Originally Posted by fester
Low? They are much more than going through Expedia or elsewhere. Government fares must be fully refundable/changeable for official travel in accordance with GSA regs. They also have the CityPairs program that mandates the use of a specific airline between certain cities unless there is undue hardship on the traveller, which must be documented. The same holds true for rental cars, when authorized.
The only time I have ever received an upgrade is when I came out of pocket. I do enough European travel on my time to earn some good points as well.
As far as mission travel, the government pays zip and I don't believe the airlines receive a tax break. The airlines did, however, receive a nineteen billion dollar bailout from the government to stay alive and the security fees were created to help cover the cost of the FAM program and other initiatives.
Just my .02¢
Welcome to Flyertalk.
As Hertz commercials say, NOT EXACTLY.
Not all gov't fares are refundable. The nonrefundable government fares are very, very cheap.
Even the refundable government fares, as Bruce pointed out, are very cheap. Much lower than most non-government fares, no matter the distribution point.
The airlines received nowhere near $19 billion.
Following September 11, the airlines were given $5 billion in cash to compensate them for the 3 day shutdown of September 11.
A couple years later, the airlines were given a refund of the September 11 Security Tax plus reimbursed for their expenses of cockpit doors. It amounted to a couple billion, total. All in all, about $7 billion, not $19.
You may be referring to the potential $10 billion of loan guarantees, of which only America West and USAir took advantage, and then only to the extent of a billion and a half.
We like to keep the discussions of facts sorta accurate, when possible.