E2solutions Online Booking Engine (OBE) User Guide

CWTSatoTravel Online Booking Engine (GetThere) User Guide
GetThere 6.3.5

CW Government Travel, Inc. Page 2 of 63

CWTSatoTravel Online Booking Engine (GetThere) User Guide
GetThere 6.3.5

Table Of Contents

Introduction 3

Select Trip Details Page 5

Entering Trip Details 6

Selecting Flights 7

Selecting a Rental Car 12

Selecting an On-Airport Rental Car 12

Selecting a City Location (Off-Airport) Rental Car 17

Selecting a Hotel 22

Search for Hotel by Negotiated Properties (FedRooms) 23

Search for a Hotel by Address or City 23

Search for a Hotel Near an Airport 24

Search for a Hotel by Reference Point 24

Completing the Hotel Search and Selecting Room Type 26

Adding Car or Hotel in a Multi-City Itinerary 30

Reviewing And Completing The Reservation 31

Reviewing Trip Details 31

Completing the Reservation 33

Updating GetThere© Profile Information 39

Menu Bar 40

Home 40

Trip 40

Profile 41

Profile Settings 42

Personal Information 42

Charge Card 44

Email Settings 46

Display Preferences 47

Travel Preferences 48

Frequent Traveler 48

Add Airline Frequent Flyer Membership number(s): 48

Add Car Loyalty Membership number(s): 50

Add Hotel Loyalty Membership number(s): 51

Passport and Visas 53

Add Passport number: 53

Add Visa(s): 55

Flight Preferences 57

Add Home Airport: 57

Select Seat Preference: 58

Select Meal Preference: 59

Select Preferred Airlines: 59

Enter Special Instructions to the TMC: 60

Hotel Preferences 60

Add or update Hotel Preferences 60

Car Preferences 62

Add or Update Car Preferences 62

Introduction

This document provides instructions for the user to make reservations using the GetThere© (v 6.35) online booking tool in the New User Interface (NUI).

Travelers and Travel Arrangers can perform the following tasks using GetThere:

Select Flights

· Select a round trip flight to a single site or one site in a multi-site travel authorization

· Select a one way trip to or from a single site or one site in a multi-site travel authorization

· Select a multi city trip to a multi-site travel authorization or to each leg of a single site visit

Add Rental Car(s)

· Add rental car(s) using an on-airport rental car agency

· Add a rental car(s) using an off-airport rental car agency

Add and Book Hotel(s)

· Book hotel(s) by searching for its proximity to a specific airport location

· Book hotel(s) by searching for its proximity to a specific reference point

· Book hotel(s) by searching for its proximity to a specific downtown city location

· Book hotel(s) by searching for its proximity to a specific address

· Book hotel(s) by searching for its proximity to a specific postal code

· Book hotel(s) by selecting a Negotiated property (FedRooms)

Select Seat Assignments

Provide “Out of Policy” justifications

Log In

To access the booking engine, from the login page, enter User ID and Password and click “Log In”.

Note: Both the User ID and Password are case sensitive.

Select Trip Details Page

You can book round-trip, one way, and multi-destination itineraries using the GetThere OBE. Information that is defined in the traveler’s GetThere© user profile is retrieved and will be populated in any applicable fields, i.e., frequent flyer numbers. If the GetThere© user profile has not been entered, or is incorrect, the user has the opportunity to add or modify this information in the Passenger Information section when completing the reservation.

Entering Trip Details

To create your trip, from the “Begin Search” page,

1. Click in the applicable checkbox to search “Flight”, “Hotel” or “Car”;

2. Click the applicable radio button if the trip is “Roundtrip”, “One-way” or “Multi-destination”.

3. Enter “From” and “To” airport codes, or if not known, enter the city.

4. Enter the “Departure” and ”Return” dates.

Selecting Flights

The process for selecting one way, round trip, and multi-city flights is essentially the same. Once the trip details have been entered on the “Select Trip Details” page, click the “Begin Search” button.

The system will start searching for flights within the parameters set up by the Agency.

1. Once the search is complete, the Available Flights window appears.

Note: An American flag will appear for those flights that are government contract carriers (not fares), or their approved code share partners.

