Reimbursements for transportation expenses include personal car mileage, commercial air, rented vehicle and mass transit.
Using Your Personal Car
- You may claim mileage or gas (with receipts) when using your personal car, but not both.
- The mileage requires point-to-point documentation using the online mapping tool MapQuest. Mileage must be computed and submitted for reimbursement.
- When visiting the observatory or traveling long distances, rental cars are preferred to personal vehicles. In most cases, the university spends less on renting a vehicle than it would on reimbursed mileage for a personal car.
Booking Rental Cars
Insurance is included on all domestic rentals. Foreign travel needs additional insurance. Ask for assistance from the Travel Office.
- There are five approved vendors offered for business travel-related car rentals.
- Rentals with vendors outside these five may not be reimbursable without an exception.
- The approved vendors also offer box trucks, cargo vans and pickup trucks. See the overview to learn more about those specialty vehicle types.
All travelers on university-related business are REQUIRED to use a state-approved rental agency unless all five contracted vendors are sold out, or the traveler can provide proof of a lesser charge from another vendor. If you choose a non-approved agency, you must purchase the rental agency insurance strictly out-of-pocket. It is reimbursable. Use direct bill with Avis, Enterprise or National, but swipe a credit card at Budget and Hertz.
International Car Rentals
State of Texas car rental contracts are for the US only. When renting outside the US with a vendor, purchase insurance coverage. Insurance is an approved reimbursement (or charge to departmental direct bill number), as international car rental agreements cover liability only.
Rental Car FAQs
Commercial Air
Travelers may use an online reservation tool (e.g., Expedia, Southwest.com) in addition to the university’s Concur online tool. Airline receipts must show the name and payment. Travel itineraries only are not accepted.
If an online tool other than Concur is used, the purchase invoice submitted to Payment Services for reimbursement after the trip's completion should include the traveler’s statement: Online selection is of the best value and consistent with institutional priorities. The reimbursement for commercial air transportation may not exceed the cost of the lowest available airfare.
When an employee combines business and personal air travel, reimbursement may not exceed the amount airfare would have been had no personal travel been included. So long as that limit is not exceeded, all airfare may be reimbursed. A flight comp showing flight costs for official business travel will need to be provided. Federal taxes on airfare are reimbursable.
First class, business class, or other premium class airfare will only be reimbursed at the coach class rate unless Travel Management Services has issued an approved exception request. Exceptions must be submitted for each trip. Examples of exceptions include:
- Traveler has a health issue documented by a doctor
- Only seat available and traveler must be on that flight
- Research grant allows it
Agency Assisted Travel
Anthony Travel (Full Service)
The University offers a dedicated full-service travel agency, Anthony Travel, to assist departments with all their travel arrangement needs.
Concur Travel (Self-Service)
The University offers a self-service online booking tool to support faculty and staff travel needs. The tool allows booking air, train, rental car, and hotel reservations. To access the tool, a travel profile must be created through a registration process.
When using Concur with an approved RTA, you can use the UT centrally billed airfare payment method or your personal credit card. For the direct bill option, you will need to provide the RTA number, the DOC ID number, and the 10-digit billing account number.
These self-service and full-service online booking tools have minimal fees. See Travel Agency Fees.