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Report: Millions wasted on gov't travel
Yahoo News | Associated Press Writer | HOPE YEN

Posted on 10/02/2007 5:05:44 PM PDT by ninonitti

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Another all time favorite standing headline: Study Finds Gov't Waste.....Overseers of Entitlement Business F eel Entitled don't know why this is news.
1 posted on 10/02/2007 5:05:55 PM PDT by ninonitti
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: ninonitti
Federal employees wasted at least $146 million over a one-year period on business- and first-class airline tickets, in some cases simply because they felt entitled to the perk, congressional investigators say.

When Congress has their collective heads jammed in the trough, should we be surprised that the underlings also have a feeling of entitlement?

3 posted on 10/02/2007 5:15:51 PM PDT by SampleMan (Islamic tolerance is practiced by killing you last.)
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To: ninonitti

Geez, 14 hours in a coach seat? I’m glad my company springs for business class on all international flights.


4 posted on 10/02/2007 5:18:30 PM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: ninonitti
Never did take a FC trip that wasn't authorized, but many of my workmates were frequently sent to Switzerland on 5 to 7 days advance notice.

Ever try to get a coach class seat on an international flight that close to the departure date?

I didn't see anything in this report that verified that coach wasn't already full when the order to travel was issued.

This makes me strongly suspect that the analysts knew the truth yet felt compelled to make Senator Grassley happy.

He's that way you know.

5 posted on 10/02/2007 5:19:46 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: ninonitti

In real life these clowns might actually have to payback the difference.


6 posted on 10/02/2007 5:21:18 PM PDT by hometoroost (TSA = Thousands Standing Around)
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To: ninonitti

Have I got some stories to tell.


7 posted on 10/02/2007 5:21:44 PM PDT by texanyankee
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To: ninonitti

I’ve never understood the idea of paying for business or first-class seats. Many times the price is almost double a coach seat for nearly an identical product.

If you’re making $100K per year, that’s usually a full-day’s pay to sit in a more comfortable chair for a few hours. Why?


8 posted on 10/02/2007 5:25:22 PM PDT by CheyennePress
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To: CheyennePress
See my post above. Frequently ~ (almost always) ~ government employees are sent on travel on short notice.

For the most part, given the demographics of where executive or top level administrative or technical jobs are located (the "federal reserve cities") that means they are traveling on the most heavily traveled air routes in the country, or from the US to overseas locations.

Getting a coach class seat under those conditions when you are close (just a few days) to departure is exceedingly difficult.

I usually worked things so that anyone I brought to Washington had 2 to 3 weeks advance notice so that wasn't a problem for us.

9 posted on 10/02/2007 5:44:06 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: ninonitti

Only the best of everything for our oligarchs.


10 posted on 10/02/2007 5:55:15 PM PDT by mysterio
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To: muawiyah
Dept. of Treasury employees have to get an advance authorization from management before they can travel. I’m sure the executives still bend the rules though.

A few years back Air Tran offered business class upgrades for $35 to Fed. employees. The employees should have to pay for it out of their own pocket if they upgrade.

11 posted on 10/02/2007 5:56:14 PM PDT by Redgirl (In vino, veritas)
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To: ninonitti

I wouldn’t mind if all the tickets were First Class, so long as the tickets were one way. Out


12 posted on 10/02/2007 6:00:22 PM PDT by Leisler (Liberalism. It is not a philosophy, it is a disease.)
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To: ninonitti

I was hoping this was about those wasted trips by Nancy Pelozi and her ilk recently to the Middle East.


13 posted on 10/02/2007 6:06:06 PM PDT by TheBattman (I've got TWO QUESTIONS for you....)
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To: Redgirl
Too many friends in the Postal Inspection Service who had the detail of pulling mail from plane wrecks to buy a ticket on Air Tran ~ sorry.

About "upgrading"? USPS employees get to keep all the travel bennies they earn by flying ~ always did. The federales got that late in life.

14 posted on 10/02/2007 6:07:37 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: mysterio
The "oligarchs" would necessarily be members of Congress and their staff people.

Lowly government employees who work for a salary rarely get (or desire) a chance to steal.

15 posted on 10/02/2007 6:11:30 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: ninonitti

This is what happens when you have people who largely cannot be fired spending money that isn’t theirs, they waste it.


16 posted on 10/02/2007 6:18:01 PM PDT by wh0isjohngalt
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To: Non-Sequitur

Your company is treating you well. I flew to Europe recently on gov’t travel. The last 4 or 5 hours were almost unbearable. I’m 6’2” and those seats just aren’t designed for 6’2”. If I have to do it again, one way or another I’m going to fly business class.


17 posted on 10/02/2007 6:23:13 PM PDT by Yardstick
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To: muawiyah
About "upgrading"? USPS employees get to keep all the travel bennies they earn by flying ~ always did. The federales got that late in life.

When I was interning on the Hill in 1991, most members of Congress (at least those who'd been in for more than a term or two) flew BC or FC, but only paid coach out of the office budget. You rack up a lot of miles when you're flying back to the district nearly every weekend.

18 posted on 10/02/2007 6:32:00 PM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: muawiyah
About "upgrading"? USPS employees get to keep all the travel bennies they earn by flying ~ always did. The federales got that late in life.

When I was interning on the Hill in 1991, most members of Congress (at least those who'd been in for more than a term or two) flew BC or FC, but only paid coach out of the office budget. You rack up a lot of miles when you're flying back to the district nearly every weekend.

19 posted on 10/02/2007 6:32:08 PM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: ReignOfError

Every Friday afternoon there are several flights to LaGuardia filled with Dem politicians going back to New York City.


20 posted on 10/02/2007 6:46:18 PM PDT by muawiyah
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