Lodging Facilities Near Penn State University Campuses

Travel onLion Updates

Travel Services has been working with Concur to fine tune our online booking tool, Travel onLion, in an effort to optimize the pricing search for our users. Although we have travelers with varying preferences for searching, we can only accommodate one style of search as a default and outline the various options for altering that search. Thus, we have set the default parameters to provide the most options to the traveler and allow the traveler to tighten the search criteria if they are looking for specific flights or options.

Travel onLion is set to return the best pricing with the widest range of returns to accommodate the majority of travelers who are looking for the lowest possible fares without prejudice to carrier, number of connections or time of day. Should a user have specific criteria, they can make some simple changes to the search criteria to narrow the options that will be returned to them.

Users may select a specific carrier at the bottom of the search criteria screen, choose search either by price or by schedule, narrow the window of time from the default +/- 8 hrs. to as little as 3 hours or as open as 23 hours, and utilize the dropdown Sort box in the upper right corner above the flights that are returned to sort various ways, including least number of stops. Any or all of these adjustments to the search criteria will change the response the users receive.

If you should have any questions or need assistance to determine how you can get the best results when searching, please do not hesitate to contact Travel Services at
814-865-0395.

United Airlines and Continental Airlines Upcoming Merger

As you may know, United Airlines and Continental Airlines have been in a lengthy process of merging the two carriers which will combine to be United Airlines. United has targeted 03 March 2012 as the date for merging both reservation systems into one. This merger will have a global impact on all reservation systems.

Key information for you the traveler is as follows:

• There will be one carrier code – UA
• The sale of tickets on Continental will stop
• Any tickets already issued on Continental "CO" will change to read United "UA"
• United's Frequent Travel Numbers will change to an 8 character alphanumeric account number. However, United will accept Mileage Plus numbers 8 or 11 digits until the last day of March 2012. Only one Mileage Plus number per person will be permitted.

We recommend that on 03 March beginning at 1:00 A.M. ET for a period of about four hours, travelers not attempt to make reservations on United Airlines while the systems merger is taking place.

If you encounter problems with existing reservations or in booking new reservations, please do not hesitate to contact Travel Services at 814-865-0395.

First Class Completes Travel Professional Certificate Program

Travel Services worked with the Human Resource Development Center to offer the Travel Professional Certificate Program. The certificate program covers a wide variety of travel topics over six sessions. Some of the discussion topics include transient hotels, airlines, and car rental. It also features behind-the-scenes tours of the University Park Airport and Penn State Hospitality Services.