SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

Though GSA negotiates rates for airlines, hotels and car rentals, Federal agencies pay outrageous amounts to a variety of travel managers, such as SATO and Omega World Travel to merely book these accomodations and to be available in case of an emergency. Instead, the Government should create its own central travel agency, operated as a revolving fund, which books travel for all agencies at cost. To save costs further,... more »

The Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) already performs the "travel agent" function for the Department of Defense. It has personnel in place to book flights and respond to travelers' questions and emergency travel needs. It also has an automated travel management system in place, the Defense Travel System (DTS). DTMO and DTS charge far less than their private industry counterparts (e.g., SATO, FedTraveler, Omega).... more »

Quit booking fully refundable flights across all of government. These are expensive, the vast majority of federal workers make their flights, and the cost for a missed flight can be advanced to other flights for most airlines. Have travel agent find cheap, non-refundable flights - would save millions of dollars.

Allow Government employees to fly at the reduced airline ticket rates, (Economy non-refundable).

I had the Governement travel office (AdTRAV) purchase my travel ticket, as required by my agency. I purchased my wife's ticket, who was going to travel with me. I paid less than half, for my wife's ticket, compared to what the Government paid for my ticket. OK, my ticket was Economy, refundable, my wife's ticket was Economy,... more »

Traveling on the government's dime should not cost more than it does to make travel arrangements on your own. There are instances where the government rate at a hotel is more than a rate offered through other discount programs (like AAA or frequent user programs). There are also instances where booking travel through an airline directly is less expensive than using a contract carrier. Government employees (both Congressional... more »

There is very little need for GSA exclusive contracts with airline companies that charge the government extraordinary amount for the same flight. Government workers can book their own flights online for hundreds, even thousands less. For example, flights from DAY to DCA are about $1300 while it can be found on Kayak or Expedia for less than $300.
Most travel are not cancelled, cancellation fees should be deductible... more »

In order to travel from France to Germany, the Navy required that I travel to Ohio (my home of record); this cost an additional $1800 to the US taxpayers. Bureaucratic systems that require such frivolous expenditures cannot help our economy, and I am certain that I am not the only service-member who gasps in horror at how much money our armed forces unnecessarily spend on this element of travel. So here is the solution:... more »

Although it is important to support the US economy by "flying Amercian" whenever possible, the idea of paying more for a contract carrier to destinations defies the basic principles of a capital market.

 

Allow for the government to have preferred contracts that government travelers MUST fly, unless a competing airline is less expensive.

Contract flights from Washington, DC, to USG training facilities in Columbia, SC and Brunswick, GA seem much higher than they could be negotiated. They are approx $650-1000, and hundreds of USG employees take these flights each month (conservative estimate). If the contracts cannot be renegotiated, perhaps government agencies with aircraft could fly "charter" flights on Mondays and Fridays to these locations.