Travel Agent

How to work with National Travel Systems

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH NTS

• The best way to contact NTS is by email
• Travel Specialists working only with IMB projects will assist you: Cindy or Syd.
  • imb@missionarytravel.info
• They will return your email message or phone call within 2 business days.
• Check your email daily after contacting NTS for return messages from them that need immediate attention.
• You can also call them at 1-866-537-8740. This line is dedicated to IMB student mission projects.

Why Use the Student Mobilization Team's Recommended Travel Agent (National Travel Systems)?

The IMB's Student Mobilization Team recommends that you work with NTS for the following reasons:

1. NTS knows all IMB student projects and will book you on a flight with the rest of your team (if you are serving with a team) and they will get you to the field on the day that the field personnel requests.

2. Working with a travel agent provides a safety net for you with the airlines. If you have flight problems or need to change your flight itinerary, the travel agent can work with the airline on your behalf to find the best situation and price related to the changes you need to make.

3. NTS will give you the best fare available on safe, reliable airlines for the dates you need to travel.

4. NTS can help you secure a visa if your country of service requires one.

BOOKING A PLANE TICKET

• NTS purchases plane tickets through airline brokers to ensure that they get the cheapest prices for you. Receiving a response from NTS may take a little longer than you anticipate because NTS is waiting to receive the price from the broker.

• After you request a certain flight from NTS, the flight itinerary and price that NTS sends to you will be tentative -- you must contact them and buy the ticket within a week or the tentative itinerary and price will expire and you will have to work with NTS to find another itinerary.

• The price of a ticket is not locked in until you tell NTS that you want to buy the ticket and you pay for it. That means that the price of your ticket can go up every hour or every day until you pay for it, according to the airline's whim. This price change has nothing to do with NTS. Giving money to NTS to buy the ticket is the only way to ensure you pay the price NTS quoted to you and no more.

• If you have not said (or typed) the words, "I want to buy that ticket," assume that NTS has not purchased a ticket for you.

• If you have not given NTS any money for a plane ticket, assume that NTS has not purchased the ticket for you.

• Questions to ask NTS about your ticket before you purchase it:
  • What are the conditions of carriage imposed on this ticket by the airline? (For international tickets, those rules are usually called "tariff rules."
    • These conditions of carriage tell you the rules the airline expects you to follow if you purchase the ticket. For example, if it is non-refundable, then you will not get any money back if you cancel the ticket.

  • What are the conditions imposed on this ticket by the broker?
    • These conditions tell what the broker's rules are once you buy the ticket. If the ticket is non-refundable according to the brokers rules, for example, you get no money back if you cancel the ticket, no matter what the circumstances and no matter how many times you ask NTS agents to complain about wanting a refund.

PASSPORT

• Make sure that you have a valid passport before calling NTS to book your flight. Your passport must be valid (i.e. not expired) for 6 months after the date of your return to the USA. If you return Aug 2, for example, your passport must be valid at least through Feb. 2 of the following year.
• To apply for a new passport click here.
• To renew your passport, click here.
• BE SURE TO SIGN YOUR PASSPORT WHEN YOU FIRST RECEIVE IT FROM THE PASSPORT AGENCY. Your passport is not valid without your signature. You cannot get a visa to your host country nor get on an airplane without a signed passport.

VISA

• NTS can help you acquire a visa if your country of service requires one.
• Find out if you need a visa here.
• To obtain a visa, you will need to send your passport and 2 passport photos to NTS. Your passport must be signed or NTS will have to send it back to you. Once NTS has the visa obtained and stamped in your passport, they will FedEx it back to you.
  • Delays to getting your visa
    • Not signing your passport
    • Incorrectly completing the visa application
    • Not signing the visa application
    • Submitting the wrong type of photo for your visa.
  • Any of these issues will cause NTS to have to return your passport or the visa application back to you, further delaying the visa process. Because of the importance of the documents being mailed, NTS always uses FedEx to transport passport and visa materials. If NTS must return the documents to you for correction, you are responsible for paying the shipping costs.

LETTER OF INVITATION

• Some countries require you to have a letter of invitation from someone or some organization in the country before they will give you a visa. NTS will know if your country of service requires a letter of invitation.
• Your field personnel must be the one to give you a letter of invitation. Usually your field supervisor knows to write this letter, but occasionally you may have to remind him/her that you need this letter in order to complete your flight arrangements.

FLIGHT PROBLEMS (DELAYS/CANCELLATIONS)

• Missing a flight - the airline's fault: if your flight has been cancelled or you miss a connecting flight because of a flight delay (i.e. the airline's fault), go to the nearest service desk for the airline which you are flying and ask them to help you get onto another flight.
• Missing a flight - your fault: if you miss a flight and it is your fault (i.e. ticket left at home, overslept, stayed too long in the airport restaurant, etc.), call your travel agent to book you on another flight. You probably will have to pay for a seat on another flight.
  • National Travel Systems phone number:
    • In the USA 1-866-537-8740
    • From overseas: 806-796-3514
• Rescheduling your flight: if you need to re-schedule your return flight to the USA, call your travel agent before doing any rebooking. The cost of the long distance call is much less than the price you will pay for a ticket negotiated directly with the airline. The travel agent may be able to reschedule your existing ticket with only a change fee, but there is no guarantee. You may have to buy a completely new ticket.