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Where can I go to make travel reservations in person?
> All employee travel will need to contact the Centeralized Call Center in
York, PA for travel reservations. Employee travel reservations will no longer be
able to be made at the Omega Montrose office in Rockville, MD. All employee travelers may
call, fax or email their requests directly to Omega.
Does Omega have a web site I could visit?
> Omega's website is www.nihtravel.com.
Can we still pick up tickets in Building 10 or
will Omega mail paper tickets to us at work?
> Tickets will no longer be able to be picked up at the Building 10 location.
Tickets will be issued out of the Centeralized Call Center in Jacksonville, NC and mailed to
the traveler or travel planner. Ticket delivery fees include $5.20 for U.S. Mail, and $9.80
for Airborne delivery. Omega will also provide mail courier services on emergency
situations. Paper tickets will be delivered directly to the traveler or travel planner.
Fees for this service will be made available at a later time.
When using E-ticketing, how can I obtain a copy of the invoice itinerary?
>Omega will send a coy of the invoice itinerary as an attachment to the travler.
In addition, you can simply log into www.viewtrip.com and receive a copy of your invoice.
Omega will also send a hard copy via the accountable mail system to the address provided.
What telephone numbers do I use to make travel arrangements for employee travel?
> To contact Omega directly, the toll free number is 1-800-419-2312.
To fax in a request dial 1-866-657-0070, after 9:00pm, 1-866-651-0076. Email your travel request to
nihmd@owt.net.
Where can I find information about the Service Fees?
> Information about fees for travel services can be found on the following page: Omega World Travel Fee-For-Service Fact Sheet.
I am confused about the fees being charged for Omega
services. Will I get charged just for calling Omega
to get an estimate on airfares or to check on the status
of an existing reservation?
> You will not be charged a service fee for
simply calling to check on a reservation or to ask for
a cost estimate. A necessary part of this new contract
was to include non-refundable fees which are charged for
each transaction that involves an airline or train ticket
being issued. This includes all travel booked through
Omega (patient, official government, and travel for authorized
non-government travelers). The new HHS Masster TMC contract fee structe is itemized to
better assist the traveler with their reservtion process.
What if a ticket has been issued,
and then the traveler is unable to go thus causing
the travel or purchase order to have to be canceled?
How will Omega be paid the non-refundable service
fee?
> The travel order (or purchase order) should
not be canceled. It should be handled as though a non-refundable
ticket had been purchased. For travel orders, you would
need to voucher out the order and the only cost that
would be incurred would be the non-refundable service
fee which you would have entered in the GTA field. If
it is a purchase order, you would cancel all line item
charges except for the service fees, and then enter
receiving for the appropriate amount. This way, Omega
will be paid the fees they are due.
Where should the service fees be placed on official
travel orders?
> Only the cost of the ticket should be placed on the Transportation screen. Payment method GTA or GTA reimbursable for Omega tickets. All other TMC fee amounts should be placed on the Expense screen using the list of Expenses and selecting the TMC fee item. You may list each fee separately by selecting the TMC expense line multiple times or "bundle" the TMC fees if there are more that one and place the total cost under one line item.
When a caller to Omega is given a total amount for
a ticket, should the additional service fee be added
to that ticket, or will it already be included?
> Omega agents will quote only the airline
price unless the ticket is booked and a final itinerary
is issued. They will not quote the service fee when
telling you how much a flight is because you can call
to just get pricing information and then a few weeks
later email or fax the reservation request which is
a different fee than a phone reservation. FOr information about services fees, go to Omega World Travel Fee-For-Service Fact Sheet.
Can Omega make car or hotel reservations for me?
> Effective January 1, 2001, GSA has mandated that all
hotel (unless explicitly exempted) and car reservations
be made through your agency's official TMC. Aside from
airline reservations, Omega offers a full range of
services to its NIH customers such as car rental, hotel
reservations
and train reservations. Omega also offers leisure travel
assistance and has a variety of comprehensive services
available.
What is electronic ticketing (E-ticket)?
> E-ticketing is a paperless ticketing mechanism where you purchase a ticket
from the travel agency and instead of requiring a ticket at the airport, you only need to
give the record locator number provided by the travel agency.
When making travel reservations for NIH staff, how
soon before travel starts should I fax an approved
copy of the Travel Order to Omega?
> If at all possible, Omega appreciates having
the Travel Order in their office two weeks prior to
the trip start date. While Omega is aware that last
minute travel can occur, the majority is planned well
enough in advance so that the two week time frame should
not cause any hardship on the IC requesting offices.
What are acceptable justifications for use of non-contract
carriers?
>There are three acceptable justifications for use of
non-contract carriers:
- Space or flights not available in time to accomplish
mission, or contract flights would entail overnight
lodging and an increased overall trip cost
- Contract flight schedule conflicts with Agency policy requiring
travel during business hours (if applicable)
- Non-contract carrier offers lower publicly available fares
which result in lower overall cost of trip (considering total
of all trip expenses).
What is the difference between "employee" travel
and "meeting" travel?
> Employee travel is for all NIH Federal employee travel (including meetings, and,
training, etc.). Meeting travel is for all authorized non-government travelers
(Invitational travelers ) who are traveling for the NIH at the NIH's expense.
In the past we have used Records of Call (ROC) for
Group travel (meeting travel). Can we continue to use this mechanism
with Omega?
> Omega has their own Blanket Purchase
Agreement (BPA) number which is 00054723 and should
be used for placing ROC orders.
Can I use the purchase order/BPA
mechanism to travel Government employees?
> No. Purchase orders are not to be used in lieu of
official travel orders when a Government employee
is traveling on authorized official business. The
purchase orders simply allow the NIH to take advantage
of Government contract airfares when traveling non-Government
participants to an official meeting or event. Official
travel orders contain more Government employee related
items such as per diem, mileage for Privately Owned
Vehicles (POV) etc..., which the purchase order can
not accommodate.
Does the DTTS have a document that explains how to process purchase order and BPA
requests for authorized non-Government travel?
> Yes, the DTTS provides a comprehensive guide to accurately preparing purchase
order travel for the NIH. It also gives NIH and Omega key personnel contact information, and
helpful tips for things like the handling of unused tickets. It is also available online at Purchase
Order and BPA. For Group travel , also known as meeting travel, contact Omega Travel Agent
Sharon Kichgessner at 1-800-723-9403 or local 1-703-243-9009.
Does the Division of Travel and Transportation Services write
all the NIH travel policies?
> No, travel policies fall under the auspices of the
Office of Financial Management. The NIH travel policies
are in section 1500 of the NIH Manual Chapters and can
be found at http://www3.od.nih.gov/oma/manualchapters/management/1500/index.html.
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