The Lev

A travel agent that we are using for some of our bookings is trying to promote the notion of us moving some or all of our staff to use Concur (I suspect as a way for the TA to capture spend that currently gets booked direct with the airlines).

I'm interested in feedback from two groups:

1. travelers whose companies make them use Concur - how do you find the user experience, what are the limitations, how does it work with AC and ability/limitation in selecting options available on AC.com, etc.
2. corporate travel managers - what do you see as the pros and cons of Concur.

Thanks!

pilotboy1985YYC

I'm required by company policy to use Concur.
I find the search function easy to use, and you can manipulate it to get the exact flights you'd like.
It will show all carrier, however it will tell you which ones are a preferred vendor. It will let you book a flight that isn't a preferred vendor so long as you provide a reason. For example, my employer prefers Cathay and Air Canada for flights to Asia. However I could book United or USAirway (no idea why I'd want to do that :P ) I'd just have to tell concur my reason behind it.

Overall, I find it easy to use, and it even has a mobile app.

will you also use concur for expenses as well? We must use it to submit food receipts and transportations expenses/receipts.

InTheAirGuy

The more interesting question would be of this legal type of question: a) is Concur a monopoly on corporate travel expenditures that b) inflates the cost of air travel in Canada ; c) unnecessarily ceases or cause to case the pricing of air travel; d) is a tool used by the Senate to unfairly impact Canadian taxpayers ; or e) a tool used by Air Canada for unfair competitive advantage in Canada ; or f) a subsidy by the Canadian Government to Air Canada.

Discuss.

superangrypenguin

I HATE CONCUR. It's stupid. Employees spend SO much time gaming the system.

If there is a WS flight and an AC flight at the same time and AC is showing out of policy, I know exactly how to game the system so that the AC one shows up as compliant. However, I am WASTING my time doing this.

AND - I have to wait for the TA to give me my ticket. So if I need a flight for the next hour, I'm screwed. I have to call up AMEX business travel. If I want to change a ticket, I can't call the AC elite line, I have to be on hold for 20 minutes to change my flight. I can't change flights easily either.

Concur is the bane of my existence. I'll let you guess as to how I book my tickets now.

Often1

Concur is simply an overlay interface which allows an employer to set rules for some or all employees and to either enforce or record how the rules are handled. Concur itself does nothing.

If an employer wishes, you may book F on any carrier. Similarly, if an employer wishes, you may book only on a given carrier and only in certain fare classes. Concur can also be set up to simply note rules violations or not permit their booking at all.

Lastly, Concur can be set up so that different categories of employee have different rules.

People who say, "Concur lets me" or "Concur won't" simply don't understand. It's all what the employer has chosen.

InTheAirGuy

With kickback fees to the *employer.*

Contrary to transparency.

Just saying.

King Chung Huang

Hear hear! I agree 100%. I usually end up wasting time to get everything "in policy", and not being able to call AC for changes is a supreme pain in the .... I absolutely detest having to use Concur for corporate travel.

superangrypenguin

I believe kickbacks come from the airline, not from Concur. All Air Canada tickets booked through Concur has our employer's name in it.

And if you don't, you get flagged in the "lost savings" report. Easiest way to get around it (until they stopped this) was to call in and request your flight and fare class. Maybe your employer will still let you do that. From one corporate employee to another

Adam Smith

Are these problems really exclusive to Concur though? As Often1 says, it's really just a software program that codifies rules set by your company.

Re changing of tickets, all of my corporate travel is booked through Carlson Wagonit and AC will not touch those tickets either, unless it's on a weekend when Carlson is closed or I've already started travel.

As for stupidly enforcing policies and resulting in system-gaming, they've recently tightened our policy and had Carlson start enforcing it more closely. I probably spend just as much time gaming the system as my colleagues in the US who are stuck using Concur.

So from where I sit, it doesn't look like there's a ton of difference. Except that Concur probably charges a lot les than Carlson ($47-65 per booking or change).

I think what's more important is the design of a sensible travel policy and making sure that however that's implemented - a TA, Concur/equivalent, direct bookings - it's clear.

ffsim

Absolutely ^ I've used concur in my previous life and didn't really mind it too much. Today I book directly with the airline of my choice. I'm both cases, the travel policy was clearly understood and reasonable -- no point in wasting time gaming the system, it wasn't like I was magically going to be allowed in J

FlyingFelix

My company just switched to Concur and there are a few main issues...could just be my company and how they have it set up:
1) Flights are generally more expensive than by booking directly with an airline, anywhere form $10 to $200 more. I book a flight and see what AC, Delta, united have as their price.
2) They charge the "Amex Booking Fee" anywhere from $5-55 depending on something, but haven't figured out what, considering they don't do anything for me.
3) The company gets a kickback from Concur/AMEX
4) You can't deal with the airlines.
5) You have to wait for the ticket to be issued. Chances are that within the 24 hour window, you will get an email about a fare increase.
and the worst...
6) Our search results ONLY displays lowest discounted economy fares...picture AC Tango...if there is no flight with Tango fare class-type seats, it won't display

superangrypenguin

As Often1 said, it's just a series of rules. At work, I can buy Tango, Flex, Latitude, Business Lowest and Flex business.

If I don't book the lowest fare, I get a warning (+/- $X), and then I can continue booking. If I book business, i'll get a warning, but I can continue booking.

etc etc. In your case, your company only allows you to fly Tango. But that's set by your company.

NoahVail

…retired now, so I’m back to DIY, but before retirement I used Concur. It sucked compared to the DIY I was able to do in the 80s and 90s, but much better than the kludge the procurement department forced upon us in the early 00s. I saw some pretty wasteful travel by colleagues who weren’t interested in efficient DIY and some pretty stupid restrictions imposed by the kludge, so I guess Concur kind of landed in the middle. I notice that it is now an SAP product, so if you have an integration with same, you may find additional benefit, if not, it will probably come down to your rule set as to whether you and your employees ‘go, cancel, requeue’.

FlyingFelix

Yup, and my company is a prick lol

xLuther

outside of flight bookings, love Concur, we have to do all expenses and only use Corporate Amex card. I can do my expenses on the fly, take pictures of receipts that are required, do whole thing on my phone in airport lounge on my way home.

On flights, well takes a little bit to get used to how to force the system to get flights/connections I want. But boss gave me clearance to just over ride to avoid crap holes to transit like YYC, DEN in winter, etc or any tight or dodgy connection or timing. Just give a good 'reason' i.e. scheduled meetings at either end stuff like that.

For us system is set to allow any fare, but you need a reason, if selected fare $100 over lowest 'logical fare', anything over 6 hours we can fly business

if you let concur do it's thing, you end up visiting a lot of places, tango fares and wasting day travelling.