Frequent flier legislation comes in for a landing

Federal employees can use frequent flier miles earned on government travel, under an amendment included in the fiscal 2002 Defense Authorization bill, which passed Thursday afternoon. Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and John Warner, R-Va., added the amendment, arguing that allowing federal workers to keep their frequent flier miles would help federal retention and recruitment efforts The long-awaited employee benefit allows civil service, military and Foreign Service employees to use frequent flier miles obtained on government travel for personal use. The benefit is retroactive, allowing federal employees to use miles earned prior to the bill's enactment. The measure was a hot button topic this year. Two other bills, S. 1369 and H.R. 2456 were introduced this year offering the same benefit. Previously, federal employees were not allowed to use their frequent flier miles because of the 1994 Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (Public Law 103-355), which prohibited federal employees from accepting promotional items they received while traveling at government expense.