travel policy changes

Travel/conservancy-travel-policy.md

@@ -77,6 +77,15 @@ reimbursed.
 
 Travelers should adhere to the following guidelines to stay In-Policy.
 
+### Nearby events
+
+* If you are attending an event that is nearby to where you live
+  (accessible by local transportation), you may claim M&IE for any day of
+  attendance at the travel day rate (75% rate).
+
+* Please also consider if your destination may be reasonably reached by
+  train, rather than by plane for environmental reasons.
+
 ### Flights
 
 * Before you buy tickets, save a screenshot of a flight search that
@@ -93,9 +102,10 @@ Travelers should adhere to the following guidelines to stay In-Policy.
 
 ### Hotels
 
-* Hotels are In-Policy as long as the average nightly rate you pay
-  (excluding taxes and fees) is under the maximum rate for lodging for your
-  destination.  See the "Rates" section below for details.
+* You may stay at the official conference hotel or any hotel that is the
+  same price or less. Where there is no conference hotel, you may book a
+  hotel at the GSA or Department of state rate +15%. See the "Rates"
+  section below for details.
 
 * Be sure the receipt from your hotel includes the dates of your
   stay, not just a total.
@@ -133,6 +143,12 @@ Keep and submit PDFs of the following, as applicable:
   <accounts-payable@tix.sfconservancy.org> within 90 days of the last date of
   travel.  Untimely requests **will not be reimbursed**.
 
+* SFC reserves the right to reject any reimbursement that is submitted after
+  90 days (this could become particularly urgent depending on times related
+  to closing our financial books). Where we are able to pay after the 90
+  days, unless there is some exceptional circumstance, we will reimburse
+  you for less money the longer after the 90 days the request is submitted.
+
 ## Rates
 
 Throughout this document, we refer to rates reported by other parties.
@@ -377,6 +393,19 @@ criteria, and save the results:
   consider those reasonable.  However, you may not filter out specific
   airlines, or flights without WiFi.
 
+* If you want to upgrade your flight at your own expense, you can do so
+  without prior approval. You will not be reimbursed for the additional
+  amount.
+
+* If the cheapest fare is a basic economy fare, you may add an additional
+  $200 to flight budget so that you can choose a regular economy fare
+  (please note that basic economy fares have hidden costs like baggage and
+  seat assignment fees that ultimately make those fares more expensive).
+  This would make the flight budget $300 above the cheapest available
+  flight. Alternatively, you may include a luggage fee for your first bag
+  (either carry on or checked) and a fee for advanced seat selection up to
+  the price of that increased flight budget.
+
 Save the results of this search.  A PDF printout of the first page of
 results from your browser is ideal.  A screenshot can work too.  Just make
 sure the output shows the search criteria and the lowest available fare.
@@ -412,6 +441,15 @@ trips in order to reduce cost.  However, Conservancy does consider
 flights with two or more connections as unreasonable and does not
 expect Travelers to consider those flight options to be reasonable.
 
+It is permissible to adjust the times in your fare search to only reasonable
+travel times (i.e. avoiding redeyes where possible,  avoiding very early
+morning or late at night flights or if you need certain times due to
+obligations, personal or professional, you cannot move).  If the cheapest
+flight includes a layover of more than 3 hours more than the other relevant
+flights, or an overnight layover where one is not necessary, you can simply
+ignore the cheaper inconvenient flight (and say so in your reimbursement
+request).
+
 #### Excess Baggage
 
 Should a team member travel on an airline that charges for a single piece of