PEFS

COVID Guidelines for Business Travel as of April 2022

Foreign Travel

• Faculty, staff, and post-docs on Penn-affiliated international travel are no longer required to petition the Committee on Travel Risk Assessment (CITRA) for travel approval.  Global Support Services and International Risk Management remain available for international travel risk and logistics advice upon request.  All student travel to countries rated by the CDC as Level 3 or Level 4 continues to require a petition for approval.
• MyTrips registration remains a requirement for all international Penn-Affiliated travel.  As restrictions related to the pandemic are lifted, MyTrips registration for international Penn-Affiliated travel may remain in place as permanent policy.
• CITRA has created a set of recommendations to assist group trip administrators as they explore the health, safety, and logistical challenges of group travel (defined as five or more individuals following the same itinerary) during the ongoing pandemic. Use of the recommendations is optional but highly recommended for both domestic and international group trips. As a reminder, group travel to countries rated by the CDC as Level 3 or Level 4 requires a petition for approval to travel.

World Travel

• World Travel is now required for all domestic and international airfare bookings in support of Penn Engineering related business travel.  World Travel provides 24-hour support in case of an airfare related emergency, and in the event of a global emergency, World Travel enables Penn to keep track of the locations of their affiliates.  Booking through World Travel ensures that we are meeting our Duty of Care responsibilities, and additionally, that we are in compliance with the Fly America Act when applicable.  Note – there were several Fly America Act non-compliance audit findings during our last NSF audit.
• The PEFS Travel team politely requests that after booking a reservation through World Travel that you please forward your booking confirmation email containing the six-digit record locator to travel@seas.upenn.edu as there is limited amount of time to approve requests. 
• When booking through World Travel, it is best practice to contact them on weekdays as early in the day as possible since some airlines pull reservations back at midnight that have not been confirmed. 

Please contact the PEFS Travel team (travel@seas.upenn.edu) directly if you have any questions related to these updates.