Savings Available by Using Airline Discount Fares

A substantial savings could be achieved by Federal employees' use of airline discount fares rather than regular coach class air fares when feasible. Most major airlines offer discount fares that are about 15 to 35 percent lower than coach class fares.

Despite regulations requiring the use of special lower fares when practical, most agencies are not taking advantage of these fares. One of the most frequently missed discount fares is the round trip excursion fare. Restrictions requiring that reservations be confirmed at least 14 days in advance prevent some travelers from using these fares in spite of the fact that there is no penalty for canceling or changing these reservations. In cases such as travel for courses, seminars, and conferences, travel dates are known at least 14 days in advance and excursion fares can be utilized. Savings can also result from use of group fares. Federal travel office personnel, who are aware of discount fares, do not always use them because of late travel requests. At some agencies, travelers who were not aware of discount fares made their own reservations. Several million dollars annually were believed to be lost by the Government because of failure to take advantage of discount fares.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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