Fly America Act and Travelers' Liability

A foreign affairs officer appealed a Claims Division's denial of reimbursement for overseas travel on foreign air carriers. He and his dependents were transferred from Budapest, Hungary, to Washington, D.C. The officer and his dependents traveled from Budapest to Paris by foreign air carriers and completed the travel to the United States on a U.S. air carrier. The officer stated that these itineraries were cleared with the agency and airline officials who advised him that the routings were consistent with the requirements of the Fly America Act. When the officer submitted his travel voucher, the agency and, later, GAO determined that he should have traveled by a routing making proportionally greater use of U.S. air carriers, and a liability for travel by foreign air carrier was determined. The officer contended that he received erroneous advice from his agency and that the Fly America Act should not be enforced. The Act states that U.S. carriers must be used to the extent that service by such carriers is available. Since a U.S. air carrier provides service from Budapest to Washington, the officer and his dependents were required to use that service rather than the foreign air carriers which were used. To the extent that their deviation from that routing resulted in a reduction in U.S. air carrier revenues, the Fly America Act requires that the expenditure for their travel by foreign air carriers be disallowed. Further, the Government cannot be estopped by the erroneous advice of its employees. The portion of the travel accomplished on foreign air carriers may not be reimbursed, regardless of the officer's detrimental reliance on erroneous advice. Accordingly, the Claims Division's finding was sustained. Since the officer's liability may have been improperly computed, his liability should be recomputed on the basis of authorized travel using U.S. air carriers for the entire distance.