Travel Assistant

The Travel Assistant is responsible for coordinating travel arrangements for civilian and military personnel, calculating travel entitlements, negotiating fares, and ensuring compliance with UN travel rules and regulations. The role supports efficient and cost-effective travel management within the Regional Service Centre at Entebbe under the Department of Operational Support.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate the travel of civilian and military personnel including civilian police, traveling to and from a wide range of member states in connection with mission duties.
• Calculate and initiate entitlements for all such travel and submit to the Unit Supervisor for approval, e.g., airfare, excess baggage entitlements, terminal expenses, airfreight entitlements, daily subsistence allowance for staff and dependents on traveling on missions, etc.
• Perform complex lump sum calculation of travel entitlements for staff members.
• Provide information about frequency of air services and provide advice to staff and consultants on the most economical airfare rates for such travel, as permitted by the rules and regulations.
• Provide information on rates and travel schedules for specific itineraries, as requested for budgeting purposes for programme managers.
• Contact airlines to make reservations and negotiate least expensive fares, e.g., discuss with travel agency management and with senior airline sales management for space on flights, reduced airfares, group discounts and reduced excess baggage charges.
• Initiate issuance of tickets and discuss discrepancies and problems.
• Coordinate and process shipment of personal effects and official cargo, including preparation of documentation, follow-up with service providers and monitoring of delivery status in accordance with applicable procedures.
• Calculate the residual values of partially used tickets when there is a rerouting.
• Compute and determine the revised amounts of per diem where there is deviation from original travel plans.
• Arrange for changes or cancellations requested by travellers and ensure tickets are reissued as required and obtain reimbursement where applicable.
• Convert departure and arrival times, as needed, and identify class of accommodation corresponding to the nature of the travel.
• Follow up on itinerary amendments and ticket adjustments where required.
• Examine and pre-audit the official itineraries of staff members, civilian police and military staff as stated in the travel authorization to determine air travel cost entitlement of the proposed official travel of the mission personnel.
• Ensure conformity with established rules, regulations and relevant directives.
• Review travel claims and supporting documentation for completeness, accuracy and validity prior to forwarding to the Finance Section for payment.
• Ensure that entitlements are in conformity with UN Rules, Regulations and policies.
• Refer discrepancies back to Administrative and/or Certifying Officers for clarification and possible correction.
• Advise Administrative Office on more efficient and cost-effective routings with regard to more complicated staff itineraries.
• Assist in making travel plans in order to take advantage of the benefits to be derived from advance purchases or special promotional fares.
• Maintain records of all travel authorizations processed.
• Record savings accrued to the organization as a result of the cost savings techniques employed.
• Calculate daily subsistence allowance for travel for senior UN staff or mission assignees and appointments, and other UN Staff, taking into account whether meals will be provided and which stopovers are designated official business or personal.
• Prepare travel authorization depending upon actual category of the traveler and calculate all other costs, including excess baggage, terminal expenses, subsistence allowance and travel advance.
• Advise substantive offices, travellers, plus mission personnel and movement control staff of arrival information, requesting arrangements to be made accordingly for traveller.
• Perform other duties as required.

Requirements

• High school diploma or equivalent is required.
• A technical or vocational certificate in the field of travel, business administration and related matters or related fields is required.
• IATA certificate is desirable.
• A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in travel administration, airline reservations and ticketing including fare construction, identifying difficult and complicated routes at the lowest possible fares is required.
• The minimum years of relevant experience is reduced to five (5) for candidates who possess a first level degree or higher.
• Experience in administration of a broad range of travel-related entitlements and benefits using Systems Applications and Products (SAP) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software e.g., Umoja or other similar platforms is required.
• Experience in application of United Nations or similar international organization's Staff Rules and Regulations in an operational travel environment is desirable.
• Having supervisory experience of an IATA accredited travel agency is desirable.
• Experience in a shared service center or similar setup is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III for reading, writing, listening and speaking.
• French is desirable at UN Level II for reading, writing, listening and speaking.

Skills

• Travel Administration
• Airline Reservations
• Ticketing and Fare Construction
• Travel Entitlements Management
• SAP
• Enterprise Resource Planning
• Umoja
• UN Staff Rules
• Travel Cost Negotiation
• IATA Certification
• Travel Benefits Administration
• Supervisory Experience in Travel Agency
• Shared Service Centers

Languages

English, French