2. Lowest Logical Airfare
&
Restricted Airfare
NPS Travel Office
11 July 2018

3. What is “Lowest Logical Airfare”
Functional change in DTS, not a policy change
Only for non-GSA City Pair markets
Single Location TDY
Not for Southwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines, or Ryan Air
Allows travelers to select restricted or “excursion” fares
Built on the premise that DoD travelers should select the “lowest logical” airfare available to complete a mission.
This concept is reflected in a recent update to DTS that permits travelers/users to select non-government fares to meet their needs.
New function will allow travelers/users the option to select restricted, or “excursion”, fares when the TDY is to a single location and there has been no GSA City-Pair awarded between the airports.

4. What is Restricted Airfare?
Non-refundable fares available to the general public
Must be considered and approved by AO on case-by-case basis
Subject to change and cancellation fees
Must be approved & ticketed in 24hours
Permitted by JTR par M.2.
Restricted Airfare are non-refundable fares available to the general public (i.e. fare a person would purchase for leisure travel).
Always requires careful consideration and approval by an AO.
Subject to fees and must be approved/ticketed within 24 hours of booking.
Change or cancellation fees for personal convenience are borne of the traveler.
Any residual amounts must be used for future TDY and cannot be used for personal travel.

5. What is Restricted Airfare?
Non-refundable fares available to the general public
Must be considered and approved by AO on case-by-case basis
Subject to change and cancellation fees
Must be approved & ticketed in 24hours
Permitted by JTR par M.2.

6. Special Consideration for Restricted Fares
Benefits
Challenges/Risks
Cost Savings
Non-refundable
Little/No flexibility
Short Approval Windows
City-Pair awards still apply
“Have to get it right the first time”
While there is the potential for significant cost savings, travelers and AOs must carefully assess the risks and challenges for each mission.
Tickets are non-refundable so plans must be firm. At best, a change fee would apply in the event a change is necessary while TDY. At worst, the entire value is lost and a new ticket has to be purchased. While nobody can see into the future and predict every possible outcome on TDY, we can use informed decisions to accept reasonable risk in order to achieve cost savings.
Short approval timeframes mean pre-coordination, constant communication, and timely action by all parties.
Travelers must still use City-Pair awarded carriers if purchasing restricted fares in that market.
If all of this is not complete within the 24 hour window, then the process must start over with a new authorization.
Travelers should also contact the APC prior to starting this process to make sure their GTCC is ready and able to accept a charge.

7. How do you book Restricted Fares?
Select from available flights in DTS
Single TDY Location
No City Pair between
Request CTO Assistance
City Pair between airports
More than one location
Requesting Southwest, Frontier, or Ryan Airlines
There are two ways to book restricted fares.
The new function in DTS allows travelers flying between non-GSA City-Pair awarded airports to single TDY locations.
The traditional way has been to submit requests for TMC assistance or “Request CTO Assistance”.

8. Booking with new DTS functionality

9. Travelers will not have to do anything special to trigger the new functionality in DTS. There are triggers in the software that determine whether the system will allow a user to view restricted fares when selecting airfare for the mission.

10. Restricted fares will always appear at the top of the list of available flights. These fares can be identified by the large yellow blocks that read “Non-refundable-Restrictions Apply”. Hovering over the question mark elaborates on the non-refundable point by explaining the organization may incur costs if cancelled and suggests reading the Fare Rules.

11. Clicking on the Fare Rules provides a complete (to our knowledge) breakdown of the fare rules. This information includes ticketing timeframes, change fees, cancelation penalties, rules on retained values, among other information that may or not seem relevant to a traveler.

12. As I said, the lowest logical airfare function displays the restricted airfare at the top of the list of available flights. These flights are NOT integrated with the available discounted government rates we are accustomed to seeing. Restricted fares and government fares are sorted and arranged independently of each other so sorting by Cost(lowest) will not show you the actual lowest cost airfare first.

13. Remember to scroll down to the Alternative Options section to see if there are available Other Gov’t Rates below the available restricted fares. Users will have to scroll to this section if you wish to book refundable government rates in the event restricted fares would not work for the mission.

14. Booking restricted fares from the available choices in DTS has only changed in that the system alerts the traveler of the fare restrictions multiple times to truly confirm the traveler intends to select a non-refundable fare.

