[Decision Concerning FAA Employee's Entitlement to Reimbursement for Additional Travel Expenses]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requested a decision regarding a transferred employee's claim for reimbursement for travel expenses. FAA advised that it: (1) authorized travel expenses for the claimant's and his family's transfer to the new permanent duty station and for the claimant's temporary duty travel; (2) limited its reimbursement of the claimant's family travel expenses to the costs of travel directly between the old and new permanent duty stations; and (3) disallowed the lodging portion of the claimant's per diem, since he rented lodging from another FAA employee. GAO held that FAA: (1) should reimburse the claimant for his lodging expenses, since there was no evidence that the temporary lodging was anything other than a business arrangement; and (2) properly disallowed the additional expenses caused by the claimant's personal preference to have his family accompany him during his temporary duty travel. Accordingly, the claim was allowed in part.