Unless they are high level government officials, there is no reason they can’t fly coach, just like government peons who travel on official business.
For a high-level official who might be recognized by members of the public, the issue is security.
For a peon, security is not such a big deal.
I fly out of DC Reagan a lot; prob. the majority of first class seats are occupied by federal employees. When he was SecDef, Rumsfeld had a policy which authorized appointees above a certain level, and there were a lot of them, to buy and fly first class on the taxpayer - I found and find this to be ridiculous, let them fly coach and upgrade on their own miles, if they wish. Of all people, Price should have known from his years in Congress that someone in his position, HHS, isn’t in the line of succession and doesn’t need or warrant a remarkably expensive private jet, especially for lunch with his son. I can see it for those in the Presidential succession or the JCS, but not those below. Beyond them, if the concern is over the safety aspect of commercial aviation, then we are all in trouble. Trump did the right thing in firing Price.
Why can’t high-level officials fly coach as well ???
1. Price was not a peon.
2. Security is a bigger deal than the public thinks.
3. The new policy will probably cost more -- but the costs will be hidden. The high-ranking traveler will lose time while waiting for his flight, someone is going to have to fill out requests for approval to take a private plane, layers of bureaucrats will have to review this requests. Taxes will pay the salaries of all of these drones.