Federal Officials Too Often Flying First and Business Class, GAO Finds

The cost of federal travel is taking off -- for all the wrong reasons.

Federal officials have been flying first class and business class a lot more often than they are supposed to, costing taxpayers about $146 million a year, according to a new Government Accountability Office study.

Congressional investigators analyzed federal agencies' travel records from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006, and found that the government spent $230 million on about 53,000 premium-class tickets. In more than two-thirds of the cases, the high-priced travel was not properly authorized or justified, and the officials should have flown coach instead. Investigators blamed the problem on weak internal controls at agencies.

In general, federal guidelines allow premium-class travel when individuals have a physician-certified physical disability, when such travel is needed for security purposes, when the mission is urgent and coach is not available, or when the destination is outside the United States and scheduled flight time is more than 14 hours with no rest stops along the route.

But flying in style is costly. A business-class ticket typically costs about five times as much as coach fare, and sometimes it's even more, the GAO found.

For example, investigators found that an Agriculture Department executive flew business class from Washington to Zurich for $7,500. A coach ticket would have cost $900.

In another case, 21 employees from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative traveled business class from Washington to Hong Kong for an international trade meeting at a cost of $100,000. But there was no paperwork justifying the premium-class travel. Flying coach no doubt would have been a lot less comfortable, but it would have only cost $32,000, the GAO found.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who requested the investigation, has introduced legislation that would require the executive branch to report business class and first-class travel to Congress every year.

"The abuse of business-class travel is particularly troubling," Coleman said. "No one disputes the fact that government officials need to travel, as not all work can be done behind a desk. Nor should all premium-class travel be eliminated. But the rules are there for a reason, and the federal government should enforce them. We simply need the necessary oversight mechanisms in place to ensure that taxpayers' dollars are spent properly."

-- Christopher Lee