Corporate Booking Upgrade to Mint
 

Hey FT,

Usually I am a UA flyer, but this trip from LAX - JFK I decided to try out JetBlue.

It's booked through Concur on the corporate card and I called in to buy up to Mint to try that service.

Is there a way to upgrade and pay the difference on my card? Agent said that they would have to cancel the ticket and re-issue, which will cause an issue for my corporate system (I think).

Anyone have experience doing this?

Thank you in advance!

Part of corporate contracts is that the enrolled TA is notified of all changes. Some employers want to know this information and so it is supplied by the TA. Most could care less.

Every time you are rebooked in IRROPS or SDC on UA, your TA is being notified.

So, check with your employer, make sure it doesn't care and then proceed. If your employer cares that you fly steerage, even if you are prepared to pay for the upgrade, that is a labor issue between you and your employer.

I have done this. The original charge to my corporate CC was retained, and converted into a Travel Bank credit, which was then used in conjunction with a separate charge to my CC to issue a new ticket.

If you're not Mosaic, they will also charge you the change fee to do this, on top of the fare difference, which might push it into the not-worth-it column. It also took a good 30 minutes on the phone, it seemed to be a complicated set of transactions for their system.

An up-fare to Mint is not supposed to incur a change fee for any passengers.

I've called in to cancel and rebook with other airlines and concur. As long as your company is paying for anything, it's likely not an issue. You're better off doing this and asking for foregiveness. You might screw it up for everyone when you ask. Typically, companies don't care what employees do as long as it's not an expense to them.

I'd try to do this same day so you can talk them out of any cancellation fees.

Depends VERY much on the company but I wouldn't do anything that messes with reimbursable expenses without clearing it first. There are potential tax implications and accounting departments are typically less than amused when people start playing games on that front.

I've worked with many and have friends doing the same with many. Often, travelers have no choice but to make changes themselves. It's not a tax issue and the guy should go ahead and do it. The expenses get reconciled with an expense report.

It shouldn't be, but some companies are more strict on matching up the receipt to the actual travel than others. Not asking is tempting fate.

It should be fine at most companies most of the time. Losing your job because it wasn't at yours is stupid, though.

This. Twice.

I've had issues when booking through Concur and then going back (although more with Delta than with JetBlue). My corporate travel agent team also gets a copy of every itinerary, so even if I buy up personally, I run the risk of having the receipt rejected because it says "First" or "Mint" on there, even though the payment is just what went on the corporate card (e.g., If the Y ticket costs 300 and I pay 200 more on my own to sit in Mint, my travel department will get a receipt saying that my ticket is in Mint and cost $300. They'll send it back because I'm not allowed to buy premium classes domestically.). I cleared it with my travel person ahead of time and haven't had any problems.

I've had more issues with upgrades and Delta tickets booked outside the Delta website. Oddly, it seems that every time I try to book a Delta ticket, Concur has crashed and I have to go directly to the website.

Mike