Travel Best Practice

[JGREER]

I got the below question from an employee today. For context, corporate HQ is in Atlanta. After looking into flight rates for the time frame, flights from Orlando v. flights from Atlanta are comparable and we gave the greenlight to submit the flight To ATL/From Orland, however, this is the first time we've encountered this question so I'd like to create some verbiage for such situations either for our FAQs or future T&E policy revisions.

"My wife is joining me on this business trip, we are paying for all her expenses, and Friday we will be flying to Orlando to see some friends for the weekend before flying home. Will the company reimburse me for my flight to Atlanta, then my flight home from Orlando? Or will I have to submit my flight to Atlanta, then my flight from Atlanta to Orlando?"

[KevinD]

@JGREER One thing you might want to consider is what is considered "comparable" for this type of situation. Is it within $200, $300 or maybe less? I think if you can decide on an exact allowable comparable amount, it will cut down on people asking their managers for approval. 

I would say something like, "When traveling for business if you want to add on personal travel to the trip, company policy allows for including an extra leg to the flight if the price is within $xxx of what the roundtrip flight would cost."

I would then provide an example. Might as well use the actual example you were asked about.