A travel request is the starting point for every corporate trip. You create one in a six-step wizard, and once it is submitted it goes to the approvers configured on your user record. Booking only becomes available after the request is approved.
Starting a New Request
Go to Requests > New Request — or click New Request on the requests list. The wizard has six steps, shown across the top of the page: Trip Details, Booking Method, Travelers, Requirements, Budget, and Review. Move between them with Next and Previous; individual steps are not validated as you go, so all checks happen when you submit.
Step 1: Trip Details
- Trip Type — Domestic, International, or Regional (SADC).
- Purpose of Travel * — A dropdown of the purpose categories your administrator configured, plus Other (specify), which reveals a free-text box. Some purposes display a note that they require additional justification.
- Origin City * and Destination City * — Free-text fields. If your administrator has configured city locations, they appear as suggestions while you type; otherwise type the city name yourself.
- Departure Date * and Return Date * — Chosen with the date picker.
Step 2: Booking Method
Choose GDS Booking Portal (you book the trip yourself after approval) or Consultant Assistance (a travel consultant books it for you). Choosing consultant assistance adds a Special Instructions for Consultant box and places the request in the consultant booking queue as soon as you submit.
Step 3: Travelers
The first traveller is pre-filled with your own name and email. Click Add Traveler to put more people on the same request. Each traveller has Full Name and Email (both required when you submit) plus optional phone and role fields. ID and passport numbers are not asked for on a travel request.
Step 4: Requirements
- Flight Required — Ticked by default; reveals Preferred Class (Economy, Premium Economy, Business).
- Accommodation Required — Ticked by default; reveals Hotel Preference (Budget 2-3 Star, Standard 3-4 Star, Premium 4-5 Star).
- Car Rental Required — Off by default.
- Special Requests — Free text for anything else.
Step 5: Budget and Justification
Only Estimated Budget (ZAR) * is required on this step. Department, Budget Code, Cost Center, Project Code, and Business Justification are separate optional fields. When you select a Budget Code, a usage bar shows the amount still available and the percentage used — it turns yellow above 75% and red above 90%. The bar is informational only; a nearly exhausted budget does not block the request.
Under Supporting Documents you can upload PDFs, images, and Word documents (up to 100 MB per file), such as purchase orders or authorization letters. Uploaded files are listed with a remove button.
Step 6: Review and Submit
The Review step summarises everything you entered. Click Submit Request to send it for approval. If a required field is missing, the wizard jumps back to the step concerned and shows the error. The required fields are: origin, destination, both dates, purpose, a name and email for every traveller, and the estimated budget.
Saving a Draft
Save Draft in the page header saves the request as a draft without validating it, so you can finish it later. Cancel discards it and returns you to the list. Drafts appear at Requests > All Requests with a Draft badge, where you can edit or delete them. Approvers do not see drafts.
After You Submit
The request is created with the status Pending Approval. You receive an in-app notification confirming the submission, and the first approver in your chain is notified in the app too. TravelFlow does not send email for travel-request submission, approval, or rejection, so track progress with the notification bell and the requests list.