Flying High, On Your Dime

(CBS)  Most people would prefer to fly first class or even business class - for the extra space and luxury perks - but so-called "premium" class flights don't come cheaply.

"Travel that costs between five and 10 times what a regular airline ticket would cost," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

Yet thousands of times a year, federal workers are breaking the rules limiting such flights, treating themselves to expensive upgrades. And you're picking up the tab, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports.

A new Government Accountability Office report obtained by CBS News shows widespread abuse. In one year, federal workers bought 53,000 premium-class airline tickets at a cost of 230 million tax dollars. Investigators say two out of every three of those upgrades were improper - a full $146 million worth.

Take the case of 21 employees from the U.S. Trade Representative's office. If they'd flown to their Hong Kong meeting on coach like they were supposed to, it would've cost $31,000. Instead, they treated themselves to premium class for $99,000. That's $68,000 extra for just the one trip.

An Agriculture Department official flew from Washington, D.C. to Switzerland. Coach would've cost $900 but he scored a business class seat for $7,500.

And when a Foreign Agricultural Service executive took 10 trips to Geneva, Paris and elsewhere, it would have totaled less than $9,000 in coach. But with his luxury upgrades, it was $62,000. The GAO called the $53,000 dollar difference "abusive."

Most of the abuse was found in business class. Agencies are required to track and report first-class tickets, but not business. Now, that'll change according to Coleman who requested the GAO investigation.

"Right now agencies don't even know who's abusing the system," Coleman, the head of the subcommittee on investigations, said. "They don't know the extent of the abuse."

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Only On The Web: More With Sen. Norm Coleman

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After a similar report on travel abuse at the Defense Department in 2003, the Pentagon tightened its belt, and $60 million a year in premium flights shrank to $23 million.

In the report, the GAO doesn't name the individual abusers, but make no mistake, the names are on record - culled from government bank card records.

Not only will Congress be watching those upgrades more carefully, but under federal rules the offenders could also be forced to pay taxpayers back.

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UPDATE: On Nov. 19, 2007, the GAO released recommendations for improvements to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Internal Controls and Policies on premium-class air travel. Two government committees had requested the investigation. Among the findings: "Of the 145 USDA premium class trips we examined, 140 trips did not have documentation to justify premium class travel."

Check out the report here (14 pgs).

[ignathomer]

I''ve worked 27 years for the DOD and have NEVER flown anything other than coach. What BS.

[tejasdemo]

Wow, $146 mill. You could fund a war in some middle eastern country for two whole months on that.



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Posted by AaaBee at 10:35 AM : Oct 03, 2007


Or...maaaaaybe...give some kids free healthcare. no, no..wait...their must be a Wal Mart somewhere that needs another tax abatement to put up a store filled with Chinese junk....let''s use the money for that.

[romymouse]

A nice comparison of political appointees and ''regular'' federal employees would be useful. No doubt the approval process for Schedule C''s is a little less stringent than for the WG''s and GS''s.

[aaabee-2009]

Investigators say two out of every three of those upgrades were improper - a full $146 million worth."

Wow, $146 mill. You could fund a war in some middle eastern country for two whole months on that.

[pat9047]

I have been a Federal employee for 28 years. I have never used any other ticket than economy nor have I ever been offered upgrades. In order for someone to use business class or first class there had to be an approving official to authorize it. You are told you must travel at the cheapest rate. The employees who chose to travel business rate or first class knew they were not abiding by standard processes as did their approving officials. All those involved should have disciplanary actions taken against them.

[aaabee-2009]

Typical, Liberals spending the Taxpayers money for their comfort." Posted by gunnerv1 at 07:02 AM : Oct 03, 2007

You are mentally ill and should get professional help. Maybe if you came down out of the caves and interacted a bit with real human beings, rather than girlie magazines, you would see how psychotic and delusional you have become.

Have a great Bush day.

[aaabee-2009]

No travel voucher for a plane ticket costing $7000. would be approved without some serious explanation.
You can''t even take alternate transportation without a justification.

There is a chain of persons involved with monitoring and approving travel of Federal employees from the orders to travel to submission of voucher for payment after travel.

Fed employees do get to keep their own sky miles and can use them to upgrade their tickets. If you look at the way this article is written, I think it is a play on words.

There are always individuals who undermine any system but this article insults every supervisor and approving official and budget analyst that these travel orders and vouchers have to go through. Someone in that chain would notice these discrepancies and ask questions because they are as accountable as the traveler.

This kind of article is bad reporting; filler for slow news days. I think someone is trying to rile up those small brains that can be riled up by "news" of excess government spending.

Maybe this story will overblow Bush vetoing kids health care.

[afmca]

Easily resolved - fire the employee and fire the manager who approves the upgrade. Believe me these employees ARE NOT irreplaceable. You hear government workers whining about their private sector counterparts all the time, but if this happened in a business, people would be fired AND made to pay the company back. I am sick and tired of constantly hearing of government agencies that cannot even perform the simple act of bookkeeping - maybe Congress should hold all their funds until the have the proper controls in place.

[jeff-fla]

gunerv1
It is conservatives who are in office at this time. They are Bush appointees who are spending all this money.

[timaran]

I am also a federal employee who occasionally travels for work. I don''t know who or how these people get these "upgrades." My agency scrutinizes every travel request and voucher I submit. If I want an upgrade, I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, which is fair enough, in my opinion. In addition to being a fed, I''m also a taxpayer--I hate to see us (taxpayers) being gouged and I hate to see us (federal employees) being represented so poorly.