Purpose
This article explains how to book a flight using the TravelBank platform.
Audience
This article applies to all users with access to TravelBank travel management.
Get started
Before you book your flight, complete a few preliminary tasks:
Add a payment method to your TravelBank account if you haven’t already.
To check whether you’ve added a payment method, or to ensure your payment information is accurate, select your user icon at the top-right of the page, then Payment Methods. If your company has a corporate card used for purchasing travel through TravelBank, the card appears on the Payment Methods tab and also in the Payment Method pane on the checkout page.
Update or complete your traveler information.
Learn about unused travel credits if needed.
Book a flight
To book a flight, take the following steps:
From the TravelBank left navigation menu, select Travel > Flights tab.
To the right of the Flights, Hotels, and Cars tabs is a dropdown menu for the trip type: round-trip, one-way, or multi-city (Figure 1). Select your trip type.
Figure 1. Trip type dropdown menu
Complete the other fields required for your search: location you’re flying from, location you’re flying to, date(s) of travel, and number of travelers.
Select Search Flights. Depending on your organization’s travel policy, a dialog may appear with information about the policy (Figure 2). A travel policy may require you to book your flight a certain number of days in advance and within a specified rate range, or seek manager approval if your selection is outside the policy.
Figure 2. Your Travel Policy dialog
Choose a flight by selecting the price of the flight. This brings up additional information about your selected flight, including carbon offset information (Figure 3). To minimize the flight information, select the price of the flight again.
Figure 3. Flight options page, carbon offset information about multiple legs of a trip
Select either of the Select Flight buttons to confirm your selection (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Select Flight buttons to confirm your flight selection
Select additional flights as needed, based on the type of flight you selected.
When you get to the Review Itinerary & Book Flight page, select a saved traveler from the saved traveler dropdown list or add a new traveler by selecting Add New Traveler (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Select a saved traveler or add a new traveler for your flight
You can also choose your seat if desired in the Seat Selection section.
Note: If your flight requires manager approval, you will not be able to select seats until your flight is approved. Seat selections are also not guaranteed until the booking is confirmed by your airline. Consult your airline as they may reserve the right to update your seat assignment.At this point, you also have the option to purchase your trip’s carbon offset, as described in this article.
Once you’re finished completing all the sections on the Review Itinerary & Book Flight page, confirm your booking:
If your flight is within your organization’s travel policy: Select Book Flight.
If your flight is outside of your organization’s travel policy: You can review the reason your booking is out of policy above the Request Flight Approval button (Figure 6). If you select the information icon next to the reason, you can also learn more (Figure 7). Select Request Flight Approval to submit your request.
Figure 6. Reason your flight is outside of your organization’s travel policy
Figure 7. Additional information about why your flight is outside of your organization’s policy
Purchase your trip’s carbon offset (optional)
When reviewing your flight options, you may want to consider the carbon emission of each option.
When you are booking a flight, the carbon emissions for each trip, or for each leg of the trip if your trip has multiple legs, appear along with the flight options (Figure 3).
If your organization has set up the optional Purchase Carbon Offset feature, there will also be an additional section at the bottom of your flight checkout page (Figure 7). In this section you can select Add to compensate for the carbon emissions generated by your trip. This addition is optional.
Figure 8. Review Itinerary & Book Flight page, Purchase Carbon Offset section
Note that the carbon offset amount is not included in your total flight budget, and it does not go through your organization’s typical flight approval process. For instance, if your flight budget is $200, and you book a flight for $198 and also purchase carbon offset for $5, your flight is still within budget, even though your total amount exceeds the budgeted $200.
To learn more about the projects your organization can support with your carbon offsets, visit our carbon offset partner site, Squake.
Note to admins about carbon offsets
Work with your TravelBank customer success manager to enable carbon offsets and ensure that you understand how they work, especially since the cost is separate from your set flight budget.
Cancel your reservation
Review our article about canceling or modifying a flight for information on how to cancel your reservation.
Frequently asked questions
Need help?
If you need help, contact the TravelBank support team:
Email support@travelbank.com.
From the website or mobile app: Open the left navigation menu and select Chat with us.
Publish date: May 7, 2025
Last update: NA