Purchasing the Trip
After clicking the Continue or Hold this trip button after reviewing the trip (see Reviewing the Trip Elements), the Purchase page appears.
Entering Traveler Information
Start by entering the required traveler information. Much of this information is already filled in for you from your profile (see Personal and Business Information for details on adding this information to your profile). Follow these steps:
- Name your trip by entering a name in the "Name your trip" field at the top of the page. If you book the same or similar trips regularly, it's a good idea to name each trip with a unique name. That way it will be easier to locate it in the Upcoming section of the Home page.
- Fill out the required information in the Traveler Information section at the top of the Purchase page.
- Your name is provided from your profile, and it must be the same as the name that appears on a government-issued ID. To change your profile, see Your Profile.
- If your site is configured to allow changing the passenger name, you can click the Edit link next to your name to change it. You can also click the checkbox for the Change traveler option. Fields appear for entering the traveler name: you can enter the first, middle, and last name, and choose a prefix and suffix from dropdown menus if needed.
- Specify optional preferences for your flights, hotels, and car rentals in the Optional preferences column on the right side of the page. Click the Edit links to change your preferences.
- Be sure to include your frequent flyer, hotel, train, and car rental rewards program numbers. These numbers are pre-populated with your program numbers if you entered them into your profile (see Service Preferences).
Reviewing Notifications and Special Instructions
Follow these steps:
- Scroll the Purchase page and review your notifications in the Notifications section, and change them if necessary by clicking the Edit or Delete links. For more information about setting notifications, see Notifications.
- (Optional) You can enter instructions in the Special handling instructions field.
Handling Train Tickets
If you are making a train reservation, choose one of the following:
- If there is a kiosk at the departure station, the “Deliver ticket by” dropdown menu appears under the Ticketing and Delivery Information heading of the Traveler Information section, and you can choose Email to email the eTicket, or Pickup at departure station to pick up the boarding pass at the kiosk.
- If there is no kiosk at the departure station, Email is the only choice offered, and you must provide an email address — your default email address appears and you can change it.
The email includes the eTicket, which you can take with you on a mobile device and use as a boarding pass. Specific instructions are provided on the confirmation page of your reservation and in the email.
Entering an Emergency Contact
Scroll the Purchase page, and enter an emergency contact name, address, phone, and email in the Emergency Contact section.
Pre-Trip Approval
If pre-trip approval is enabled on your site, the PreTrip Approval Required section appears after the Emergency Contact section if your travel selections require approval. The system automatically sends emails notifying your designated approvers and possibly also requesting that they approve or decline the itinerary. You can provide a reason for the trip in the provided text box, which will be included in the emails to approvers. Approvers can click a link in the email to approve or decline the trip.
If your trip requires approval, the emails are sent after you enter the information on the Purchase page and click the Purchase button. Once your trip is approved, the itinerary ticketing is processed. Until that time you can't make any change to the itinerary. You are notified when the trip is approved and ticketed. Tickets for declined trips are automatically cancelled.
Approvers receive an email with the Approve or Decline link that takes them to the Approve or Decline Trip page. The approver can click the Approve or Decline button.
Entering Billing Information
Scroll the Purchase page to enter your billing information. You can select the payment cards stored in your profile – they appear as choices in the payment card dropdown menus for flight, hotel, and car rental in the Billing section.
You can also add a card by clicking Add Payment Card, which adds the card to your profile (see Personal and Business Information for details on payment cards in your profile).
Note: If your site administrator enabled the "single use payment card" feature, you can choose Enter card for this trip only in the payment card dropdown menus. You can then enter the card information to use for that service. The card information is not saved to your profile. If you book multiple services (such as air and hotel) and you enter a single-use card for the first service, you can choose the same card for other services in the same itinerary, or choose your default card or other cards in your profile.
Tip: To assign default cards to flight, train, hotel, car rental, and other travel services, click the View / Edit link next to the payment card dropdown menu. The Payment Cards page appears, and you can select a different card for each service's dropdown menu: Airline, Hotel, Car Rental, Train, Shipping, and Car Service (not all services may appear depending on your site's configuration). Click Save to save your changes.
Making the Purchase
Before purchasing, you may also have to click the checkbox for the "I agree to the rules and restrictions" statement above the Purchase button. (You can click the rules and restrictions link in the statement to see what they are.)
Click the Purchase button if you are ready to complete the purchase and reservation booking, or click Start Over to start over (canceling the purchases and reservations), or Hold This Trip to put the trip on hold (see Putting a Trip on Hold for details).
To get a trip receipt, you can print the confirmation email you receive for the trip.