Authority: JFTR Chapter Seven (U7150)
Forward: The DOD uses a reserve force at certain times.
These personnel are recalled to active duty for a specified period
of time and will serve at specific locations. SatoTravel provides
travel services to these personnel in the same manner as we do for
active duty military personnel. Reserve forces will receive
travel orders authorizing travel from a specific point to a
specific point for a certain number of days. Reservists will only
have, for our purposes, Emergency Leave or TDY orders.
A. Validate Order Content
- Member’s Name and Rank
- Social Security Number
- Origin
- Destination
- Proceed Date (Only if a travel order is for a new mission.)
- Accounting citation
- Order is not expired. (TDY orders are valid from the date of
issue and only for the number of days as listed on the orders. See
section on expired TDY orders below.)
- Ensure that a complete set of orders are provided.
- Verify that orders have been signed and approved.
FOP (Form of Payment): If the order does not direct a form of payment,
or if travelers would like to use an IBA when CBA is directed, ticketing can be
provided however advise the member that the orders may have to be amended before
a voucher can be filed.
Any statement on the order indicating that the member is a Government IBA
card holder (i.e. "IBA may be authorized") is to be interpreted as mandatory use
of the IBA. Tickets can not be issued without an amended order.
See CBA - IBA Matrix
for required counseling.
FOP (Form of Payment) CINCUSEUCOM: All personnel assigned to
CINCUSEUCOM, who are primarily based in Stuttgart or Belgium, have been
authorized to utilize their individual IBA, the Government IBA or the
Government CBA regardless of the FOP directed on the travel order. If the FOP
used is different than what is stated on the travel order, we must advise
the traveler that the orders may have to be amended before a voucher can be filed.
Reminder, government fares can only be purchased with a government IBA or
Government CBA.
Special Orders: In the future, members may provide "special orders"
in an email format. These email orders must contain the same information as
identified in "a - f" above in order for travel to be provided.
Variations Authorized
If the TDY travel orders specify that variations are authorized,
indicated by a check mark in the small box next to "variations
authorized" (block 11 on DD1610), the member will be allowed
to vary his itinerary based on duty requirements. If variations
authorized is checked, the traveler can select a destination that
is not entered on the travel orders.
- The traveler may vary his travel itinerary
at any time prior to departure, after departure or at anytime during his
travel.
- The variations authorization cannot be used to
allow travel to a leisure destination.
- The variations authorization does not allow a
member to upgrade their class of service to business or first
class.
Expired Order
- Emergency Leave: Orders are valid from the date of
issue and only for the number of days as listed on the order.
- TDY: If a set of TDY orders allowed a maximum duty
length of 120 days (this would be listed on the orders as
"approximate length of duty"), once 120 days had past
from the "proceed on date", these orders would no
longer be valid. The member would require an extension or
amendment to the TDY orders to authorize travel. Refer the member to the
SACOR for assistance.
B. Communicate Entitlements
Emergency Leave Entitlement
- Travel from the TDY duty station to the commercial airport
servicing the TDY duty station is authorized by common carrier. Common carrier
is defined as rail, bus or private auto.
- If the Reservist provides you with:
- The TDY or Deployment order that brought them to OCONUS the reservist is entitled
to one way travel from the overseas TDY station to their stateside base, or the place in which they were
called to active duty. (i.e Centralization location)
- An Emergency Leave order the reservist is entitled to round trip transportation
from the overseas TDY station to the entry port in the United States, which was determined
by USAREUR to be Boston, MA. Entitlement is the same as for a member whose PDS is in Germany.
- A TDY or Deployment order AND an Emergency Leave order the reservist is entitled
to one way Government sponsored travel to their point of origin in the United States or to the actual emergency
leave destination provided the cost of travel does not exceed the cost of travel to the members authorized
stateside duty station. A copy of both orders are required for our records.
Emergency Leave Entitled Travel Options
A stop-over in route is authorized as long as there are no additional
costs to the government. Stop-over privilege will be determined by the rules
of the airline being used.
TDY Entitlement
- The member is entitled to Government paid travel
from his/her current place of assignment to a specified TDY
destination(s) and return to his/her place of assignment.
- The member is required to travel along the most direct
route. A direct route is defined as any route that does not require the
government to pay additional per diem costs or additional transportation
costs.
- Travel from the TDY duty station to the commercial airport
servicing the TDY duty station is authorized by common carrier. Common carrier
is defined as rail, bus or private auto.
- Government fares can never be used to procure leisure travel
in connection with TDY travel.
