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Politics

U.S. workers fly high at taxpayers' expense

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

A draft report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday, is the first to examine travel abuse across the federal government following reports of extensive misuse 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 that 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.

Many of the cases involved high-ranking senior officials or political appointees who claimed exceptions to federal travel rules by citing old medical records or questionable approval from a subordinate employee.

Investigators found that senior officials often flew business- or first-class because they felt entitled to the perk.

The higher airfare for traveling in one of the premium classes resulted in expenses often five to 10 times more than what was authorized under government travel rules.

"With the serious fiscal challenges facing the federal government, agencies must maximize their ability to manage and safeguard valuable taxpayers' dollars," investigators wrote, suggesting agencies recoup the extra cost from those who abuse travel policies.

Under federal rules, government employees generally must fly coach for both domestic and international travel unless the flight takes 14 hours or longer. A few exceptions apply when the employee receives agency approval based on a medical condition, security concerns, lack of availability of coach seats or when required "because of agency mission."

The GAO, Congress' investigative and auditing arm, said it was referring all cases it found of improper and abusive travel to the respective agencies and inspector general's offices for possible administrative action and repayment of the difference between premium-class and coach-class travel.

FAST FACTS

Who's in first

-Thirty-two State Department employees flew from Washington to Liberia in premium class over a six-month period. The trips did not meet the 14-hour rule.

-At the Pentagon, a political appointee took 15 premium-class flights and cited a medical condition as justification, but the only evidence was a note signed by a fellow Pentagon employee, not a physician, attesting to surgery from several years earlier.

-Nine Justice Department employees charged the agency $35,000 for premium-class air tickets to Frankfurt, Germany, claiming the flight time was more than 14 hours. Investigators found they tacked on a separate flight to reach the 14-hour total.

[Last modified October 3, 2007, 01:24:48]