Beginning July 1, 2025, U-M employees will be required to use Collegiate Travel Planners, U-M’s designated travel partner, to book flights for university-related travel.
The new requirement was announced in an April 14 email to deans, directors and department managers from U-M’s three executive vice presidents: Geoffrey S. Chatas, executive vice president and chief financial officer; Laurie K. McCauley, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; and Marschall S. Runge, executive vice president for medical affairs.
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The move was made after considerable discussion with senior leadership and a number of financial groups across the university and supports ongoing proactive measures related to potential federal funding changes. The policy change will also streamline the travel booking process and ensure that U-M leverages the best options and rates negotiated for the university.
Units can expect to save between 2% and 10% on most flights when booking with CTP, with the average savings being 4%. When the number of flights taken by employees for U-M business in a given year is considered collectively, the overall annual savings to the university will be substantial.
Booking travel with CTP offers a variety of benefits to the U-M community, including:
- Access to the best negotiated rates — U-M and CTP discounts will be automatically applied when booking business travel with CTP.
- Payment through U-M’s Central Travel Account, with receipt information automatically populating into Emburse Enterprise for straightforward expense reporting.
- 24/7 assistance to travelers through CTP agents and the travel portal.
- The ability to easily apply unused ticket credits to new bookings or reallocate them to alternate travelers within the university.
- Duty of care for U-M employees while traveling domestically and abroad, which helps ensure their health, safety and security.
The requirement will apply solely to booking flights and does not at this time impact other travel arrangements available through CTP, such as hotel accommodations or ground transportation. In addition, travel booking fees will be centrally funded for fiscal year 2026 and will no longer appear as individual expenses in Emburse Enterprise.
The U-M Travel Program Team holds regular training and Q&A sessions to help travelers and travel arrangers make the best use of CTP and the Lightning booking platform. Information about these sessions, along with training materials, can be found on the Travel Program webpage.
Sean Eddy
There is nothing streamlined about using CTP or their Lighting booking platform.
In the last 2 years we’ve had CTP, I’ve experienced few if any benefits. In my experience booking travel, it is the exception rather than the norm that their posted flights are cheaper than publicly advertised fares.
I just booked conference travel for June and my direct booking for $260 below CTPs advertised fare for the same departing flight (but with far worse return options). The justification will of course be included with my expense report. It’s a 15-20% direct cost savings from grants – and that’s fairly typical of what I’ve experienced over the last 2 years.
I’ve also had the issue where one leg of a two-leg flight where the first flight is altered so the second leg is an impossible connection. When this happens with direct booking, the airline automatically updates the entire itinerary being updated, but not CTP. Each leg was treated separately on my booking so I had to go through the process of contacting their agents and fixing something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
I have little confidence things will improve once we’re forced to use this system.
Pat Herbst
This is a terrible decision. Since the University started partnership with CTP I have looked up my travel on Lighthing as well as on Delta.com. I have consistently found Delta’s own costs cheaper than Lightning and also more availability of Delta flights at Delta than what Lightning will offer. I try to be a good steward of the funds that I raise (as most of the travel I do is with funds that I raise for my research). I think the University should accept our effort to save to the bottomline rather than honor a poor contract for a bad service.