BY JUDY LIN-EFTEKHAR
UCLA Today Staff
When former Vice President Al Gore came to
campus as a visiting professor last year, the UCLA Travel Center
handled his travel arrangements. Faculty members crossing the
globe to attend conferences or conduct research, administrators
visiting legislators in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and
the UCLA Spirit Squad accompanying athletic teams, along with
student and leisure travelers, all benefit from the comprehensive
and economical services offered by the UCLA Travel Center.
Supported by a staff of 17, including several
multilingual travel specialists, the Travel Center enjoys the
status of being the nation’s only university travel service
to earn the designation of Corporate Travel Department from
the Airline Reporting Corporation. The award came on the heels
of the center’s successful reorganization this year from
a service provided by outside contractors to an in-house operation.
Campus travel services are now more efficient
and economical, said Belinda Borden, Travel Center manager.
“We’re now able to respond better to the university’s
needs,” she said.
Keeping close tabs on the number of travelers
(including many from the UC Office of the President, which also
uses the center’s money-saving services) and the dollars
they spend, the center can leverage this data to negotiate discounts
with airlines, car rental companies and hotels.
Along with other cost-cutters, the Travel Center
offers discounted state government fares between 239 U.S. city
pairs. These fares, available only through certain travel agencies
authorized by the State of California, are fully refundable
in the event the traveler is unable to make the trip and carry
no penalties for changes, as many other airfares do.
The center also offers the advantage of direct-billing
to departments for airfare and other charges, freeing travelers
on university business from having to purchase tickets out of
pocket. And a new Web-based service, UCLA Express, enables travelers
to complete reimbursements for other travel expenses online.
The Travel Center includes Bruin Walk Travel,
which is geared to student and leisure travel, offering everything
from Eurail Passes and International Student Identification
Cards to vacation packages, consolidator airfares and cruises.
For more information, visit www.travel.ucla.edu;
for Bruin Walk Travel see www.bwtravel.ucla.edu.
