Many students, post-doctoral scholars, faculty and staff travel on behalf of Stanford. To be reimbursed for this travel, travelers and travel arrangers must follow university policy; in most cases airfare, hotels, and car rentals for university-sponsored travel must be booked through a Stanford Travel booking channel.
This article provides helpful guidance on several common questions that the Travel Team receives about booking travel. For recent business expense updates, visit Business Expense Updates and Hot Topics. For Purchasing and Contracts updates, visit Purchasing and Contracts Updates and Hot Topics.
For general help with the Stanford Travel program, policy, or reimbursements, please submit a support request. To speak with a member of the Stanford Travel team about travel booking questions, please call 1-650-497-1214, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PST.
Use United Corporate Direct to Book Airfare Only
Stanford-negotiated rates for United flights are available for United MileagePlus members who enroll in United Corporate Direct (UCD) and book on united.com or the United app. United Corporate Direct discounts apply to United flights only. Note that car rentals and hotels must be booked through other Stanford Travel booking channels, not UCD.
For more information, visit the United Corporate Direct Resource page.
Changes to Airbnb for Work, a Stanford Travel Optional Service
Airbnb is no longer supporting the Stanford Airbnb for Work product. However, Stanford travelers may still use their Airbnb for Work accounts (or personal Airbnb account) to book lodging for university-sponsored travel. For questions, travelers must contact Airbnb directly through their Help Center.
REAL ID or Passport Required for Domestic Flights Starting May 2023
Starting May 3, 2023, passengers must show a REAL ID, a REAL ID-compliant Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL), or a passport to board domestic flights. For students who fly domestically, this means that they will need this identification to fly home after the coming academic year.
A REAL ID is available from the state’s driver’s licensing agency. To learn more about the REAL ID, visit the Department of Homeland Security’s REAL ID Frequently Asked Questions webpage.
How to Change A Traveler's Name in their Travel Profile
Here are instructions for changing the traveler's Travel Profile Name to match legal documents.
Permanent Travel Profile Changes for Stanford University Travelers
Stanford allows students, faculty, staff, post docs and affiliates to select a preferred name that differs from their legal name and what is listed on their government issued ID. This preferred name is displayed in the directory and is what you are known by when conducting business. However, Stanford transmits your legal name, not your preferred name, to your travel profile. Your legal name, which must exactly match what is listed on your government issued ID (including any middle name), is printed on your travel document.
When traveling for Stanford University, all documentation, such as airline tickets, must match the identification you are using for travel, e.g., passport or government issued ID. SU Payee Travel profiles are updated frequently via an automatic Human Resources (HR) data feed.
If your name in your travel profile does not match your ID exactly, faculty and staff must contact their Human Resources Administrator to change their legal name. Students must contact the Registrar to change their legal name.
Details for permanently changing your name information with Stanford University:
- For faculty or staff members, use, StanfordYou for changes to your preferred name.
- For Students, contact the Registrar to change your legal name at Stanford.
- For Employees to permanently change their name on their employee record, please contact your school/unit HRM (HR manager) to update your employee record (consult your local HR Contact).
Once the name change is complete in the HR system, your travel profile will be updated in Egencia and FCM within 1-2 business days. If travel is imminent, please submit a support request to "Get Assistance with an Egencia or FCM Profile” to make a temporary change to your travel profile name. Stanford Travel is available Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm (PST).
- If requesting a temporary change via a support request, permanent changes will still need to be completed with HR/Registrar.
Temporary Travel Profile Changes (If the legal name cannot be changed)
If you are unable to change your legal name with your Human Resources Administrator to match your government issued ID, Stanford Travel can update your travel profile details manually before you book your travel.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The manual name change issued by Stanford Travel to your travel profile may be overridden by the feed from the HR system. If your legal name with HR does not match your government issued ID, you must check the name in your travel profile every time you need to make a travel reservation, and, if necessary, request a manual name change to your travel profile close to your travel dates.
To request a temporary, manual name change, please submit a support request to “Get Assistance with an Egencia or FCM Profile”. Stanford Travel is available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Related Questions or Resources
If assistance required
How to Book Multi-Person Travel Using Stanford Booking Channels
Occasionally, a group of up to 10 travelers may want to book a trip via the Stanford Travel booking channels. For example, family members may accompany those traveling on Stanford university-sponsored business (as personal travel), or colleagues may want to travel together. This article describes how to book travel for small groups using the Stanford Travel booking channels.
Note: To book travel for groups of 10 or more travelers, contact the group department of the applicable Stanford booking channels directly.
