Report: Millions wasted on gov't travel

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.

A draft report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, is the first to examine compliance with travel rules across the federal government following reports of extensive abuse of premium-class travel by Pentagon and State Department employees.

The review of travel spending by more than a dozen agencies from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, found 67 percent of premium-class travel by executives or their employees, worth at least $146 million, was unauthorized or otherwise unjustified.

Among the worst offenders: the State Department, whose employees typically fly abroad on official business.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/government_travel_waste

[AnnieBW]

1. Frequent Flier Miles

When you travel on official business for the Federal Government, you're allowed to keep your frequent flier miles. I know several Feds who have the miles to travel in business class on international flights. The rules are that the government pays for your coach ticket, but you use your own miles to upgrade.

[iaviate1]

2. At $7200 these people are paying full fare.

I can see the justification for business travel, but first class?

[pitohui]

4. if you're forced to travel for your job, it should be first class, you're gambling your health

it is a health issue, deep vein thrombosis is not as rare as we once believed and certainly any woman who flies on business on a flight more than 4 hours should be going first/business courtesy of her employer

if you want to play games with your own health on your own dime, fine, but when you have to travel for your JOB, yes, it should be first/business class

you don't want your health put at risk on your job, well, neither does anyone else, thank you

if the flight ain't that important, then teleconference but if you're sending someone overseas -- and the state dept is all about sending the person overseas -- then it is only right for them to go business class

[Amonester]

6. Can you be more specific, and "elaborate" on the difference between

first/business class and "lower"/class. I mean, they're all flying at the same altitudes.

If there is a difference (for health), please explain. Thank you.

[pitohui]

7. it's a huge difference in space, it's called DVT/economy class syndrome

deep vein thrombosis kills, and you get it by sitting for a long time in a cramped space

in business/first class, when traveling overseas, you get a seat that actually lays flat, like a bed, so you can stretch out and have room

in coach, no matter how far the trip, you get a seat barely wide enough for my narrow 120 # ass

people die of this, and women who are more prone to vein problems, and are at higher risk if they take female hormones such as birth control pills or hormone replacement therapy, have several times the risk of dying than they would if they had sufficient room to move around and elevate their feet -- in theory it can impact men too altho i haven't known any men to be impacted, but you can't give a privilege just to women and not to men or it's another reason not to promote them to positions of responsibility

ALL travelers by air should possess this very basic health information

what happens is, a blood clot (or several) forms in the deep veins of your legs because you were unable to move/elevate them -- the clot can get loose and travel to your lungs or brain, killing you

next time you travel TATL/TPAC then you will see a film telling you about it, unfortunately, by then you're on the plane and it's a bit late to change your seat!

on the ground, we never sleep in a chair, we sleep in our beds with our feet safely elevated

[Amonester]

9. Ok, thanks. (One more question, if I may.)

Would any "fitness" program help prevent these problems, and if they would help, would they "cost" less?

[pitohui]

12. no there is no fitness program that prevents DVT

i would be considered fit as i have never been other than at my ideal weight or slightly under my ideal weight and i have exercised daily since i was 12 years old

nonetheless because i am female and have to take hormones then i have had an issue

it's scary enough to see your leg quadruple in size, it's even more scary to realize that if the clot breaks loose and goes to the wrong place, you're dead in 24 hours

i have heard of a woman as young as age 28 dying of DVT after flying to the usa from australia but obviously your risk is much greater in middle age and older

[Amonester]

15. Then the GAO report is wrong.

Is there a "way" to "make them know this" important information?

Or why would they not have anyone telling them this in the first place??

[pitohui]

16. yes, the report is wrong, and i'm sure that they know it is

it appears to be the cheapest form of political pandering and pot stirring rather than about accurate information

look downstream, apparently the report is lying about what gov't pays for refundable fares also

[iaviate1]

8. If you have back issues...

it can be very painful to cram yourself into a coach seat... especially for more than a couple of hours. Not that anybody is comfortable, but if you're flying on business you can work on your laptop... even when the person in front of you is reclining. And business travelers are often expected to hit the road and get busy once at their destination. As a disclaimer, I work for an airline. But I have been lucky enough to travel in first/business class and it makes a huge difference. A ground delay isn't quite so stressful when you have unlimited refreshments, your own plug/entertainment system, and real food.

