Indirect Travel by Foreign Air Carrier and Railroad

A Commissioner of the International Joint Commission, United States and Canada, was authorized to travel by air from Portland, Maine, to Vancouver, British Columbia, and return to Portland. When the Commissioner completed his official duties in Vancouver, he traveled by rail at a cost of $46.84 to Calgary, Alberta, for personal business. He then returned to Portland by air, using a foreign air carrier between Calgary and Chicago, Illinois, because he believed that only foreign air carriers provided service from Calgary. Since U.S. air carrier service to Portland, Maine, by way of Denver, Colorado, was available in Calgary on the morning the Commissioner traveled, the Department of State disallowed a portion of the amount claimed for travel as a penalty for improper use of a foreign air carrier. GAO sustained this opinion. The traveler may not be reimbursed travel expenses representing revenues diverted from U.S. air carriers to foreign air carriers. Using the fare proration method of computation, the Fly America Act penalty is determined by subtracting the rail fare from the amount of revenues lost by U.S. air carriers.