Payment to Employee for Voluntarily Vacating Seat on Overbooked Airplane

The National Association of Government Employees requested a decision concerning the entitlement of a Department of the Army employee to retain a payment he received from an airline in consideration of his vacating his seat on an overbooked flight and taking a later flight. At issue was whether this payment might be distinguished from denied boarding compensation which must be turned over to the Government. The employee voluntarily gave up his seat in return for meals, overnight lodging, guaranteed reservations the next morning, and a cash payment from the airline. He returned to his duty station the next day at the same time he had originally planned and did not claim additional per diem incident to the delay in his return travel. The Army ordered the employee to pay the amount he received to the Government on the basis of regulations and GAO decisions holding that denied boarding compensation must be paid to the Government. GAO held that denied boarding compensation was distinguishable from voluntary payment and that employees may retain voluntary payments under the following conditions: (1) if an employee gives up his seat and incurs additional travel expenses, those additional expenses must be offset against the payment received; (2) an employee is not expected to give up a reserved seat when doing so would impinge upon the performance of his official duties; and (3) to the extent the travel is delayed during official duty hours, the employee would be charged annual leave for the additional hours. Accordingly, GAO held that, in this case, the employee could retain the payment he received from the airline.