Allowable period and placing a "HOLD" on Airline Ticket Purchase

[aaeajrm]

I recently had need to purchase a airline round trip between ORD and a small AVL on short notice.  When I checked the available flight options, seating was very limited.  My issue was that the actual day of the week I needed to be in AVL had not been finalized.  I created a itinerary for the flights that I believed I would be taking, but did not complete the "Purchase Tickets", with the intent that I would finalize/cancel the trip within 12 hours.  Shortly after (maybe 30 minutes) of my creating the itinerary I recieved an email indicating that the itinerary would be Cancelled in 2 hours if I did not complete the Purchase, even while the attached Itinerary copy showed a printed notice that I had until 10:55pm the following day to Purchase.

My question is why is this action set for a 2 hour cancellation; why would it not be set for at least 24 hours?

My second question is there a way to place a 24 hour Hold on the itineray prior to having to Purchase within the SAP Concur Travel Booking Tool?

[KevinD]

@aaeajrm since every company is different in their Travel settings, I would suggest calling your company's travel agency. They should be well-versed in the cancelations and what time windows there are for auto-cancelations. 

[SB_13 · Accepted solution]

@aaeajrm the time window for the warning about an unfinished trip cannot be changed. It requires this final confirmation by the user to purchase the ticket for the workflow to be finished and the travel agency to be notified to issue the ticket. So the email's intention is to notify the traveler that one last step in the workflow is outstanding and of the risk of the trip being cancelled. The time window for the email warning is so short to minimize the risk that the airline will cancel the flight from their end because it is not ticketed in time before the traveler becomes aware of the status of the trip and that it requires attention. 

Yes, a feature to hold a flight for 1 day or even longer is available and it will display a hold button during the booking workflow that can be used as alternative to the "purchase tickets" button. This feature is configurable, i.e. you may or may not have it available on your Concur Travel Configuration. I'd suggest to speak to your travel manager / system administrator, and they can clarify with your travel agency if this feature is or can be enabled on your configuration.