When your international trip has been approved, you can proceed with booking the flights that were approved by CIRES Travel as part of the traveler's trip request. You should not book a different itinerary other than the one approved as part of your trip request, unless you've received approval from CIRES Travel for the changes.
Using Concur
Travelers are allowed to use Concur to build quotes and book airfare for international travel. When navigating Concur, you can confirm that your flight is on a US carrier by filtering your view of available fares by air carrier and clicking "Show All Details" once you've selected an outbound and returning itinerary. A flight is considered a US carrier flight if it has a US airline flight number.
Using Christopherson Business Travel (CBT)
Travelers are allowed to work with CBT to obtain quotes and book airfare for international travel. When working with CBT, if your trip is being supported by federal funds, please communicate to CBT that you are looking for a flight that uses all US Air Carriers, for every leg of travel, to the greatest extent possible. (Cost and convenance are not exceptions to the Fly America Act).
Exceptions to the Fly America Act
The Fly America Act permits the following exceptions, if they are documented at the time the foreign air carrier tickets are purchased. In some cases, approval from the Federal agency supporting the travel may be required before the airfare can be booked.
A US air carrier is not available because:
- Use of a foreign air carrier is necessary for medical reasons.
- Seat on a US air carrier is not available in an allowable class of service.
- No US air carrier provides services for that route or segment of a route.
Using a US air carrier adds excessive travel time, in the following manner:
- Extending the total travel time, including delays at the travel point of origin, by 24 hours or more.
- A US air carrier does not offer nonstop service and using a US carrier increases the number of aircraft changes by 2 or more.
- A US air carrier does not offer nonstop service and using a US carrier extends the travel time by at least 6 hours.
- A US air carrier does not offer nonstop service and using a US carrier requires a connecting time of 4 hours or more at an overseas interchange point.
Changes outside the traveler's control and/or avoiding unreasonable risk to traveler's safety:
- The US carrier rerouted traveler on a foreign air carrier after the initial ticket was purchased.
- Use of a non-US carrier is necessary to avoid unreasonable risk to traveler's safety. See 41 CFR 301-10.138(b)(2).
One of the following Open Skies Exceptions can be applied:
- Air travel is on a European Union (EU) Member State, Norway or Iceland carrier to/from the US.
- Air travel is on a Switzerland, Australia or Japan carrier to/from the US and there is no city-pair contract fare in effect between the point of origin and the destination. City pair fares can be verified using GSA Airline City Pairs.
- Travel is between two points outside of the US and is conducted by a EU Member State, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Australia or Japan carrier.
Additionally, there are sponsor-specific restrictions on the acceptability of applying an Open Skies Exception to an international trip, including:
- The Open Skies Partner exception cannot be used for travel funded by the Department of Defense.
- The use of the Open Skies Partner exception for travel funded by the Department of Commerce, which includes cooperative agreements from NOAA, must receive prior written approval from the agency's administrative office
And, as of January 1, 2021, the Open Skies Agreement between the US and European Union no longer includes the United Kingdom as a member state.
The following are not considered exceptions to the Fly America Act:
- A comparable or similar service can be provided at less cost by a non-US carrier.
- A non-US carrier is preferred by or more convenient for the traveler.
Code Sharing
A foreign air carrier operating under a code share agreement with a US air carrier is considered a US air carrier as long as the ticket is issued under the US carrier's airline designator and flight number.
For example:
Compliant with Fly America Act: American Airlines (AA) 1234 operated by Qantas Airways (QF) 4321
Not Compliant with Fly America Act: QF 4321 operated by AA 1234
The most commonly used US air carriers are:
- Alaska Airlines (AS)
- American Airlines (AA)
- Continental Airlines (CO)
- Delta Airlines (DL)
- Frontier Airlines (F9)
- Hawaiian Airlines (HA)
- JetBlue Airways (B6)
- Southwest Airlines (WN)
- Spirit Airlines (NK)
- United Airlines (UA)
City-Pair Programs
For the bilateral agreements between the US, Australia, Switzerland and Japan, there is a restriction in place for travel between cities for which there is a City-Pair contract rate in effect. Although we are not eligible for the City-Pair rates (these rates are only guaranteed to Government employees), we are expected to use a US air carrier for travel between the US and any city for which there is a City-Pair rate.
Using the General Services Administration (GSA) City-Pair search tool, you can determine whether a City-Pair contract fare is in effect and therefore, whether you are required to use a US air carrier.
Responsibilities for Non-Compliant Airfare
Travelers are responsible for ensuring that all travel cost incurred and assigned to the funding sources supporting their trip are reasonable, allowable, allocable, and appropriate. CIRES Travel can help inform travelers on applicable rules for conducting travel and can help ensure that airfare itineraries that CIRES traveler’s plan to book are compliant with the Fly America Act.
Travelers that do not follow CIRES policy and procedures as outlined in the travel approval process will be held financially and/or personally responsible for the cost of non-compliant or unallowable travel charges.
Resources
Contact CIRES Travel with questions
Fly America Act policy on the General Services Administration website, here.
Office of Contracts and Grants (OCG) information on the Fly America Act, here.