Question related to traveling on orders

[right500]

I am traveling to DCC (but the question isn't specific to it) and I have received the travel itinerary (three weeks ago) and receipt (today) but not the tickets. I asked about this point with the travel personnel and she later sent me the receipt. Now everyone has apparently skipped town for the holiday (I can't blame them, of course). Do I show up to the airport with the itinerary and receipt or do I need to get the tickets somehow?

This may have been asked already but my mad boolean search and googling skills didn't turn up the answer to this seemingly simple question.

If anyone has anything to say about DCC (particularly AD and non-HPSP aka proceeding to BOLC afterward) that they would like to share, I am all ears as well.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[d2305]

Call your particular airline and see if you have a seat paid for. Personnel (HRC) is not to be trusted.

 

[HighPriest]

The itinerary should have a confirmation number on it, with which you can check in to your flight and either print or use e-tickets. The same for booking a civilian flight. Unless something has changed, or your circumstances are unusual. Carlson is just a contract booking agent.

 

[right500]

The itinerary should have a confirmation number on it, with which you can check in to your flight and either print or use e-tickets. The same for booking a civilian flight. Unless something has changed, or your circumstances are unusual. Carlson is just a contract booking agent.

I followed d2305's advice and checked with the airline. My itinerary says the flights were preliminary, subject to change, and not yet booked but the airline said the four flights were booked and paid for. I didn't want to get there at 4am and to discover they never finished the booking process. In retrospect, I should have thought to contact the airline because they would know whether they have been paid or not.

 

[HighPriest]

I traveled a lot during my service time. For all of it's faults (and there are many) and for all of the absolutely idiotic rules they have to follow (and there are many), Carlson only screwed me one time. And even in that situation, I think it was because they were trying to follow the aforementioned idiotic rules, and so when I was backfilling they decided to try to maroon me in Fairbanks, AK over Christmas instead of booking me on an available, but not preferred, flight. Even in that circumstance, when I called their emergency number and told them what flight I wanted, they hooked me up.

 

[right500]

Glad to hear they are generally on the ball. Emergency call the day-of for flight(s) to DCC would have made for a bad start. All's well that ends well.

 

[d2305]

I left Millington for Pearl Harbor with no ticket. They promised me that everything would be ready, but he lied.

 

[absolutdokta]

I’m assuming it’s all going on the gov credit card? Make sure that sucker is turned on and good to go. My unit dts SGT once told me my card was good to go....found out on the way to the airport that my tickets couldn’t be purchased because my card was inactivated. It was a fiasco but I eventually ended up where I needed to be.

 

[d2305]

The other thing is that the card is in your name, with all the liability. Now the US Government credit cards are nice, it they're still around. They were white no visa or mc logo, and everyone took them.

 

[pgg]

Trust no one in travel, verify all details personally, always.

The Navy sent me to the airport once with an e-ticket that hadn't been paid for, and a government credit card that was activated ... with a $1 credit limit.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Oh these are the things that are scaring me. I am going to be heading to DCC in September and well anything that could have went wrong with any process with the US Army has gone wrong for me so I am sure there will be some road bump for getting to DCC or back from DCC.....

 

[right500]

Meps sent me to a consult with an outside provider who then suddenly died. My fingers are apparently next-to-impossible to get prints from. There wasn't a single working stylus at the recruiting station when I was supposed to sign my contract which itself was delayed by a proud Army tradition: the ambiguous, no details available SNAFU. Like Lawrence of Arabia, I have the uncanny ability to back into the spotlight/pile of ****.

 

[HighPriest]

See, this kind of stuff makes me really happy. Because I really never had an issue traveling. I bet I flew at least twice/year every year I was in the Army (averaged), and only once did I have a real issue, and there really was some acts of God in the mix that time.

So, I was thinking maybe that was one thing the military was good at. It’s really validating to know that it isn’t, and they aren’t good at anything.

 

[d2305]

I wonder if the average snm still cheats on travel claims? Say you drove and fly for more travel days and lodging expense. One not so smart sailor left his ticket in his record. Needless to say, he didn't get paid for pov travel.

 

[right500]

Flight cancelled...no flights for over 24 hours from anywhere in the Northeast to Lawton or OKC indirectly. No flights even to Wichita Falls one way or another; couldn't even route through LA (they tried that for some reason). Murphy's law in action. Great way to start my time in the Army.

 

[HighPriest]

Flight cancelled...no flights for over 24 hours from anywhere in the Northeast to Lawton or OKC indirectly. No flights even to Wichita Falls one way or another; couldn't even route through LA (they tried that for some reason). Murphy's law in action. Great way to start my time in the Army.

It’s poetic, because that’s basically life in the Army.

 

[TheEarDoc]

Flight cancelled...no flights for over 24 hours from anywhere in the Northeast to Lawton or OKC indirectly. No flights even to Wichita Falls one way or another; couldn't even route through LA (they tried that for some reason). Murphy's law in action. Great way to start my time in the Army.

hope you made it there and the rest of the process is smooth sailing for you!

 

[militaryPHYS]

If you received Itinerary, then Receipt/Tickets then your travel prep was complete. If the itinerary is paid/ticketed then that gives you a seat on the plane. Any flight change/cancellations at that point I think would have been done by the airline. I have seen portions getting cancelled after the fact but that is usually from a mistake made by airline personnel or the unknowing traveler when modifications to tickets are trying to be performed.

Just to summarize typical situation (I have done this 5 times this past year): Itinerary can come anytime before your travel. The actual tickets are not paid and "ticketed" until 72 hours out from your travel. If you call the airline (based on reservation number on itinerary) before the tickets are paid/ticketed and do anything to the itinerary you run the risk of everything going down the crapper. As soon as I get my receipt and paid ticket 72 hours out then I call SATO and do any modifications through them. This will include a $35 service charge and any ticket price difference. Sometimes the airline can do it for you, but more often than not they have difficulty modifying a government rate ticket and you need to call SATO. SATO is pretty good and quick (most of the time). The tough part is trusting the system when you know you only have 72 hours receive and modify tickets before the travel date.