[pitohui]

10. yes, back issues and jet lag too

most trans atlantic flights seem to be red-eyes for reasons best known to yourself, if you're expected to fly all night and land in Gatwick and it's 10 AM and you've got to take a meeting immediately...well...there's no way unless you were in business class so you were able to sleep

[Alcibiades]

3. The biggest waste is that all their tickets are refundable!

It is, I think, policy of the entire US government that all tickets be refundable You pay, what, a 100% premium on that?

We could save more than 146 million per annum, probably in the billions, if the government just bought non-refundable tickets. The small number of times it saves the government money would be more than made up for by the cost savings.

[pitohui]

5. this is true, and the premium is often several hundred percent

it is very bad math to buy a refundable ticket, i've seen domestic tix that were non refundables for $164 yet the refundable ticket was $800 -- no kidding!

[CreekDog]

14. no this is not true

a condition of government contract fares is that they are refundable and that they are the same price if bought months in advance or just a day in advance.

please don't pretend to know this if you in fact, do not know how federal gov't travel works. it is cheaper than the ticket I could buy for myself months in advance usually.

http://fedtravel.com and look at the fares before you start throwing around your $800 price.

[pitohui]

17. ok this is great information -- it appears this entire report is pretty much a pack of lies

i wasn't talking about gov't travel, my husband works for a small company and i sometimes book the travel, they don't have access to these choices

it appears to me that this "report" is just pandering and trying to take away people's decent treatment during business travel just to make a political point

[CreekDog]

18. thx sorry for coming back so hard

[Traditional Liberal]

11. Refundable tickets, among other things

The government does not buy plane tickets retail, generally. They have city pairs with GSA negotiated fares with carriers that give them discounted rates, most government tickets are cheaper than you can buy them when they are actually purchased, because thousands of tickets are bought 1 to 7 days in advance, which is how most government travel is purchased and is the most expensive time to buy tickets.

Nonrefundable tickets would be a disaster for everyone except the airlines.

It's not a surprise that political appointees refuse to follow the rules, or claim not to know them. It's a triple win for them--they get to discredit the department they work for (witness the screaming headlines about those wasteful bureaucrats), fly first class, and make you resent paying your taxes. Many of them have grown addicted to that level of comfort in their six or seven figure positions before their occupation of the government, and coming to the government was a step down for them.

Don't hold your breath that any of them in this administration will ever be billed for it.

As for the State Department people, I don't care about them. There's a few thousand foreign service officers in all, many of them live in the some of biggest hell holes on earth. Some practically live in airports.

[CreekDog]

13. No the gov't refundable ticket is probably less than your ticket

The prices are usually set by government contract.

For example, my ticket SF to DC last spring, $187 each way, to LA is 79 or so.

[Alcibiades]

20. On refundability

Maybe in some cases the government refundable ticket is cheaper than my nonrefundable ticket, but I doubt it. I have a relative who works for the DoJ who is often traveling for court and training. Much of the time, they have court dates well in advance of a week, and they could buy a lot sooner. They often check the travel sites to compare against the rates they are getting from the government contracted travel agency, and have reported to me that these tickets are much more expensive than retail nonrefundable tickets. Probably they are cheaper than retail refundable tickets, but who buys those anyway? (Interestingly, they have also reported that there are times when they need to get a fare to a certain place at a certain price , they call the agent and, if the fare does not exist, magically an airline makes tickets available at that price within the hour.)

Much of the time, the people the government has traveling on their behalf know a long time in advance when they need to go. Many of these dates don't change. I have no problem with folks who think there may need to be some change buying refundable tickets, my question is, if many people who travel on government business know that there is no way in hell they are going to need to change their tickets, who are they not allowed to buy non-refundable tickets instead? The government does some crazy, crazy shit in the name of cost savings nowadays--why can't they just ask people to buy refundable tickets where possible?

[Up2Late]

19. This is News? I think most of us knew this already, but it's nice to see it made official.

I personally would like to know how much *Bush wastes every year on his BS flights on AF-1, flying to all these totally unnecessary BullSh*t Photo-Ops he does every few days. I bet the bills run in the BILLIONS of Dollars range.