant benefits. Links are available in the ConnexUC travel portal.
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United “Break for Business” gives up to a 10% discount on personal travel when booking directly at united.com. To link your personal United Mileage Plus account to the Break for Business discounts, first log into ConnexUC and then paste the following URL into the address bar. https://travel.ucop.edu/connexxus/united-airlines-personal-travel-discount.
- Uber Business provides Priority Pick-up where our travelers are prioritized over others, especially at peak/high demand times or areas (such as conventions or airports).
Finally, we encourage you to explore the ConnexUC travel portal for other benefits such as weekend rates with Club Quarters and our new Sustainability page. We will post new webinars (including the annual survey results) in the coming weeks.
Best,
The Travel Team
Controller’s Office
Office of the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Chief Financial Officer
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