Example: Member is TDY in Landstuhl Germany. He has leave
authorized in Amsterdam Netherlands. He wants to return to his US duty
station from Amsterdam instead of Landstuhl. This is not possible. Although
there may be a government fare available from Amsterdam to his US station
that is cheaper than from Landstuhl, we cannot apply that fare since he is in
Amsterdam for leisure reasons AND (point 1) he can only be routed directly
to/from the TDY station.
- If the TDY destination is in Asia, i.e.
Korea, Japan, Thailand etc., the member can choose to travel via CONUS or via the direct route using a
foreign flag carrier. If direct routing is selected offer the lowest restricted fare available.
If a restricted fare is not available, or is not acceptable to the traveler, an approved exception form
from the SACOR/ITO is required before ticketing can be provided.
TDY Entitled Travel Options
- When traveling on TDY orders, the member is authorized a
stop-over in route as long as there is no additional costs to the
government. Stop-over privilege will be determined by the rules of the
airline being used.
- The member may elect to purchase his own transportation and
file for reimbursement.
- They must use SatoTravel.
- Refer the member to the government finance officials for
reimbursement information.
- Leisure in conjunction with official travel
(LICWO) can be incorporated into a TDY traveler’s entitlements as
a round trip itinerary, paid by the customer, from either:
- TDY destination
- Authorized stop-over point
Mode of Travel for Emergency Leave
- Emergency leave travel is for air transportation only. Land transportation cannot be paid from
emergency leave funds.
- Under the ‘FLY AMERICA ACT’ all DOD funded travel is
required to use American Flag air carriers whenever they are available. There
are exceptions to this rule if one of the below conditions apply. The two most
common exceptions are:
- “Cannot Provide Service" usually used when travel does
not involve travel to the United States (CONUS)
- “Non-Service on Part of Route", when a Foreign Flag carrier
feeder flight is needed in conjunction with an American Flag carrier.
When using a foreign flag air carrier it is mandatory that the
applicable FFEX (Foreign Flag Exception) JTR/JFTR paragraph is printed on the
invoice. Click FFEX
for detailed information on the exceptions below.
- FFEX1 Multilateral Agreement
- FFEX2 Non-Service on Part of Route
- FFEX3 Involuntary Reroute
- FFEX4 Double Travel Time
- FFEX5 Foreign Payment
- FFEX6 Nonstop Service Extended Travel By 24 Hours
- FFEX7 Aircraft change more than 2 times/travel extended
by more than 6hrs/connecting time more than 4hrs
- FFEX8 Cannot Provide Service/Medical Reasons
- FFEX9 Unreasonable Safety Risk
- FFEX10 Less than 1st class service available
- FFEX11 Delay in travel/travel between midnight and 6 AM
- FFEX12 Payment By Non Federal Source
- FFEX13 Medical reasons
- FFEX14 Travel between midnight and 6 AM
Mode of Travel for TDY
- The traveler is entitled to commercial travel following the guidelines set by the General
Services Administration (GSA).
- If traveling "down range", i.e. Bosnia, Kuwait, Afghanistan, the member is required to travel via AMC.
- The use of commercial airlift into, out of or within Afghanistan and Iraq is not allowed.
Even though commercial passenger travel exists concerns over carrier safety and/or liability as well as
hostile fire prevents USCENTCOM from authorizing DOD personnel to use commercial carriers. If a customer has
an unfavorable reaction to this policy refer them to their Command. The SACOR, ITO or IMCOM Europe do not
have the authority to make an exception.
- Commercial airlift to Bosnia or other down-range destinations, except
for Afghanistan and Iraq, can be approved by SACOR/ITO. See below list of reasons that may require commercial airlift.
- An AMC flight is not available on the traveler’s selected
travel date.
- There is no seat available on an AMC flight on the traveler’s
selected travel date.
- The member certifies that AMC does not meet TDY mission requirements by signing the invoice
containing the invoice remark, "I certify that AMC will not meet mission requirements." (No exception form
required.)
- Using an AMC flight to an official destination would require a six hour,
or longer, stop-over.
If the SACOR/ITO approves commercial air transportation the lowest fare must be offered for the desired
route, even if there are associated penalties. Inform the traveler of the penalties. If the traveler
declines a penalty fare, the PNR must be annotated:
"PAX declined lowest available fare due to mission
requirements"
-or-
"PAX declined restricted fare due to penalties."
- Under the ‘FLY AMERICA ACT’ all DOD funded travel is
required to use American Flag air carriers whenever they are available. There
are exceptions to this rule if one of the below conditions apply. The two most
common exceptions are:
- “Cannot Provide Service" usually used when travel does
not involve travel to the United States (CONUS)
- “Non-Service on Part of Route", when a Foreign Flag carrier
feeder flight is needed in conjunction with an American Flag carrier.
