💚 In line with the green policies of the European Union and of the European youth programmes, we adopted a sustainability policy that also impacts the travel arrangements through the following measures:
✔️ Preference will be given to traveling as green as possible. When selecting flights is necessary, priority will be given to direct return flights (provided by the same airline), supplemented by ground connections (buses, trains, ferries, etc.,) as needed.
✔️ If this won’t be possible, or the itinerary will be extremely long (more than 16h in total and/or including an overnight stopover) or expensive (there are alternatives at least 10% cheaper), we can also consider air connections provided by the airline.
✔️ Some connections are not daily, check also one day before/after. Remember that most events would not allow you to arrive later than the arrival day or leave earlier than the departure day.
❌ If your itinerary includes: additional days, longer stopovers or a starting/returning location different than your residence, please provide justification.
❌ Car transfers are only eligible when 3+ persons are sharing the car, or there is no public transport alternative available, please provide justification. In that case, we can reimburse maximum 7.5L/100km for the given direct distance.
*Green travel is defined as the travel that uses low-emissions means of transport for the main part of the travel, such as bus, train or car-pooling. In order for an itinerary to be considered as being done on a green travel policy, at least 50% of the itinerary length has to be done with low-emissions means of transport (train, bus, ferry, rideshare, bike etc.).
Itinerary planning
✔️ After you received the approval, the tickets must be purchased individually by the participant within maximum 24 hours from the email received with the approval;
✔️ Paying the itinerary: The payments will be made via the bank card, thus facilitating a chargeback procedure if needed*.
✔️ Currency: paying in EUR or RON whenever this is possible.
✔️ Tickets must be purchased directly from the transportation company website/app. Other sites, intermediaries are not accepted for reimbursement;
❌ Payments in other currencies than EUR or RON are subject to exchange loss in case of a cost refund.
❌ Booking through intermediaries is more expensive and might block your access to the reservation.
❌ Most low-cost airlines websites will try to trick you into booking seats, luggage, priority boarding etc. Remember that only the value/basic option is eligible for reimbursement, unless another one has been agreed before booking (check also the luggage allowance bellow).
*Chargeback procedure is the return of debit/credit card funds used to make a purchase to the buyer. A chargeback can occur if a consumer disputes a purchase made using their debit/credit card, claiming that the service was not provided.How to book?
✔️ Luggage allowed for the reimbursement:
🌳 for activities of up to 4 days, only the included luggage in the basic fare is eligible for reimbursement;
🌳 for activities of 5-10 days, participants can opt for a second cabin luggage (included by the airline or added via the priority boarding option);
🌳 for activities longer than 10 days, checked luggage becomes eligible.
✔️ Light packing will help you choose the most important items you need in a limited luggage space. Get some inspiration ...
✔️ Take with you a refillable water bottle, that you can refill in the airports as well as during the entire project duration.
❌ Carying a heavy luggage is not healthy and might expose you to being robed during your travel (especially in the busy areas).
Luggage allowance
✔️ Book all your tickets online: this will ensure traceability and will ease the reimbursement process.
✔️ If some tickets are received as an email, save them as a PDF without any alteration. Anything you cut or modify in that email might delay or invalidate your reimbursement request.
✔️ Upload to the GDrive the boarding pass (electronic format) and the local transport tickets as soon as you purchase them online. Delaying this process might lead to you losing them.
❌ Avoid offline tickets purchases as these will complicate your reimbursement process. If this is not possible, you need to scan the travel tickets obtained offline (A4, PDF scan, respect the real size) legibly and add them to the Google drive alongside the boarding pass. Suggested tool: Microsoft Lens
Zero paper
✔️ 7 days to submit your reimbursement claim, after the event concluded.
✔️ Make sure that each travel cost is listed on a different line in the reimbursement claim #1, #2, #3 etc.
✔️ Rename the files to include the number from the reimbursement claim "#1 inv, OTP-FCO, Ionescu", "#1 bp, OTP-FCO, Ionescu", "#2 etkt, OTP-FCO, Ionescu etc.
What documents do I need to provide to get reimbursed?
✔️ If you can issue an invoice, please use GEYC details:
Asociatia GEYC, fiscal code: 31415156, Sf. Elefterie 31, District 5, Bucharest, Romania;
✔️ Flights: invoice, electronic ticket / reservation, boarding passes;
✔️ Bus/train/ferry tickets: electronic ticket - make sure the date, the itinerary and the price are visible on the ticket, if you can get an invoice is even better;
❌ Taxi/rideshare: allowed only if public transport is not available; a written declaration of your choice and the public transport schedule will be required. Please note that in Bucharest, public transport is available 24/7;
❌ Private car transport (maximum 7,5 liters/km). a personal written declaration of your choice, a gas ticket and the itinerary of your travel is needed (you can print it from here: http://www.viamichelin.com/);
❌ The following additional services will not be subject to reimbursement: check-in luggage (unless agread in advance), seat reservation, airline fine or fee for airport check-in or for luggage that does not respect the size, health and/or travel insurance;
If required, be ready to provide a bank statement for each purchase.
Reimbursement claim
✔️ Travel counts for more than 50% of the carbon footprint of our activities. With your support in adopting these measures we aim at reducing together this footprint.
✔️ When respecting this policy, a reimbursement claim takes 5-10 minutes to process. Otherwise, it can even take a couple of weeks and additional efforts for all parties as well as ending up having ineligible costs.
Whenever the participants traveling and/or partner organizations refuse to accept GEYC’s Travel arrangements regulations, they assume the full responsibility regarding:
❌ the travel arrangements,
❌ the risks related to travel rescheduling or cancellations,
❌ the unconfirmed itinerary or additional services that might not be accepted for reimbursement,
❌ the GEYC Mobility Center will be unable to provide travel assistance during the travel disruptions.
Why is it important?