15. Selecting a restricted fare prompts a pop-up window for the traveler to read and confirm that the traveler intends to book a non-refundable fare and to click “Confirm Selection”

16. Travelers are again notified that the fare is non-refundable and should not be used if TDY plans are not definite when confirming flights on step 3 of three.

17. In the event that a traveler reserves a flight that is not the least expensive available of all options, travelers are now required to provide a justification. The reason codes are very straight forward. [EXAMPLES]

18. In the event that a traveler reserves a flight that is not the least expensive available of all options, travelers are now required to provide a justification. The reason codes are very straight forward. [EXAMPLES]

19. When an authorization with restricted airfare is signed, DTS notifies the traveler of the ticketing timeframe.

20. First Email FROM: DefenseTravelSystem@defensetravel.osd.mil
SUBJECT: URGENT! ACTION REQUIRED TO ENSURE A BOOKED FLIGHT IS NOT CANCELLED!
A restricted fare flight has been booked by Dan Greene for trip DGERIEPA082018_A01.
Please review and stamp the authorization no later than 05/29/2018 to ensure timely ticketing of the reservation.
To log into DTS, select the following link:
This message was auto-generated. The status of the document may have changed from the time this was sent.
Please do not reply to this . 25
Signing of the authorization also prompts DTS to send this initial to all routing and approving officials on the selected routing list. [Example from audience].

21. Warning Emails FROM: DefenseTravelSystem@defensetravel.osd.mil
SUBJECT: URGENT! Restricted Fare or 24 Hour Ticketing Requires IMMEDIATE Approval
The following trip DGERIEPA082018_A01 for Dan Greene has NOT been approved. The document contains reservations for a
restricted fare flight(s) that must be ticketed within 24 hours of making the reservation and requires immediate Review/Approval.
Failure to APPROVE the document by the ticketing date and time could result in forfeiture of fare costs.
Documents that have resulted in forfeited fare costs will require a trip cancel. Please be aware that a trip cancel will also result in
the cancellation of any hotel or rental car reservations on the document and are subject to hotel or rental car cancellation
penalties.
Ticketing Date and Time: 30-MAY-18 at 23:59
To log into DTS, click the following link:
This message was auto-generated. The status of the document may have changed from the time this was sent.
Please do not reply to this .
A second round of s will be sent by DTS to routing and approving officials at 6, 12, and 18 hours before the ticketing timeline.
If time expires to approve and ticket the reservation, the document must be cancelled and a new authorization must be created. If cancelled, any hotel and rental car reservations will also be cancelled.

22. Warning Emails FROM: DefenseTravelSystem@defensetravel.osd.mil
SUBJECT: URGENT! Restricted Fare or 24 Hour Ticketing Requires IMMEDIATE Approval
The following trip DGERIEPA082018_A01 for Dan Greene has NOT been approved. The document contains reservations for a
restricted fare flight(s) that must be ticketed within 24 hours of making the reservation and requires immediate Review/Approval.
Failure to APPROVE the document by the ticketing date and time could result in forfeiture of fare costs.
Documents that have resulted in forfeited fare costs will require a trip cancel. Please be aware that a trip cancel will also result in
the cancellation of any hotel or rental car reservations on the document and are subject to hotel or rental car cancellation
penalties.
Ticketing Date and Time: 30-MAY-18 at 23:59
To log into DTS, click the following link:
This message was auto-generated. The status of the document may have changed from the time this was sent.
Please do not reply to this .
If time expires and the authorization is not approved, reviewing and approving officials will only have the option to sign the document “RETURN-FARE EXPIRED”. DTS will automatically generate the remarks “Your document contains a restricted fare that has expired or has been cancelled by the airline. Please login to DTS and select another flight”.

23. Booking the traditional way

24. When the new functionality is not enabled, DTS functions normally
When the new functionality is not enabled, DTS functions normally. To request a restricted fare in this instance will require TMC/SATO assistance.
Be sure to check the available refundable gov’t rates prior to requesting restricted fares.

25. To request TMC/SATO Assistance, scroll to the end of the available flights and click on “Request TMC Assistance”. This may appear as “Request CTO Assistance” if you use the legacy system.