3. There are three “Select” buttons displayed in the “Price’ column. Choose the desired flight and fare type by clicking on one of the following buttons:

a. “Select – CA” = capacity controlled government contract city pair fare.

b. “Select YCA” = unrestricted government contract city pair fare

c. “Select” = lowest possible fare, based on availability, which may include restricted or penalty fares (depending on your Agency’s policy)

4. View available seats prior to selecting the flight.

5. Legend for icons and city pair fare (contract), to include mouse-over definitions.

6. If a round-trip or a multi-city trip is specified, GetThere© will display the next Available Flights window for these additional cities. Continue to select flights as necessary by clicking the fare button (i.e., Select –CA , Select YCA or Select) next to the desired flight.

7. Upon selecting the final flight segment, the tool will search for the lowest available fare for the flights originally requested, as well as any other lower fares (these may be on contract and/or non-contract carriers). A window will appear informing you that lower-priced options are being calculated.

NOTE: The system will search for lower fares in at alternate airports in those cities served by multiple airports (i.e., New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.).

8. When fares have been found, they will display on an ‘Itinerary, Price and Alternatives’ page. If you do not want any of the lower-priced flight options, click the green “Select” button in the Original Selection section to choose that itinerary.

9. - or -
If lower-priced flight options are found within the parameters selected by the Agency (e.g., alternate airports in cities serviced by multiple airports), the Itinerary, Price and Alternatives window will appear. Click the green “Select” button in the Itinerary, Price and Alternatives section to the right of the preferred itinerary.

The Reserve Seats window will appear, including a layout of a generic airplane cabin. This feature allows the traveler to request a seat; however, actual seat assignments are at the discretion of the airline.

Note: If the airline does not allow pre-reserved seating, e.g. Southwest Airlines or AirTran, the system will display a page that advises “At this time you cannot select seats for this flight. To continue, click the “Reserve Seats button”

Tip: You may click “Skip Seat Selection” if you do not wish to select specific seats for your flights (if there is a seat preference in the user profile, the system will default to the best available seat). Selecting “Skip Seat Selection” will skip this step for all remaining flights.

10. Click an available (green) or premium (blue) seat to select it. The seat number appears in the Seat field.

Note: Premium seats require specific frequent flyer status with an airline. If you select a premium seat, a qualified frequent flyer number must be in the profile or be entered in the Passenger Information window when it appears (see step 12).

11. Click the ‘Reserve Seat Selection” button and repeat step 9 for any other flight legs on this itinerary.

The Review Trip window appears with your selections if you selected Flight only.

- or -
The Hotel Search window appears if you selected Flight and Hotel or Flight, Hotel and Car.
- or -
The Car Search window appears if you selected Flight and Car.

Selecting a Rental Car

You can book a rental car from a car rental agency located on or off the airport grounds using the GetThere© OBE. Information defined in your GetThere© user profile is retrieved and will be populated in any applicable fields. You may modify or enter rental car information not defined in your GetThere© user profile during the booking process.

Note: If the traveler is booking cars at multiple stops, the car search will appear automatically for the first city only. The traveler must use the “Add” feature on the Review Trip page (refer to page 30) to add rental cars in additional cities.

Selecting an On-Airport Rental Car

1. Whether you are booking a round trip, one way or multi-city flight and car, the Car Search window will automatically appear after you have completed defining your flight information.
- or -
If you are booking a hotel and car or flight, hotel and car, the Car Search window will automatically appear after you have completed defining your hotel information.

Note: The search window defaults to “At an Airport”. The pick-up and drop-off locations are pre-populated according to the city in which the rental car is being reserved. The pick-up and drop-off dates are pre-populated with the flight dates and arrival and departure times. The Agency policy determines the default car size.

2. Select “At the airport” radio button, if not already defaulted, in the “Where do you want to pick up the car?” field.

3. To change the Pick-up or Drop-off airport or city code from what has been defaulted, enter the 3 letter code in the corresponding field.

- or –

If the airport code is not known, click on the “Find Airport/City” link to find the code.

