Top Gripes About Government Trips

Take the case of a Justice Department supervisor who recently tried to fly in and out of San Diego for a trip to San Francisco. "I had relatives in the San Diego area who were going to be headed up to San Francisco for the conference," she says, "and I was hoping to spend some of my own time with them traveling between the two cities. The airfare between D.C. and San Diego was $200 less round trip than the flight to San Francisco, but my government travel office refused to allow it because San Diego was not my true destination. They insisted that government travel regs required me to fly in and out of the city I was doing business in. So to San Francisco I flew-for $200 more."

David Downey, who is an assistant manager at the engine and propeller directorate of the Federal Aviation Administration in Boston, also bemoans inflexible travel rules. "In our office," Downey says, "we travel to Seattle frequently. Northwest Airlines just canceled its last morning direct [flight]. Now we must travel earlier in the day and make a connection. Connections cost in lost time and missed flights. Try to go through Detroit or Minneapolis in November through March without a delay. [The General Services Administration] points out how much money is saved, but the lost productivity and very disgruntled employees have their toll as well."

Being locked into the contract city-pair carriers causes much strife. "For many city pairs I need to transfer at a hub airport to get the lowest fairs," says Ira Grossman, a systems engineer at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "For instance, to go from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, I must travel out of Washington National Airport instead of Dulles Airport (which is closer to my home) because there is almost a $426 difference in airfares. The flight from National stops at Chicago O'Hare, where I must change planes. The flight from Dulles is nonstop."

An Air Force civilian says his trips are hours longer because the contract carrier flies "in the opposite direction of the destination, to a hub city, and then on to the final destination." He cites a trip from Indianapolis to Pittsburgh to get to Los Angeles. "This is especially exasperating when some carriers that fly direct match the airfare of the contract carrier."

Location, Location, Location

A good seat can make the difference between tolerable and intolerable on a business flight. "On airplanes, the 'government' seat seems to be a middle seat in the back row near the lavatories or just ahead of an exit row where the seats don't recline," says Jonathan Pepper, a Treasury Department employee who travels frequently to market savings bonds.

"I find it hard to believe it's a coincidence that everyone sitting around me is also a government traveler," adds Denise Henderson, an instructional systems specialist at Fort Belvoir, Va.

Representatives of several major carriers Government Executive contacted say federal travelers are treated the same as any full-fare customers. "That's absolutely not true [that federal travelers are identified for purposes of seat assignments]," says Bill Quackenbush, worldwide manager of military and government sales for American Airlines. "I don't know where that [perception] comes from."

Frequently Futile

Federal workers are steamed that they can't use the frequent-flier miles they earn with all those cramped seats, layovers and plane changes to make life on the road a little less bitter.They want to upgrade on long flights, board before overhead bins are full and wait in the lounge when a flight is canceled.

The rule prohibiting personal use of frequent-flier miles isn't likely to change, according to GSA and General Accounting Office travel experts. So travelers' best bet probably is to lobby their agencies to start gain-sharing programs that allow employees to benefit from the frequent-flier miles earned or money saved by traveling frugally.

And travelers should join airlines' frequent-flier clubs anyhow, the experts advise, to use the membership status to get better seats, early boarding and other allowable perks.

Asking Too Much

Many federal travelers especially resent being asked to travel on personal time.

The time spent in travel on the weekends, says one Air Force civilian, "over the span of a year, can add up to a sizeable chunk of time--days turning into weeks-being taken away from time [with my family]," he says.

An Army employee agrees: "If the people who schedule these meetings would be more considerate of the people who have to fly/drive, and schedule the meetings to start on Monday afternoon, or better, Tuesday morning, it would be greatly appreciated. Apparently the people who require the travel and give the comp time don't realize that we have a life and family obligations outside of work."

Inflexibility seems to be the travel watchword at many agencies. A Defense Department traveler says that while he was on travel for three weeks, he was told he couldn't use his rental car for weekend activities. "So, let me get this straight," he says. "I am away from home for three weeks on government business. I have two weekends of my time for which I am not paid and I cannot use the rental car for [anything] other than [a] limited distance for meals.

"The reality of the situation is that most folks do use the rental car over the weekends. But why should we have to violate a regulation that has no common sense to it? We've been told that the government has to adopt best commercial practices. I would love to see the commercial companies" that would treat their employees this way.

Other travelers complain that, despite much-publicized streamlining efforts, reimbursements are still slow as molasses. A Navy employee says it "still takes an average of three weeks or more to get a deposit in my bank and another two to three weeks to get my file copy of settlement."

An Army procurement analyst stationed overseas sums up travel paperwork agony: "Our travel office requires five copies of all travel voucher documents, including five copies of all receipts," he says. "Heaven knows who keeps them all."

No Room at the Inn

Federal travelers often can't find a room at or below per diem, especially when they insist on basics such as cleanliness, security and convenient access to the work site.

Navy visual information manager William Church has a project in St. Paul, Minn., and he'd like to stay close to the state house, where he'll be working. "But rates at most decent hotels in the area far exceed the $64 per diem ceiling for lodging," says Church. "Accordingly, I have no choice but to 'out-of-pocket' the difference or lower my sights and stay further out in a typical low-end 'cinder block palace.' Such 'serviceable' quarters can usually be found within per diem, but they're typically not as safe and secure as I'd like, nor are they generally located in the best part of town. I'm not out to try to make money on the deal, nor do I need to live in the lap of luxury. I'd simply like to be comfortable," he says.

Feds say they most often hear "no" when traveling to conferences. The unattractive alternatives include "jumping major hurdles to be allowed an exemption," as a Census Bureau worker puts it, "or to endure the inconvenience of staying far away and traveling back and forth in a strange city (usually after dark), or to pay the difference from your own wallet." She, like many others, usually chooses the last option.

Help is on the way, says Bill Rivers of GSA's office of governmentwide policy, which sets the per diem rates. His group is working up a special system that will be designed to solve the lack of satisfactory rooms at per diem prices for feds attending conferences.

Another project will directly contract for rooms with major hotel and motel chains in top federal destinations, removing the need for travelers to worry about lodging rates. (For more on changes in lodging per diems, see "Course Changes Cause Confusion," April 1999.)

Lauren R. Taylor can be reached at ltaylor@
govexec.com.