26. A new window will pop up with a pre-generated message to send to SATO
A new window will pop up with a pre-generated message to send to SATO. This message should not be altered much, if at all. Your request must be added to the end of the pre-generated message.
Include in your comments that you are requesting a non-refundable or restricted fare, the airports (should be pre-generated), dates (PG), flight numbers, the web address for the site you found the fare, and the actual fare amount.

27. If a city-pair has been awarded to a carrier between the airports, the AO must complete a Restricted Airfare Checklist to be uploaded as a Substantiating Record. This must be done prior to executing the request. A copy of the Restricted Airfare Checklist has been distributed to you all.

28. When booking the traditional way…
DTS will not prompt special messages, warnings, or s
SATO will not ticket unless prompted OR if travel is within 72 hour ticketing window
DTS will not prompt the reviewing officials, approving officials, or SATO to act, except as they normally would. Our DTS support contractors do a great job of keeping documents routing and moving towards approval, however it is highly encouraged that a traveler engage his/her routing and approving officials early to coordinate efforts.

29. Best Practices Communicate! Double check available flight options
Make sure GTCC is active
Pay off GTCC to remain in good standing
To give the authorization the best chance at success, communication is critical. Engage POCs and offices that can support your efforts and connect them.
Always make sure that there are no less expensive refundable options available to you. Make sure that the risk being taken is worth the reward of the savings.
Contact the Travel Office and the APC to make your GTCC is active and ready to accept a charge. Double check that the card information in DTS is the same as what is on your physical card.
Make any necessary payments to keep your GTCC in good standing. This should be discussed with the APC before ticketing to ensure there is a plan of action in place that keeps the card in good standing and allows the traveler to use his/her travel card during the TDY.

30. Best Practices Communicate! Double check available flight options
Make sure GTCC is active
Pay off GTCC to remain in good standing
Our suggestion is a group to all parties involved to help coordinate efforts. This could also help to identify personnel who are not available so that other arrangements can be made.

31. Cancelling a Restricted Fare

32. Before Ticketing No individual cancellations allowed in DTS
Trip Cancel the authorization
Contact TMC (SATO)
Cancelling restricted fare reservations prior to ticketing is not a big deal.
Changing restricted fare reservations prior to ticketing is not possible through DTS. The record must be cancelled and re-created OR you must call SATO to adjust. If restricted fares are requested and time runs out, the record cannot be adjusted to re-add the flights. A new record must be created.

33. After Ticketing Use Trip Cancel function or call TMC
Use option for “with expenses incurred”
Call TMC for residual ticket value, if any, for use on future official travel
Changes and cancellations AFTER ticketing should be avoided at all costs. If they are indeed unavoidable, please coordinate with the Travel Office and SATO to assist you.
In some cases, cancellations can be avoided and fares rescheduled for later dates (i.e. meeting rescheduled). In these instances, there is a retained value of the ticket that can be applied to future flights on the same carrier. This residual value cannot be used for personal travel.
-JTR par M.2.c.

34. Final Points Not allowed for travel charged to CBA
Navy does not allow Travel Advances for GTCC holders
Residual credit/value cannot be used for personal use
Changes/cancellations should be done through SATO and Travel Office
DTS will not allow new reservations to be made on authorizations with Restricted Fares
Changes may result in personal expense
Restricted fares will only be reserved and ticketed for travelers with GTCCs. System limitations do not allow payment to a CBA for auto-reconciled CBA accounts, even though DTS may allow the action to be achieved.
The guidance released by DoD includes ways to allow non-ATM travel advances to be issued to pay off GTCC balances incurred for restricted fares in advance of travel. The Department of Navy does not permit non-ATM travel advances to be issued for GTCC card holders or personnel eligible for GTCCs. (Navy DTS Business Rules v. 3.2 – 10.16)
If you require a cancellation or change, please coordinate with the Travel Office and SATO to minimize losses.
DTS will not allow changes to records with restricted fares. If a change is necessary, travelers must contact SATO or cancel the existing authorization and create a new one.
If changes are made for personal convenience, those expenses are incurred by the traveler.

35. Questions?

36. NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
1 University Circle • Monterey, CA 93943
(831) •