Carnegie Mellon University
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Making Travel Arrangements

The SLICE office has the ability to assist organizations with travel arrangements through direct booking through Concur, or through a scheduled travel meeting. SLICE can arrange for direct payment from your student organization's financial account for automotive transportation, air travel and/or lodging reservations.

 

Quick Links

Concur

Students can now book their own travel through Concur! Concur can be accessed here. Concur can be used to book airfare, hotels, and rental cars. Concur guarantees the lowest rates available. When you use Concur, your travel fees will be charged directly to a SLICE PCard. To set up your account with Concur, please follow this link.

Some important points to note about Concur:

  1. Multiple reservations cannot easily be made in Concur. If you need multiple hotel rooms/rental cars, you should advise your members to make these reservations individually. You can also designate someone as an Arranger to book travel on your behalf. To do that, log in to Concur, then click on Profile, then Profile Settings. On the left-hand side under Travel Settings, click on Assistants/Arrangers. Under Assistants and Travel Arrangers, click on Add as Assistant. Search for who you would like to designate as an Assistant. Click Save. Once this is done, you will be able to go into Concur and book travel on behalf of that user by clicking on the down arrow next to Profile, then toggling to Act on behalf of another user, and typing in that person’s name.
  1. The university only has direct billing set up with Hertz and Enterprise. Bookings made with any other rental car company will need to be paid out of pocket and reimbursed.
  1. Under Trip Booking Information, please be sure to provide a full justification (who, what, when, where, why) of your travel request, and which account it should be charged to (org, gift, etc.)


4. Prior to booking airfare, please contact SLICEFinance@andrew.cmu.eduto provide the names of your travelers, so that our credit card can be added to your account.

5. When registering your account with Concur, the fields Org Unit and Rule Class should both be: Student-Slice.

If you find that Concur cannot meet your needs, please schedule a Travel Appointment. Authorized Signers can schedule a Travel Meeting at least two weeks in advance of travel.

Automotive Transportation

Car, Bus and the SLICE Van

At some point, your student organization may need to rent a car, truck, bus or the SLICE Van. The preferred method if you plan to travel by car is to request a car rental or to use the SLICE van; however, there may be some cases where you may need to drive a personal vehicle. Follow the outlined steps in order to request transportation based on your need or preference, as well as to learn about what to do if you're in an accident.

Car rentals are able to be booked by students through Concur.

  1. If you are planning to drive on behalf of your organization, you need to have your driver’s license validated by the university. To initiate that process, please email backgroundchecks@andrew.cmu.edu with the subject line “MVR Request – (Your Name).
  2. Car rentals are able to be booked by students through Concur. 
  3. If you find that Concur does not meet your needs for a rental car, you may request to rent a car by making a travel appointment.

Hertz

  • Rentals available to students age 20 and older
  • Nationwide rentals
  • 12 passenger vans permitted; travel appointment should be at least 3-4 weeks in advance to ensure van availability
  • CMU has special pricing, payment and vehicle availability options that are only available to reservations made during a travel appointment; Please do not call Hertz prior to a travel appointment
  • Hertz local pickup location:  5634 Baum Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA;  Phone: (412) 441-1902

Enterprise

  • Rentals available to students age 21 and older
  • 12 passenger vans permitted; travel appointment should be at least 3-4 weeks in advance to ensure van availability
  • You may call Enterprise prior to travel appointment to get pricing and availability or this may be done during your travel appointment
  • Enterprise local pickup location:  756 S. Millvale Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA;  Phone: (412) 212-7540
NOTE: You are welcome to use ZipCar for your trip; however, because ZipCar is a membership-based vendor, you may not use a SLICE Office P-card when you use ZipCar. You may get reimbursed for ZipCar trips, but only for the cost of the relevant trip(s) and not for the membership fee.
To rent a truck you much request a truck rental meeting by making a travel appointment.

A travel appointment is NOT necessary for bus rentals. 

  1. Call Bus Vendors: Call bus vendors at least two weeks prior to your trip. Please refer to the preferred or discounted vendors. Confirm bus availability on the dates needed, cost for roundtrip transportation, location for pick up and drop off on-campus and at the destination, etc. Request a QUOTE from the vendor that must be submitted with the Payment Request form to SLICE Office. If you use a bus vendor is not a preferred vendor, then a contract will be required, please contact SLICE Finance for details.
  2. Confirm Bus Pick-up/Drop-off: The organization will need to confirm with CMU Parking and Transportation Services regarding the on-campus location for bus pick up and drop off. There is a Bus Scheduling Form that must be submitted.
  3. Waivers: Participants that will be riding on the bus will need to sign a CMU Release of Liability per University Policy. A SLICE staff member will follow-up with the organization upon receipt of the Payment Request and bus quote (two weeks prior to the event).
  4. Submit Final Invoice: Request a final invoice from the vendor to be sent to be sent to SLICE Finance in order to be used to approve payment for the Purchase Order, once the trip is completed. Payment will be sent in the form of a check to the vendor

The SLICE Office manages two minivans, which may be reserved and used by CMU student organizations, departments, and offices to carry out their missions. The vans are open to all eligible student drivers to use for official organizational purposes for only the cost of gasoline.