When using a foreign flag air carrier it is mandatory that the
applicable FFEX (Foreign Flag Exception) JTR/JFTR paragraph is printed on the
invoice. Click FFEX
for detailed information on the exceptions below.
- FFEX1 Multilateral Agreement
- FFEX2 Non-Service on Part of Route
- FFEX3 Involuntary Reroute
- FFEX4 Double Travel Time
- FFEX5 Foreign Payment
- FFEX6 Nonstop Service Extended Travel By 24 Hours
- FFEX7 Aircraft change more than 2 times/travel extended
by more than 6hrs/connecting time more than 4hrs
- FFEX8 Cannot Provide Service/Medical Reasons
- FFEX9 Unreasonable Safety Risk
- FFEX10 Less than 1st class service available
- FFEX11 Delay in travel/travel between midnight and 6 AM
- FFEX12 Payment By Non Federal Source
- FFEX13 Medical reasons
- FFEX14 Travel between midnight and 6 AM
Proceed date / Availability Date
No availability date requirements for Emergency Leave or return TDY.
If the Reservists has a TDY order for a new assignment, the proceed date
is from three (3) days before to three (3) days after the proceed date listed
on the orders. Seven (7) days total.
Premium Class Travel
It is DOD policy that economy class travel accommodations be used for all official travel
unless higher class accommodations are properly approved. When booking a travel request keep in mind,
direct air service does not have to be used.
Circuitous travel can be provided if economy seating is available even if the circuitous routing is more
expensive than the direct route using a COW/CRT fare.
COW/CRT fares may not be used as they are
considered, by USAREUR, to be business class fares. For some routes you have the ability to override
the business class fare for a unrestricted coach fare (YOW/YRT). Check with your Branch Manager
for CRS entries and further instruction if required. If overriding is not possible proper approval for
business class travel must be obtained.
If a circuitous routing is used to avoid the use of a business class fare, the following sentence
must appear on the invoice:
"Circuitous routing used to ensure an economy fare, as direct route required the use of a
business class fare."
- Approval
In all cases appropriate approval authorities are at the General Officer (GO) level. Obtaining approval is
the direct responsibility of the Authorizing Official (AO) which is also the person/agency
responsible for publication of travel orders.
Approved orders must contain the following.
- Name of the approving General Officer.
- The travel points the approval is being provided for.
- The specific paragraph reference in the JTR or JFTR and reason/justification used.
- Name and contact information of the person responsible for preparing and executing the
approval request.
To view a sample copy of a TDY travel order (DD1610), with an appropriate approval authority
contained in block 16, click here.
- IBA
If a customer pays with his IBA (Government Travel Card), approval is not necessary as long
as the traveler is aware that the following sentence will appear on his invoice.
"Notice: if a business class fare was purchased, you are advised that appropriate approval
for this class of service has to be properly approved or you may not be reimbursed for the travel
performed."
- Round Trip Ticketing
The issuing of a round trip ticket for one way travel as a means
to obtain economy fares has been determined to be an illegal business practice. USAREUR transportation
personnel have also agreed that it should not be done. SatoTravel Associates will not indulge in this
practice.
- Statements of non availability
SatoTravel does not provide statements of non availability for economy fares. Travelers who have
performed travel at personal expense, and bought tickets from other than a contract travel office, will
have to discuss reimbursement with a government representative.
Excess Baggage
Orders must authorize excess baggage in order for the traveler to be
reimbursed. Excess baggage cannot be charged to the CBA. The member is required
to pay for excess baggage and claim reimbursement. There are special cases in
which military personnel can be authorized to charge excess baggage costs to
the CBA. While the SACOR / ITO can not approve this exception, they will
assist the traveler in obtaining approval from the proper authority. Refer
the traveler to the SACOR.
Pet Travel
Cost of pet travel is at the traveler’s personal expense.The contract carrier can not be waived if
there is no pet space available or the contract carrier cannot accommodate the pet.
C. Communicate Exception Options
If a customer requests an exception to their travel entitlement
refer them to the SACOR / ITO for approval (exception form). SatoTravel will
gladly ticket any travel request that has been approved with an authorized
and signed exception form. This does not apply to Premium Class Travel.
Refer to Premium Class Travel for approval authorities.
"SatoTravel is a government contractor. We are obligated by
contract to follow the rules of the JFTR."
last update November 19, 2007
last review September 6, 2007