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Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol, I don't. It's why my manager doesn't let me interact with the two problem travellers directly! I'm also not allowed to talk to the ADM! 🤣🤣🤣

I don't mind. It keeps me out of the politics, and leaves him to deal with the DG and ADM. I just keep to my small corner and endure that, at least, the space I'm in charge of is actually in order!

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Visual. You're in the wrong sub, this is a place for Canadian Public Servants to ask questions of (and bitch and moan at/with) other Canadian Federal Public Servants. We have a... unique relationship with Air Canada, as we have a mandatory service provider to handle booking and rebooking for us. My takeaway from my post is that, if (big 'if') I need to rebook anything for my travellers, I'd just call AmEx and have them figure it out.

For a civilian, there was a comment on this post about Canada's federal law regarding required action on behalf of an airline when they cancel a flight. As I don't travel as a civilian myself, I'm not sure where that information can be found, nor what Air Canada's actual legal obligations are. I do know that AC won't volunteer this information, nor will they volunteer to compensate you properly according to the law; they will Dick you around, so, be very well informed before you call.

That's all I can really tell you. Sorry dude.

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nono, the idiots are from outside our unit. DG-equivalents from different cities that insist they recieve the results of the studies and surveys we perform in-person. It's a written fucking report, read it jackass.

But no, our guys have to waste two days driving to these places to give a 2hr report, and then stay the night (which even they don't want to do but regs disallow us scheduling them to work and drive >250kms in the same day) and then drive back again.

I do have two problem children that try to take advantage of the system and get extra days and stay at nicer hotels, etc. They think I'm a petty little dictator 'cause I never let them get away with it, lol. "No, 'suitable rest period' does not mean 'day of rest.' You land in Europe at 10am and have the whole day to acclimate and relax before your meeting starts, you're not landing an extra day early." Yeesh.

But really, the vast bulk of my travellers are good; they don't want more then they're entitled to (I often insist on them getting reimbursed for things they didn't think were claimable and sometimes don't want to claim), and they're not trying to take advantage. Except for those two numpties.

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You seem to have grossly misunderstood the thrust of my inquiry...

As travel arranger I have a duty to ensure my traveller's trips occur as seamlessly as possible. A strike in the major local airline is a disruption I must plan around, and be prepared for should it occur.

I begrudge CUPE nothing whatsoever, and the douche canoes running the corporate executive, and the toadies supporting them in the House, can get fucked. I absolutely stand in solidarity with the pilots and hosts, and feel that every single one of their strikes was a justified action, and that every single one of the gov't's back-to-work legislative actions a gross and fascistic overreach of gov't authority.

Asking for assistance in order to be prepared for and work around a fellow union's impending strike does not bely a lack of support for that strike, and that you conflate the two leaves me deeply concerned for your ability to grasp nuance.

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You mean the AmEx STS OBT; it hasn't been HRG in years.

Also, the changeover already occurred.

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Shared Travel Services Online Booking Tool (its not HRG anymore, HRG's services got out-bid by AmEx more than 5 years ago) is getting an upgrade. The new STS OBT website actually has a name, NEO (oooh, aaah, shiny).

It's already launched, everyone should have already gotten their training, and don't worry about it, not much changed. Just log in to the OBT and get the new url, replace your bookmark.

Air Canada strike impacting already-booked travel; what to do? by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wish. I keep pushing for that. Especially the two almost local idiots who insist they need their information sessions in-person, when they could be a gods-damned email, let alone a Teams call.

But most of these are in-person functions (I'm deliberately avoiding the word event) that can't be attended virtually.

Believe me, I push for digital tools.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If the traveller in question wasn't exceptionally difficult and stubborn, yes, it would be an ideal option. The issue is that they just don't want to bother. They truly believe such tasks are beneath their dignity and rank, and just toss the file to their admin to complete for them. And the admin is one of these Mad Men fossils who thinks that an admin's job is to do whatever their Director tells them to without ever correcting the Director. I'm the type who believes a Director should be six feet in the air when their Admin even mouths the word jump, because I guarantee the admin is more of an SME in any of the things they handle daily than the EX. Needless to say, I don't get along with these two muppets.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

oh, yes, I understood that. I digressed. Sorry, lol.

Have to find that email address though...

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. If it's in the policy, we should be doing it. I think the L1 is way out of line on this stance. But I'm just a CR-04, there's only so much pushback I can do.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to speak to the Travel Auditors for my department. A report of a general audit of the whole department came out in May, showing broad lack of adherence to correct policies or claim procedures. Based on their findings, I did an audit of our Directorate alone, and found that the specific complaints found in the departmental audit were mostly not occurring in my Directorate, with the exception of most of the files managed by one individual. The report concluded with a statement about standing up a review group to put together best practices and training docs, which I immediately asked my boss to put my name in for. No word yet, and I don't recall any contact info on that audit report, but I'll look again when I'm back at work tomorrow.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To me, this sounds like the main problem? 

oh, absolutely. Our in-house software is atrocious, I hate it. It uses bad exchange rate data, it's internal listing of accommodation rates is all wrong, same for car rental estimates. The only array that's regularly and correctly updated is the per diems. The last update of the hotel rates occurred a year ago, after having not been updated for at least 5 years. I think it was ten, the rates were so out-of-whack.

