[Claim for Reimbursement for Unused Portion of Airline Ticket]

The Social Security Administration (SSA) requested an advance decision concerning whether an employee may reclaim the unused portion of an airline ticket purchased by the government. The employee was authorized to perform official airline travel and voluntarily vacated a seat on the return flight that was overbooked. The airline company issued a miscellaneous charge order (MCO) to be used on a standby basis within 1 year. A Claims Group settlement determined that the employee should be allowed to keep the MCO, but SSA instructed him not to use it until the Comptroller General had rendered a decision as to its ownership. However, the employee used the MCO to purchase a ticket for a personal trip and a segment of an official trip. The employee contended that: (1) the MCO was issued to him personally for use on a standby basis; and (2) since he had no official travel before its expiration date, he took the initiative of trying to save the government money by using the ticket. He felt that equity and good conscience dictated that his reclaim for the business-related portion of the ticket was justified. GAO found that, since the employee did not personally incur or pay for any expenses of travel, the government had no obligation to reimburse him for the travel costs. Accordingly, the reclaim voucher may not be certified for payment.