Requesting Travel Authorization
Submit an Online RTA
You will need to submit an RTA (Request for Travel Authorization) prior to making any other travel arrangements. You may obtain an RTA by completing an online "Travel Authorization Request" form under the Expense Request column on UT Direct's Request Forms Home. Follow all instructions, including adding an account number to charge for expenses. You will be prompted to assign the travel request: choose group from the drop-down menu and type 00171 in the next box. Wait until Molecular Biosciences-Travel (00171) appears next to the box. Once it does, submit your request. You will receive an email with your RTA number once your request has been processed and approved.
Supervisor/Account Signer Approval
Students or lab personnel traveling on faculty accounts will need prior approval from their supervisor/PI before their RTA will be processed. For this approval to be on file, please have the account holder email MBS Payments with the following:
“I authorize (traveler’s name) to travel to (conference name and/or city) during (travel dates), using (account number).”
Domestic travel questions: tms@austin.utexas.edu
International travel questions: grs@austin.utexas.edu
Booking Your Flight
You have three travel options once your RTA has been approved:
- Concur Online Reservations -- one-time setup for quick and easy travel arrangements. Register, complete your profile, and book your flight, hotel, and rental car using a direct billed account or personal credit card (will require a RTA before approving airfare).
- Anthony Travel or Corporate Travel Planners -- UT official travel agencies. Please be aware that all business-related air travel must be arranged through Anthony Travel, Corporate Travel Planner, or Concur Online Reservations.
- Booking Your Own Flight -- You may use other online reservation tools if you can get a better price. However, you will still have to follow all university rules (economy class, etc.). To get reimbursed for booking your own flight, please write the following statement on your invoice, along with your signature and date: "Online selection is best value as consistent with institutional priorities." Please note, your reimbursement request may be denied without this statement.
Booking Your Hotel
You may make hotel reservations online through Concur, by contacting one of the university’s contracted travel agencies or by calling your hotel of choice directly. If two or more employees share lodging, University policy requires the expense to be divided equally between the employees. More information on making hotel reservations is available here.
Texas Travel
If you're traveling within Texas and plan to seek reimbursement for your lodging, please inform your hotel that UT is both state hotel occupancy tax exempt as well as Texas sales tax exempt. You may need to print and fill out both exemption forms in advance if requested by your hotel. Please be advised that neither of these tax charges should be listed on your hotel bill; if they are, you may be ineligible for reimbursement.
Rental Cars
UT has a list of contracted car rental vendors, which you can access on Travel Management's website. All contracted agencies include insurance with rental rates, as rental insurance is a mandatory purchase for all UT travelers.
To see travel reimbursement procedures, please check the reimbursements resources link to the left.
CPRIT Accounts
Using a CPRIT account to pay for travel, including hotel charges, meals, or airfare, requires a second account to be listed on your RTA, which will cover any charges that go over CPRIT's allowed maximums. For meal reimbursements, itemized receipts are required. If you do not have itemized receipts, you will not be able to reimburse meals with CPRIT funds.
To view CPRIT's per diem rates, please see the GSA website.
Helpful Links
- Covid-19 Travel Guidlines
- Concur Online Reservations
- Faculty Travel Grant Program
- Handbook of Business Procedures - Travel
- My Requests
- RTA
- Texas Hotel Occupancy Tax Exemption Certificate
- Travel Agency Contact Information
- UT Travel Management
(Note: traveler must get approval from travel management if using a non-UT travel agency!)
Last update 5/13/2020