Both vans are Chrysler Pacificas; one van seats 7 total passengers (including driver), the other seats 8 total passengers (including driver). The middle and rear rows of seats fold down in both vans to allow for expanded storage capacity. The vans are not available for overnight use. A few examples for student and departmental use of the SLICE Vans include:

  • Transporting your team to do direct service on a one-time or recurring basis
  • Picking up supplies for a fundraising or educational program
  • Transporting your team to an off-campus retreat center for team building
  • Transporting donations to a local nonprofit or community partner

There are requirements and procedures that must be met before you can reserve the SLICE Van.

If you have any questions regarding the SLICE Vans, please contact slicevan@andrew.cmu.edu.

While the SLICE Vans are available for use by CMU student organizations and departments to carry out their missions, there are some requirements that must be met before reserving and driving the vans. These requirements include:

  1. Any organization member may complete the SLICE Van Reservation and Registration form. This form is used to both reserve the van for organization use, as well as to register any drivers who will be operating the van. All drivers must complete this form for each SLICE Van reservation before a reservation will be confirmed.
  2. Anyone wishing to drive the SLICE Van must be at least 18 years old and have a valid US driver’s license that has been held for at least two consecutive years.
  3. All drivers must have the validity of their driver's license confirmed by completing the MVR process at least 2 weeks prior to travel. To initiate this process, please email backgroundchecks@andrew.cmu.edu requesting MVR approval to drive a SLICE Van. You will then receive an automated email with a form to complete. Once completed, MVR approval is valid through the end of the academic year, unless until a driver renews their driver's license or receives a new driver's license. MVR approval must be completed each academic year.
  4. SLICE will not authorize anyone to proceed with SLICE Van use until confirmation of a valid driver’s license is provided back from the completed MVR process.
  5. Additional Resources: Driver Safety Training Canvas Course
Please note the SLICE van is not available for overnight trips. 
When driving a rental vehicle booked through Hertz or Enterprise, students are covered by the Carnegie Mellon University insurance policy. In the event of an accident:
  1. Remain calm and call 911 if anyone is injured
  2. Call the rental car company to report the damage to the car and arrange for a new rental car if needed.
  3. If safe to leave vehicles in traffic, do not move vehicles until told to do so by police.
  4. Call the police to investigate accidents, if necessary.
  5. Email the SLICE Finance team with information about the accident and to request a meeting within two business days of returning to campus
  6. Complete Vehicle Accident/Incident Report form provided to you at the time of your reservation as soon as possible.
  7. SLICE’s Finance team will report accident information to the CMU Insurance department.
NOTE: SLICE recommends that student organizations purchase supplemental insurance when renting trucks. In addition to the steps above (minus #7), you will need to follow the procedures and policies laid out by that rental company.

Students must purchase the supplemental insurance coverage offered by the truck rental company to protect the University and themselves from liability. Each truck rental company has a separate supplemental insurance policy for how any accidents or damages can be handled.

When booking a rental vehicle through Hertz or Enterprise, students do not need to purchase supplemental insurance because they are covered by Carnegie Mellon University’s insurance policy. 

Reserve the SLICE Van

Air Transportation

Flights

Airfare is able to be booked by students through Concur

If you find that Concur does not meet your needs for airfare, please schedule a Travel Meeting. Travel meetings should be scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance of your planned travel.

Travel not booked through the SLICE Office must be paid in full by the students who are traveling. A reimbursement can be issued as long as the travel is approved to be reimbursed by the JFC. The student organization is responsible for meeting all payment deadlines with the travel agency.

If you find that Concur does not meeting your needs for airfare, please follow these steps.
  1. Book a Travel Appointment: Authorized Signer must schedule a Travel Meeting at least TWO weeks prior to travel. Airfare reservations can be made during the appointment using one of the preferred travel agencies.
  2. Travel Appointment: Bring to your travel appointment the ticket cost per person (including the cost of any applicable service fees per ticket), dates of travel, the destination of travel, number of people/tickets, airline name, and legal names and date of birth for all travelers. The SLICE Financial Assistant will book your travel with your requested website/agency and pay directly from the organization's Oracle account.
Schedule Air Travel Meeting

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Learn more about the student rewards program offered by Qatar Airways for international travel.

Lodging & Hotels

Hotel & AirBnB

Hotels are able to be booked by students through Concur

 

If you find that Concur does not meet your needs for lodging, please schedule a travel meeting. Travel meetings should be scheduled at least 2 weeks in advance of your planned travel.
  1. Make a Travel Appointment: Authorized Signer must schedule a Travel Meeting at least 48 hours in advance to make an appointment with the Financial Assistant. Hotel reservations can be made during an appointment in our office using a university P-card.
  2. Preparation Needed: Students may make hotel reservations at the hotel of your choosing and should call the hotel prior to the travel appointment in order to have all information necessary to reserve the hotel room(s) including room availability, cost, dates of travel, etc.
  3. Submit Receipts: All P-card receipts are to be submitted to the SLICE Office within two business days of returning to campus after the trip.

Students who are interested in booking an AirBnB should request a travel meeting. You will need to use your personal AirBNB account to make the reservation and send all receipts back to SLICE within two business days of returning to campus after the trip.

Request a Travel Meeting