What is Academic Travel Management?
Academic travel management is the coordinated management of travel undertaken by university and higher education staff, researchers, students and other eligible travellers.
It can include research travel, conferences, fieldwork, teaching, study trips, student travel and other journeys connected with an institution's academic activities.
A managed academic travel programme brings booking, policy, traveller support, reporting, cost control, sustainability and travel risk management together, giving the institution greater visibility and control over its travel activity.
What are Academic Air Fares?
Academic air fares are specialist fares pioneered by Key Travel for eligible travellers undertaking qualifying academic travel.
Depending on the airline, route and fare, benefits can include discounted pricing, additional baggage allowance, extended ticketing periods, increased flexibility and reduced change or cancellation restrictions.
These benefits can be particularly useful for researchers, academics and other university travellers whose travel dates or project requirements may change.
Our fares provide travel savings, whether it be as an upfront discount, or receiving free-of-charge benefits.
Key benefits include:
- Discounts vs published fares
- Extended holding periods
- Fewer fare restrictions, such as Saturday night stay
- Low or no change or cancellation fees
- Fully refundable fares
- Extra luggage allowance
Why Key Travel?
We're the experts! Key Travel is the world’s largest international travel management company specialising in Academic, Humanitarian and Faith-based travel. Having already launched the first ever Missionary fares in the 1980's, we did the same for the Academic sector in 2018 when we launched the first ever specialist academic air fares.
Our in-house consultants are specialists in academic travel, and understand the unique needs of the sector.
- Operations in 9 countries across UK, North America, Europe and Africa
- 24/7 support (out of hours at no extra cost)
- Most successful booking tool adopted by the not-for-profit sector
- Adherence to Service Level Agreements and Key Performance Indicators
- In-depth and fully accessible reporting
- Experts in Study Trips
- Student travel portal, adding value for your students by giving them access to exclusive, flexible travel solutions.
- We are very familiar with the Fly America Act and its rules, including Open Skies and codeshare agreements. Our Consultants will consider these restrictions when planning itineraries, ensuring compliance where relevant.
We offer a single point of travel administration, reporting, monitoring and cost control, taking away the headache of travel management, so that you can dedicate more of your resources to making a difference and we deliver this better than any other travel management company.
Check out how we simplify travel through our technology and service
Sustainable Travel?
Universities are critical to tackling the climate emergency. This is through their teaching and research, and by delivering on their own commitments to reduce emissions.
Staff and student travel is often the second biggest source of carbon emissions after purchased goods and services. This is why we provide our customers with a multi-pronged programme to help eliminate non-essential travel and mitigate the environmental impact of purposeful travel.
Learn more about travel sustainability
Does My Organisation Really Need A TMC?
Academic travel can often be the largest operating expense after payroll, so it’s no surprise that every aspect of travel is under the spotlight with budgets and research grant restrictions, from service fees to levels of service.
TMCs provide huge value to Academic organisations because they:
- Provide and effective and efficient way to access travel content globally from a multitude of travel providers from a single source
- Provide guidance on macro developments around the world impacting travel
- Aggregate volumes across customers and this scale translates into lower fares from suppliers
- Ensure travellers are supported in in trip planning and booking and in the event of disruption or emergencies (read more about Travel Risk Management)
- Enable travel policy compliance and effective cost and risk control through embedding of policy rules in booking systems and comprehensive reporting
- Provide travel management expertise e.g. in travel risk management and travel sustainability
- Provide cost efficient access to best practices in travel management
- Provide detailed cost, service, quality and carbon reporting
- Enable effective return on investment measurement of travel activity
In summary, if you don't have a TMC, your organisation loses the benefit of significant value adding expertise and of a single point of travel administration, reporting, monitoring and cost/risk control.
Frequently asked questions about academic travel
How can a travel management company help universities control travel costs?
A travel management company can help universities control travel costs by combining specialist and negotiated fares with travel policy, online booking, supplier management, reporting and ongoing analysis of travel behaviour.
Greater visibility of travel spend can help institutions identify issues such as bookings taking place outside the managed travel programme, low online adoption, missed preferred-supplier opportunities or booking patterns that increase costs.
The objective is not simply to find the cheapest ticket for each journey, but to manage the total cost of the institution's travel programme more effectively.
Find out about our Account Management
How can Key Travel support research and grant-funded travel?
Key Travel can support research and grant-funded travel by helping institutions apply agreed travel policies and funding requirements when journeys are arranged.
Specialist fare options can provide useful flexibility for research travel, while management reporting gives institutions greater visibility of expenditure and booking activity.
Where funded travel is subject to specific requirements, these can also be considered during the booking process. For example, Key Travel's consultants are familiar with the Fly America Act, relevant Open Skies agreements and codeshare requirements that can apply to some US federally funded travel.
Can Key Travel arrange university study trips and academic group travel?
Yes. Key Travel has specialist teams that can support university study trips and other academic group travel.
Group arrangements can require different booking, payment and ticketing processes from individual travel and may provide access to group-specific terms or greater flexibility.
Support can cover academic groups travelling for study programmes, fieldwork, research, conferences and other institution-approved activities, with arrangements managed alongside the university's wider travel requirements.
How does Key Travel help universities keep staff and students safe when travelling?
Key Travel supports universities with travel risk management, traveller tracking, crisis response and 24/7 travel assistance.
Bringing bookings into a managed travel programme improves visibility of travel activity and can help institutions identify travellers who may be affected when disruption or a significant incident occurs.
Travel policy can also be used to guide booking behaviour according to the institution's own risk requirements, helping universities support their duty of care towards staff and students.
Find out more about Travel Risk Management
How can universities reduce carbon emissions from academic travel?
Universities can reduce the environmental impact of academic travel by first understanding where travel emissions arise and then using data, policy and traveller engagement to influence booking behaviour.
This can include avoiding unnecessary travel, encouraging lower-carbon transport where practical, reviewing travel class and routing, and giving bookers better information when making travel decisions.
Key Travel can provide travel and carbon reporting to help institutions measure their travel-related emissions, identify opportunities for improvement and monitor progress against their sustainability objectives.