The SMT travel agency provides emergency services to travellers. In situations such as those recently reported from Paris and Brussels, SMT checks the flight information of University travellers, i.e., whether University staff have flown to the destination for work. If such travellers are at the destination, SMT will send them a text message asking them whether they are OK or need assistance. Always reply to such messages! If you do not need assistance, reply OK. If you need assistance, reply HELP. The text message will always be sent in English (see the model message below). The alert message will be sent from the number +358 44 731 2281, and you should send your reply (OK or HELP) to the same number. This emergency message number cannot be called.
Model of an SMT travel alert:

SMT Travel Alerts: TEST Here we will explain what has happened and where Reply OK for keep your current itinerary Reply HELP for assistance

If you reply HELP, the travel agency will call you and try to help you with, for example, return flights if you need to depart swiftly.
If you do not reply anything, the travel agency will keep trying to contact you until they reach you. You should always reply to the message so that the travel agency does not waste time when they could help those in need.
The travel agency may send travel alerts at night, but if the situation at the destination is not life-threatening, the agency can wait until the following morning (local time) to call you. This means that if you have received a message at night, you should reply to it first thing in the morning. If the situation at the destination is life-threatening and all travellers are to be evacuated as soon as possible, the travel agency will call you at night.
The travel agency will not send alerts to travellers unless there is a real emergency and travellers may need assistance. Such alerts will not be sent, for example, if a flight is cancelled or there is a strike, and travellers need not worry that they will be unnecessarily contacted during their work-related travel.

If travellers themselves wish to contact the travel agency in the case of problems during travel, members of the University can call the SMT University team’s 24/7 hotline, tel. +358 10 818 9580. The team will answer calls from 9.00 to 17.00, and calls will be automatically transferred to a 24 h service at other times.

All travellers must save this number on their mobile phone: +358 10 818 9580

The SMT’s emergency services are free for travellers. It is important that flights are ordered via SMT, the University’s contractual travel agency, so that the University knows the destinations of its staff on work-related travel and can find out whether they are OK or need assistance.

Wishing you safe travels,
Satu Lerssi