Originally Posted by
stimpy
I thought most flew private. But maybe that is only at Feinstein or Pelosi's level.
Back when the 777 first rolled out, the first route was IAD-LAX and several times I sat in 1A next to Jack Kemp. So I thought they always flew First or private. And I thought they had a discounted price. But maybe things have changed?
It has been almost 10 years since congressional rules and federal law prohibited critters from flying on private aircraft at no charge. Now, they must pay the pro-rata actual cost of the flight or the cost of full of Y (or F, I don't recall off the top of my head) of the available commercial flight. Of course, even if they are paying they still receive the main benefit of the time savings (not to mention the comfort).
They pay for travel on the taxpayer dime (office travel expense account) or using campaign funds - which account pays depends upon the reason for the trip; in either case it is not their own funds. Mostly they get F from status unless they pay for the upgrade using personal funds.
In 2014 there was a proposal to prohibit flying in taxpayer paid F but I don't know if that rule succeeded.