4. If necessary, change the “Pick Up” and/or “Drop-off” date(s) and time field(s).

5. To change the car size, click on the arrow to display the Car Size drop-down list.

Note: Available car sizes depend on Agency policy. That is, not all car sizes are available to all agencies.

6. To change the transmission type or number of doors, click the radio button on the type of transmission or number of doors.

Note: Available options depend on Agency policy. That is, not all options are available to all agencies.

7. Optional – If you have special requests (e.g., non-smoking car, navigation system, snow chains, etc.), select the special equipment request check-box. Click on the check-box again to de-select.

Note: Your Agency must have selected to turn on this option. If this is not displayed, you may make a special request to the TMC, however, this will increase the transaction fee.

8. Click the Search Cars button. A processing window appears which may (depending on Agency Travel Policy) advise travelers that he/she must choose a compact car, where available.

9. The Select a Rental Car window appears. The results can be sorted alphabetically by clicking on “Car Rental Company” link or by price by clicking on “car type” link (“compact”, in this example).

10. Click on the price hyperlink of the car you want to select.

11. If you search for a car size that is larger than Agency policy, the “out of policy” icons will be displayed on the Select a rental page.

If the out-of-policy car is selected, the Out of Policy window will display next and a justification code must be selected. Click “Continue with Reservation” to continue.

12. The Review Trip Details window appears. From this page, the user may elect to “Modify this car” or “Remove this car”. See Reviewing and Completing Reservations section to complete the reservation.

Selecting a City Location (Off-Airport) Rental Car

Note: The search window defaults to “At an Airport”.

2. Select “At a City Location” radio button, if not already defaulted, in the Where do you want to pick up the car?” field.

3. To change the Pick-up or Drop-off airport or city code from what has been defaulted, enter the 3 letter code in the corresponding field.

- or –

If the airport code is not known, click on the “Find Airport/City” to find the code.

4. Select the “Car Rental Company”.

5. If necessary, change the “Pick Up” and/or “Drop-off” date(s) and time field(s).

6. To change the car size, click on the arrow to display the Car Size drop-down list.

7. To change the transmission type or number of doors, click the radio button on the type of transmission or number of doors.

8. Optional – If you have special requests (e.g., non-smoking car, navigation system, snow chains, etc.), select the special equipment request check-box. Click on the check-box again to de-select.

Note: Your Agency must have selected to turn on this option. If this is not displayed, you may make a special request to the TMC, however, this will increase the transaction fee.

9. Click the Search Cars button. A processing window appears which may (depending on Agency Travel Policy) advise travelers that he/she must choose a compact car, where available.

10. The Select a Rental Car window appears with a listing of all the city (Off-airport) locations.

11. Click the “Select” button of the desired location. A processing window appears.

12. Click on the price hyperlink or “Skip Car Search”.

If the out-of-policy car is selected, the Out of Policy window will display next and a justification code must be selected. Click “Continue with Reservation” to continue.

13. The Review Trip Details window appears. From this page, the user may elect to “Modify this car” or “Remove this car”. See Reviewing and Completing Reservations section to complete the reservation.

Selecting a Hotel

A hotel room can be booked separately or in conjunction with air and/or a rental car using the OBE. Hotel profile information entered in the user profile is pre-populated (e.g., hotel loyalty number) when booking the hotel room in the OBE. Information not entered in the profile or incorrect profile information may be entered or modified in the Traveler Information section when completing the reservation.

Hotels can be searched:

· Negotiated Properties – FedRooms (formerly known as FPLP), the GSA’s Government-wide lodging program, is FEMA compliant for safety issues, and offers commercial properties at or below per diem. For more information, visit www.fedrooms.com.

· Address or postal code

· Near an Airport – its proximity to an airport in the United States.

· Reference point – a location designated by the Agency, (i.e., regional office) or a popular location, (i.e., convention center).

Note: A government-issued travel charge card (IBA) or a personal credit card (PCC) is required to book a hotel either using the OBE or a TMC agent. A Centrally Billed Account (CBA) may NOT be used for this purpose.

When reserving a hotel room in conjunction with a round trip, one way or multi-city flight(s), the Hotel Search window will automatically appear after the Reserve Seats phase of the process. The default search page is “Negotiated Properties”.