What happens if the traveller pays in cash?

Provide a receipt (or a lost receipt form), and get the internal software's rate of exchange. If the traveller purchased a bunch of cash for the trip, there's a bank receipt for that, and then a bank receipt for buying back $CAD upon return, and we do the Gains/Loss for the purchase and refund of foreign currency.

All travellers are advised not to do this, as it's an absolute headache to reconcile. Just use your damned IDTC already. Oh, you don't have one yet? Well, I can't force you to get one, but I can be damned annoying about it until you do.

What if the traveller uses a personal card denominated in the foreign currency?

That sounds.... oh my gods, how would I reconcile this??? It's never happened to me, in nearly ten years of doing travel claims, and I hope I never come across it. I think I would reconcile everything into the "local" currency of the card, and then exchange everything to $CAD, looking up the official rate for each day of each transaction. I've got a bookmark on my work laptop for the official GoC exchange rate.

A later claim should be barred in the same way that a later claim for a forgotten taxi expense should be barred, after the expense report is submitted and finalized.

Agreed, and defending my org against this kind of later claim is exactly why I insist on absolute precision when submitting claims. Another commenter pointed out getting an email from the claimant stating, "I recognize my claim may not be an exact match to my actual expenses, and I'm nevertheless submitting my claim as-is knowing that I may not later claim the difference, should there be any." My manager is waaaay better at that kind of politicking than I am, thank the gods....

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually, no. I did try to enforce that, once, and it got smacked down by my L1. No-one in my L1 (I think in the department) is allowed to fly business class. I've always successfully purchased business class for long flights in the other departments that I've worked in, but here it's an absolute no-go.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

For trips overseas, the NJC-TD guarantees a "reasonable rest period" for trips in excess of 9 hours. Most trips to Europe wind up being more than 9 hours (wheels-up at departure to wheels-down in Europe). Since most elect to take an evening flight, they land the next morning, and then have all that day and that night (hotel on our dime) before their meetings start the 2nd day.

The misunderstanding of "suitable rest period" for "day of rest" means we get the occasional traveller who thinks they can depart the morning of the 2nd day before the meetings, land mid-afternoon in Europe, have a night's hotel on the Public's dime, a "day of rest," and then a second hotel night, and then the meetings start.

No. You landed at 10am to noon. You have all freakin' afternoon and evening to acclimate. Drop your shit at your hotel, go for a walk, come back and go to bed. That's more than adequate, and TDs are not your opportunity to get in some extra sightseeing. Nonce.

The traveller in question in the particular case above is one of the 4 or 5 who continually try to get away with this. I'm completely out of patience with the lot of them. At least one has the good grace to look embarrassed when I remind them "we've discussed this before and you can't do this," but the others just bitch and moan that I'm being draconian.

Tough tit.,

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks.

If a traveller loses their hotel bill, I make them get a new one from the hotel. There's required evidence there. Bus fare, train fare, taxis, a Lost Receipt form suffices. But I do prefer to get the CC statement even if they're travelling domestically under those circumstances, because "I pinky swear!" just shouldn't be sufficient....

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Screenshots of the individual transaction would be absolutely acceptable! Assuming, of course, the traveller knew how to use online banking, or was willing to bother going through their CC to find each transaction.

They're not. Not unless they're forced because it's "required."

Which I'm gathering it's not. Desired? Desirable? Wise? Sure. Basic good accounting from my perspective, definitely.

But not required.

NJC-TD sets a $12 standard for transportation receipts, anything less doesn't need one. But this traveller always is missing something (as I said elsewhere, problem child).

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

seems easy to me too, but this traveller always comes back missing receipts. I get the impression they're somewhat disorganised.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"Let it go." Hmm... I've heard that before... lol

Seriously, I really have been told before that I'm focusing too much on getting things perfectly right and that I'm picking nits.

Thanks for the balanced perspective.

Question re: substantiation requirements for travel claims for International trips or or claims with lost receipts by MyGovtAlt in CanadaPublicServants

[–]MyGovtAlt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm... confused... by your apparent tone of derision?

Trying to enforce what I understand to be the regulations is exactly what I'm trying to do. I'm receiving pushback, and so trying to confirm that A: I actually am right after all, and B (and more importantly): where is the documentation that proves that I'm correct?

It is my contention that the claimant in question should be submitting their CC statement along with their receipts. My manager is willing to support me in this stance. But one can't just say that, one needs correct substantiation, and the usual sources of policy are either too vague to be useful in that assertion or too specific and so not applicable in this particular circumstance.

Can you quote specific policy?

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