Government Travel Charge Card Program
Traveler Information:
Required Travel Management Center (TMC) Use: All
official travel (e.g. airline, bus, ship, Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS),
rental vehicle) must be arranged through a Government Contracted TMC in
accordance with the JFTR/FTR, even if a non-contract fare is being
purchased. The contracted TMC for the Coast Guard is CWTSato.
How do I make travel
Reservations?
Full Service: Both TDY and PCS travel support can
be reached 24x7 by calling the CWTSato San Antonio Service Center at
1-800-753-7286.
a. Personnel stationed in PATFORSWA/BAHRAIN may continue to use
Alshamel Travel for OCONUS TDY travel requirements by calling
011-973-1785-6654.
b. Personnel stationed in Europe may continue to use the CWTSato
Schinnen, Netherlands office for OCONUS TDY travel requirements by
calling 011-0031-46443-4373.
c. Personnel stationed at the Coast Guard Academy may continue to
use Rodgers Travel for their TDY travel requirements.
d. Personnel who are physically stationed within the geographic
boundaries of CGD11 and CGD13 may use Century Travel 877-372-4640 for
their TDY travel requirements.
Note: For reservations being charged to the Travel Order, please
ensure they include authorization to use the Centrally Billed
Account (CBA) within mode of travel or remarks section (i.e. Gov’t
Procured Transportation Tickets (GTA), Gov’t Transportation Request (GTR),
Government Air, Govt. Conveyance, Government Procured Transportation, or
CBA use is authorized) and that you fax
the orders to CWTSato at 866-914-7386 or e-mail them to
USCG@CWTSATOTRAVEL.COM.
Self-Service: In addition to the full service
options above, TDY travel can be arranged using CWTSato’s on-line
booking tool, GetThere, at a savings of over 50 percent of the
transaction fee based on the new contract rates. Access to and
registration for credentials for the GetThere application can be found
on our website at:
http://www.uscg.mil/psc/bops/govtrvl/TMC/SATO. For navigational
help with GetThere, please call the CWTSatoTravel Help Desk at
877-905-9647 or email them at govechelp(AT)cwtsatotravel.com.
Group-Travel: Groups of 10 or more passengers
traveling together on the same day, on the same flight, and for the same
mission requiring group integrity are defined as Group Travelers.
Groups require special handling by the TMC (i.e. SATO) in order to
choose the carrier that best meets their travel needs. Groups of
10 or more passengers will be booked through the carrier’s group booking
procedures and follow that carrier's commercial group reservation,
ticketing, and cancellation policies. If you need to make airline travel
arrangements for 10 or more members, SATO will need a
Group Travel Worksheet
prepared, password protected, and e-mailed to
ssd@cwtsatotravel.com to
start the process.
Notes:
(1) The Travel Card Program can provide assistance by populating this form.
Units requesting assistance should have their Travel Manager forward a
list of the traveler's EMPLID, last name, and gender to
Arl-PF-CGPSC-JPMC-GTCC@uscg.mil. Once we receive this
information, we will provide the Travel Manager with a pre-populated
template and full instructions for completing this process.
(2) Group Bus Services - Group travel via contracted
bus service is required to be procured through the SATO contract and not
using other procurement methods. The requestor needs to complete a
Procurement Request and once received the contracting office should
relay the requirements (dates, times, number of passengers, etc. to the
Special Service Desk (SSD) via e-mail to
ssd@cwtsatotravel.com.
The SSD will provide the competitive quote to the contracting office for
completion of a Purchase Order or Purchase Card transaction, depending
on the vendors requirements.
TMC CWTSato Contract Terms - The complete Statement of Work for the current contract with CWTSato is available at: CWTSato-Statement of Work.
What are the TMC Contract Rates for CWTSato? The complete list of contract rates that apply to all CWTSato and their subcontractors are available at: CWTSato Contract Rates.
Scheduling Travel in Advance:
Do you know that depending on the type of ticket purchased, ticketing and
therefore payment may be required immediately upon making the reservation?
This is not the case with city-pair contract fares
(-YCA and –CA fares)
which is one of the advantages of these fares.
But, if the cardholder is required to book a non-city pair fare which
requires advance ticketing, we recommend the traveler seek a travel advance
through the routine processes if the travel and reimbursement will not be
completed within the same billing cycle as the airfare charge.
This advance, applied to the GTCC account, will prevent any late payments
which could result in disciplinary action.
PCS Travel Considerations.
b.
Reminder that the traveler
cannot use the Government Travel Card for the purchase of tickets if the PCS
duration exceeds 15 days per COMDTINST 4600.14B.
c.
The travel card shall not be
used for the family's tickets since it is not authorized for use for anyone
other than the cardholder per COMDTINST 4600.14B.
d.
City Pair Program (CPP) 48-Hour Auto
Cancellation.
As part of the FY13 GSA City Pair contract airlines may cancel any reservation not ticketed within
48-hours of the scheduled departure.
Click here for
the GSA FAQ Sheet on the 48-Hour Auto Cancellation. A GSA
developed
48-Hour Auto Cancellation Briefing is also available to further
explain this change. Lastly, travelers can also review the current
Airline
Cancellation Matrix provided by GSA.
To mitigate issues for Coast Guard Travelers, the
current contract with CWT SATO has been modified to change the required
ticketing from three (3) to five (5) business days in advance of the
scheduled departure.
To avoid ticketing problems and potential cancellation of the
reservation, travelers must ensure that their travel card is not
expired, has been activated and has the credit limit set high enough to
cover the ticket cost. Your local
Travel Manager can assist you with adjusting your credit limit.
Travelers who will be using the centrally billed account (i.e. GTR or
charged to TONO travel) need to ensure the orders specifically state
that "Use of the Centrally Billed Account is authorized" prior to faxing
them to CWT SATO. In addition, the orders must be faxed to CWT
SATO immediately after making a reservation to ensure timely ticketing.
AMTRAK Refund Policy Change. Effective 12 Aug 12, AMTRAK changed their refund policy. Click here for complete details.
Fly America Act and Open Skies
Agreements. Active duty members of the USCG
traveling OCONUS will follow the (JFTR) Fly America Act provisions
only. As such, SATO should book these travelers on US Flag carriers
using any routings that allows SATO to get the traveler to their
destination. If a US Flag carrier is not available or does not meet the
member’s mission requirements, the traveler is required to obtain
approval of an exemption on their orders per U3525 of the JFTR and the
orders authorizing the exemption must be supplied to SATO before that
ticket could be issued.
For civilian members of the USCG following the FTR, Open Skies apply.
SATO can route these members on the most logical routings to get their
OCONUS destination, using American carriers where they can. However if
there is not an American carrier in the market or the routing is not
logical and does not meet mission requirements, Open Skies apply and no
waiver is necessary to book the foreign flag provided they are covered
by an existing Open Skies Agreement.
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