Out of Policy/System Airfare Upgrades

[jsabineu]

Hi All,

Has anyone figured out a solution for catching business class upgrades that were booked directly with an airline and submitted for reimbursement? 

For example, if an employee books their initial ticket via the TMC or Concur within policy and then goes directly to the airline website and purchases an upgrade with their Corp Amex Card, but submits the expense as a Travel Booking Fee instead of Airfare which then is approved by the manager because they aren't paying attention to the invoice details. 

What controls, audit rules or policy settings do you have in place to flag this as out of policy or send to the audit team prior to reimbursing? 

What are your policies around receipts and reimbursement for airfare upgrades? 

Thank you!

Jenny

[samasuraj]

Hi @jsabineu 

Topic: Topic: Out of Policy/System Airfare Upgrades

For SAP Concur Expense, I recommend the following controls to prevent unauthorized business-class upgrades from being reimbursed.

Audit Rules and Controls

1. Merchant Validation: Flag corporate AMEX airline transactions categorized as Travel Booking Fees.
2. Expense Audit Rules: Configure exceptions for suspicious airline-related charges.
3. Receipt Validation: Require itemized receipts identifying airfare upgrades.
4. Approval Workflow: Route flagged transactions to the Audit/Compliance team before payment.
5. Concur Detect: If licensed, evaluate automated detection of misclassified expenses.
6. Reconciliation: Compare airline charges with original Concur/TMC reservations.

 Airfare Upgrade Reimbursement Policy

Scenario	Recommended Policy
Preapproved business-class upgrade	Reimburse
Personal upgrade	Do not reimburse
Upgrade without approval	Hold for review
Missing itemized receipt	Hold until documentation is provided
Medical or business exception	Require authorized approval

Important: Automatic merchant matching and audit routing depend on your Concur edition, licensed features, and available transaction data.

Best Practice: Implement merchant-based exception monitoring, mandatory receipts, and prepayment compliance review.

This reduces the risk of unauthorized upgrades being reimbursed.

Thanks & Regards

--

Samantha Prathikantam

SF_EC & ECP / SAP Concur Consultant