How to Manage Unused Flight Tickets in Corporate Travel

How to Get the Most Value from Unused Flight Tickets

Effective management of tickets and travel isn’t just a financial concern – it also affects employee well-being.

A business dealing with unused flight tickets may not sound like a major challenge. Yet these seemingly smaller issues can quickly become a serious problem if not handled right. 

On the other hand, if you have a well-thought-out strategy and tools in place, you can enhance employee well-being, protect your margins, and ultimately create a travel program that works well for your company and employees.

Now, let's review what you need to know to make that a reality.

Why Unused Airline Tickets Are Worth Your Attention

If you run a business, the odds are good you'll eventually confront losses from unused flight tickets. Industry research shows organizations lose as much as 10% of their annual travel budget on unused tickets. 

Dealing with tickets and ticket changes is a burden for workers. Without a clearly defined policy for handling tickets in place – and the right supporting technology – workers can become frustrated and confused and tickets that could be used may go to waste.

How to Best Manage Unused Flight Tickets

To better illustrate this issue, let’s start by examining some of the most common ticket management scenarios that organizations face.

The first is a cancellation due to airline circumstances; think bad weather, employee strikes, or plane maintenance issues. Airlines can cancel for all of these reasons, and they are also required to issue refunds. Travelers are entitled to a rescheduled flight or other compensation. Given how frequently this occurs, it's important that your travelers know what to do when the situation arises. It’s also smart to create a plan that enables someone (ideally the person who manages company travel) to quickly step in and provide support as needed.

The next scenario involves changes related to your business. Perhaps a meeting was cancelled or an employee left. This situation can be trickier and may require more careful management of flight credits or refunds. Businesses often need to act quickly to minimize potential losses. Transparent and complete documentation is key. Good personal relationships with the airlines can also help, so you’re not stuck online searching “how to cancel unused flight ticket” if all else fails.

Procedures for Good Management

There are a few steps you can take to ensure that tickets are managed effectively. First, have an advanced notice requirement in place for any tickets that may go unused and perform regular travel reviews to stay abreast of any changes to travel itineraries.

Record-keeping is important, so keep detailed logs of any change requests and ensure that ticket expiration dates are tracked continuously. It also makes sense to have all communication with airlines documented in a central and accessible repository.

Workers also need the tools to help things run smoothly. If they have clear modification procedures for different scenarios and easy access to support, this can prevent issues from developing. Good, regular employee training on ticket modification rules is also key. Organizations should also maintain backup travel options for critical cases and ensure clear communication channels, including emergency response protocols.

To recoup money if flights are canceled, it's imperative to seek fast refunds. Knowing the airline's refund period is essential. The same goes for airline credits that have an expiration date. Stay on top of this information to prevent unrecoverable losses. 

If tickets can't be recovered, then document them for tax purposes. By keeping friendly and professional relations with airlines, you can sometimes get favorable terms and -- at the very least -- you may have a sympathetic ear when issues arise.

Cancellation procedures should also be in place. This includes awareness of timelines for cancellation notifications, well-defined decision-maker hierarchies, and documentation requirements and emergency guidelines.

Organizations should also prioritize flexible fares when possible, as this can save money and hassle. They should closely study what is refundable and what is not, create guidelines for late bookings and have a defined approval process for each booking type.

It’s also smart to develop procedures for dealing with staff turnover (if a worker is replaced and the new worker has to fly instead, a name change will be required). Ticket transfer guidelines should be followed and processes for negotiating name changes with airlines should be pursued. If name change fees accrue, document these carefully.

Here’s another good idea: Creating a system for applying any unused flight ticket refund to future travel and maximizing the value of those credits. Keep a close eye on credit expiration dates as well.

Finally, working with a travel management company (TMC) or using a corporate card program can also help. Corporate card programs can help track tickets purchased with those cards, and a TMC can help you pinpoint unused tickets and credit/refund opportunities. 

Better Ticket Management Via Technology

Trying to manually track tickets often creates massive headaches. These problems can become all consuming once an organization reaches a critical travel mass. When you try to do it all yourself, you miss refund windows and opportunities, you don't effectively handle issues such as name changes, and you may fall out of compliance. 

Generally speaking, the administrative burden can be overwhelming. Employees, too, suffer from travel uncertainty and messy procedures. 

By making the process less manual and messy, the right technology can help with refund recovery, compliance, and administrative costs and headaches. It can also make things easier on employees and help provide a stronger duty of care.

SAP Concur solutions can help with these issues. The comprehensive travel and expense management platform offered by SAP Concur streamlines and helps with flight ticket management. 

Your Next Move

Today, managing travel well means staying financially sound while treating employees with care. Using an advanced system such as SAP Concur solutions ensures that everyone benefits from automation. Employees have the right support and administrators have access to the tools and analytics they need.

By following these strategies and using technology to execute, organizations can finally balance worker well-being with cost efficiency, meet their duty of care obligations, and build a resilient and sustainable business travel program that works for everyone.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us today to see how SAP Concur solutions can help your business, or visit us online for more detailed information.