Egencia
Egencia is an option if those traveling:
- Have different itineraries,
- Are all adults, and
- Do not need to be booked together on a single record
The Egencia online booking tool is not configured for multiple travelers to be booked together on the same reservation. With separate reservations, the group may be separated in the event of any flight disruption. Children in the group who are 14 years old or younger and booked on a flight without an adult will be flagged by the airline as an unaccompanied minor.
Stanford travelers can book accompanying individuals with an Egencia agent after creating a guest profile template. For details on guest profiles, visit How to Book and Manage Guest Travel in Egencia. To learn more, visit Stanford Travel Booking Channels: Egencia. Agent fees may apply.
FCM
FCM is the best option for group travel as their full service travel agents can book multiple travelers on the same reservation. This will limit the risk of being seated separately on the aircraft, being separated in the event of any flight disruptions, and can allow extending applicable loyalty benefits, such as preferred seating and priority boarding, to accompanying travelers. To learn more, visit Stanford Travel Booking Channels: FCM (Formerly Casto). Agent fees may apply.
StudentUniverse
For student groups, visit the StudentUniverse group travel webpage to learn more. Students traveling together can contact the StudentUniverse group travel associate.
When you are ready to book the travel, contact:
- Suzi Perlman
suzi.perlman@studentuniverse.com
1-617-321-3107
To learn more about StudentUniverse, visit Stanford Travel Booking Channels: StudentUniverse.
United Corporate Direct
Only the Mileage Plus account holder can book travel with United Corporate Direct. Additional travelers must be booked via a different booking source. To learn more, visit Stanford Travel Booking Channels: United Corporate Direct.
Related Questions or Resources
If Assistance Required
How to Manage Travel for Others as a Travel Arranger in Egencia
As a travel arranger you will have the ability to manage travel for others who have a current Egencia travel profile.
- For a traveler to add an arranger, follow these steps.
- To request to be an arranger for a traveler, follow these steps.
If the traveler is not able to complete the approval for the request, please submit a support request. Please note, Stanford Travel will copy the traveler on the support request for passive approval. Stanford Travel is available: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (PST)
Step 1
- Log in to Egencia with your SUNet ID and password.
- Select the traveler's name from the traveler field.
Step 2
- Book travel per the normal booking process.
Step 3
- Complete traveler information and payment details. This will auto populate from the traveler's profile but can be updated here if necessary.
- Add traveler and arranger email addresses to notifications so each will get a copy of the confirmation details.
Related Questions or Resources
If assistance required
How to Book and Manage Guest Travel in Egencia
A guest profile template is used to book guests or affiliates who do not have a SUNet ID. These bookings can be made via a guest profile template. (Stanford faculty, staff, students and postdoctoral scholars already have Egencia profiles and should not be booked using the guest profile template.) To book on behalf of another Stanford traveler refer to How to Manage Travel for Others as a Travel Arranger in Egencia.
Guest Profile Template Details
To access the details of your Egencia guest profile template, log in to Egencia with your SUNet ID and password and navigate to your guest profile template (Guest of) per below:
Please do not change the email address. This needs to remain the same email address as the individual who manages this profile. You can add additional email accounts under Notifications if you want another individual to receive email alerts when guest travel is booked.
The custom data fields match the travel arranger’s custom data fields and should not be changed and therefore are locked.
Viewing Guest Unused Tickets
If guest travel has been canceled, unused tickets will be stored in the guest profile template under Payment Type, per below:
Viewing Active, Past and Canceled Guest Travel
Search for individual traveler trip details using First Name and Surname field.
Booking
Step 1
- Log in to Egencia with your SUNet ID and password.
- Select your guest profile template (Guest of) in the traveler search bar.
Step 2
- Book travel components as per normal booking process.
Step 3
- Enter guest traveler’s information as per the government issued identification they will use for travel.
- Enter payment details.
- Confirm booking.
Related Questions or Resources
If assistance required
How to Pay for a Car Rental for Guests
Enterprise offers a process for paying for rental cars for guests booked in Egencia. By creating an Enterprise rental car direct billing agreement, the traveler can rent a car without needing to pay for the rental with their personal credit card. The department Travel Card will be charged by Enterprise for the rental charges when the car is returned to the drop off location. Please note that this direct billing agreement is only available to pay for rental charges at North American locations.
Step 1
- Complete the Enterprise Stanford Agreement Form.
Step 2
- Submit a support request and attach the completed Enterprise Stanford Agreement Form.
- Within 2-3 business days, a billing agreement number will be generated and documented in the support request and communicated to you via the Support Request.
- Stanford Travel is available: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (PST)
Step 3
Booking a Rental Car with Enterprise Rent-A-Car:
- Proceed to book the rental car as per normal booking process via Egencia.
- Once you land on the final confirmation page, select Direct Bill. It will then prompt you to put in the direct bill agreement number.
