Gov rate for American Airlines ? Yes..but where?
 

Hi all,
I saw on the AA website that AA offers government rates to select cities. You have to call a number to find out what they are. Anyone ever used this before and have any info about what kind of rates we are talking about? Thanks.

Did you call the number?

Two things.

GOV rate is a GSA citypair program:
http://cpsearch.fas.gsa.gov/

You must be a federal government employee, on official travel and pay for travel on a special government travel card.

SO no leisure? OK, that answers my question. Thanks.

Leisure travel is not government travel unless you have hit the jackpot and found a government job which requires leisure travel as part of your official duties. If you have, many would be interested in hearing of it!

Government rates at hotels can be used by government employees on personal travel, so I don't blame him for asking. :)

They do still offer (occasionally) what they used to call "ThAAnk you" fares for military members. They're not really advertised or promoted any more but I can still sometimes find them. I use the travel agency that you can link to via the Norfolk airport website to find out if there is a military fare available for the route I want on the dates I want. Presumably they can find military (leave) fares on other airlines as well. You can book the fare on that site (costs $8), or you can find out what's available, go on AA.com, put the reservation on hold, and then call and ask for it to be priced as a military fare. Most of the time the agents know how to do this. I find it more convenient to just pay the agency $8. Usually, but not always, if I book one of these fares when I go to the airport to check in, I'm asked to show my military ID at the check in counter.

These fares usually book into "N" but I've had them book into "O" and "Q" before. Never "G".

Usually the fare basis starts with something like NEMIL1.

Advantages of these fares:
* moderately to heavily discounted, sometimes cheaper than the cheapest fare available to the general public
* no change fees
* sometimes available even the day before you want to travel
* earn mileage just like any other published fare
* are upgradeable, at least w/ 500-mile "stickers" and miles plus copay

Drawbacks:
* hard to find & not always available, either due to capacity restrictions or sometimes the fare is just not offered on the route you want. You can do a lot of hunting only to discover you've wasted your time
* fares don't always result in a great discount
* usually can't check in online or at a kiosk, so you need to allow for a little extra time time to check in with an agent

Hope that helps.

-z

Those fares are only available to active duty military. You can't check in on-line with the first leg of the trip, nor at a kiosk, you have to check in at the AA counter as the system requires your military ID to be inspected physically by a AA agent.

Thank you for redundantly stating so succinctly what I posted originally.

-z

The OP issue was how can a contractor get a gov rate. Not sure why you posted a active duty exclusive military leisure travel program in this thread; but wanted to make sure the OP was clear that what you posted- he did not qualify. It would be pretty bad to show up at the airport and be denied boarding- when your family may be expecting you at the other end.

The OP posted in another AA thread earlier today that he is a GOV contractor with a GOV contractor ID that looks exactly like a Civilian government ID.

Considering the audience for this board goes far beyond the OP, I figured 1) other people could have the same question 2) most of the audience of this board is intelligent enough to figure out that "military" means "active duty military" and "you have to check in with an agent" and "I'm usually asked to show my military ID" means that he himself would not be eligible.

-z

There are also student fares, discounts for people from certain foreign nations traveling in the USA, bereavement fares and hotel discounts.

OP's question was about his access to AA government airfares for leisure travel.

Can't please everyone, I suppose. Either flyertalk is a single issue help and advice board where each thread is narrowly constrained and non-generalizable to the public thus greatly diminishing the utility of the search function, or it's a place where people are expected to use the aforementioned search engine to find information tucked away in detailed threads which likely strayed somewhat from the initial post, thus preventing the clutter that has occurred like it has in this already-13-posts-too-long-thread. Mea maxima culpa.

Some exceptions exist. I head a non-profit that pursuant to statute receives a yearly grant to provide services that would otherwise be provided by a government agency. We use government fares for all work travel. Travel is arranged through travel agent and paid with office credit card (not a government travel card).

Not legally. And government air fares should only be booked through an authorized departmental agency not by an individual.