Airline ticket without DTS

[murdocjxx]

Need a little help. Had a trip pop up in the next two days a need an airline ticket. Being the holidays can’t get a DTS approval AND all the fund cites don’t have enough money in them. Don’t want to put it on my credit card because the OG/RA doesn’t reimburse personal cards. Any suggestions? 

[baller06]

Try calling your CTO, whether it is Wingate or SATO, etc. and book through them. They should be able to take care of it without DTS which can obviously be cleaned up after you're back or while you're gone.

[murdocjxx]

Thanks!

[LookieRookie]

10 minutes ago, murdocjxx said:

Need a little help. Had a trip pop up in the next two days a need an airline ticket. Being the holidays can’t get a DTS approval AND all the fund cites don’t have enough money in them. Don’t want to put it on my credit card because the OG/RA doesn’t reimburse personal cards. Any suggestions? 

You just need VOCO And a GTC. You'll do confirmatory orders after.

https://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/Docs/DoD_DTS_Best_Practices.pdf

 

7.2 Confirmatory Authorizations
Confirmatory authorizations are used when an authorization cannot be completed prior to the 
traveler’s departure. The authorization should be completed as soon as possible after verbal 
approval has been granted. Reservations are made directly with the TMC. Airfare is entered on 
the Other Transportation screen and the lodging or rental car costs are updated on the 
appropriate screens. Use of the DTS Travel module may result in duplicate commercial 
reservations
 The TMC may issue the ticket upon verbal authorization, based on contractual guidelines and 
local processes.
7.3 Reserve Component Travel
 Reserve component members should consult their service-level DTS office for procedures.

7.5 Verbal Orders of the Commanding Officer
Refer to Section 7.2.

[Guardian]

I love how we don’t even know how to go on leave unless the computer dts tells us to.

What happened to the authority of the commander?

[magnetfreezer]

FYI for your RA JFTR paragraph 040502 specifically states that not using your GTC can't be used as a reason to deny reimbursement. That being said it's still better to go through CTO if you can to get the govt contract fare - that way if your TDY changes etc. you aren't stuck with a non refundable ticket.

[icohftb]

You can still get the govt rate when you call the airline directly though.CTO is a complete scam.

[brabus]

I book airfare all the time not through DTS.  Also, it is in violation of the JTR to not reimburse your personal card...though you could avoid the issue with your RA by using your GTC to self procure airfare.  Clearly you have a good reason for doing so.  And in the end, the catchall in the JTR is they CANNOT "punish" you via non-reimbursement.  Finance MUST reimburse you - the JTR essentially says they could tattle on you to your SQ/CC, at which point your SQ/CC could "counsel" you, but doubtful even a shitty CC will do much more than hit delete on finance Amn's email.

[MDDieselPilot]

20 hours ago, brabus said:

I book airfare all the time not through DTS.  Also, it is in violation of the JTR to not reimburse your personal card...though you could avoid the issue with your RA by using your GTC to self procure airfare.  Clearly you have a good reason for doing so.  And in the end, the catchall in the JTR is they CANNOT "punish" you via non-reimbursement.  Finance MUST reimburse you - the JTR essentially says they could tattle on you to your SQ/CC, at which point your SQ/CC could "counsel" you, but doubtful even a shitty CC will do much more than hit delete on finance Amn's email.

You wouldn't have a JTR source for that would you?  

At my current shithole assignment, we were actually threatened by our GS-15 DTS AO that we would not be reimbursed for regular official travel if we didn't ask him ahead of time, via lengthy email with full details of the trip (even if a DTS auth was submitted/approved), if we had his blessing for the trip.  Given the substantial amount of free time I have with this job, I've started to entertain myself by passive aggressively challenging him on all things related to travel funding.

Edited December 28, 2017 by MDDieselPilot

[uhhello]

I found this gem

3. Involuntarily Denied Flight Boarding. A traveler who is involuntarily denied boarding on a flight must contact the TMC to book a new flight if a subsequent flight cannot be provided without additional cost to the Government. Any compensation for the denied seat belongs to the Government (59 Comp. Gen. 203 (1980)). The traveler must request that the carrier show the “Treasurer of the United States” as payee on the compensation check, in accordance with DoDFMR, Vol. 9.

[Guardian]

I found this gem
3. Involuntarily Denied Flight Boarding. A traveler who is involuntarily denied boarding on a flight must contact the TMC to book a new flight if a subsequent flight cannot be provided without additional cost to the Government. Any compensation for the denied seat belongs to the Government (59 Comp. Gen. 203 (1980)). The traveler must request that the carrier show the “Treasurer of the United States” as payee on the compensation check, in accordance with DoDFMR, Vol. 9.

I like how the treasurer gets a kick back for me getting booted from a flight.

[uhhello]

10 minutes ago, Guardian said:

I like how the treasurer gets a kick back for me getting booted from a flight.

And what airline pays in cash/check?

[magnetfreezer]

I found this gem
3. Involuntarily Denied Flight Boarding. A traveler who is involuntarily denied boarding on a flight must contact the TMC to book a new flight if a subsequent flight cannot be provided without additional cost to the Government. Any compensation for the denied seat belongs to the Government (59 Comp. Gen. 203 (1980)). The traveler must request that the carrier show the “Treasurer of the United States” as payee on the compensation check, in accordance with DoDFMR, Vol. 9.

The key words are additional cost to the government (like you had to stay an extra day and got the per diem, etc.) I believe if you get bumped with no additional government cost you could keep the $ but then couldn't claim delay-related expenses.

[uhhello]

29 minutes ago, magnetfreezer said:

1 hour ago, uhhello said:

I found this gem
3. Involuntarily Denied Flight Boarding. A traveler who is involuntarily denied boarding on a flight must contact the TMC to book a new flight if a subsequent flight cannot be provided without additional cost to the Government. Any compensation for the denied seat belongs to the Government (59 Comp. Gen. 203 (1980)). The traveler must request that the carrier show the “Treasurer of the United States” as payee on the compensation check, in accordance with DoDFMR, Vol. 9.

The key words are additional cost to the government (like you had to stay an extra day and got the per diem, etc.) I believe if you get bumped with no additional government cost you could keep the $ but then couldn't claim delay-related expenses.

I read that as only pertaining to the follow on flight, not the compensation.  I read it that if you are given compensation from the airline, it belongs to the govt.  

[brabus]

12 hours ago, MDDieselPilot said:

You wouldn't have a JTR source for that would you?  

At my current shithole assignment, we were actually threatened by our GS-15 DTS AO that we would not be reimbursed for regular official travel if we didn't ask him ahead of time, via lengthy email with full details of the trip (even if a DTS auth was submitted/approved), if we had his blessing for the trip.  Given the substantial amount of free time I have with this job, I've started to entertain myself by passive aggressively challenging him on all things related to travel funding.

" 1035 APPROPRIATE ACTION FOR FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE REGULATIONS

A command/unit is expected to take appropriate disciplinary action when a traveler and/or AO fail to follow these Regulations. Disciplinary action should be for willful violations and may be in the form of counseling (oral/written), non-judicial action, or other appropriate personnel means. Disciplinary action must not be through refusal to reimburse unless no authority exists or is so stated in this regulation."

1. Is your CC REALLY going to give you counseling, NJP, etc. because you didn't use your GTC, or booked your airfare through delta.com instead of DTS (especially when the ticket price is < the govt constructed cost for the city-pair), etc? I'd wager not in all but the most bizarre cases. I could see those types of things if someone was defrauding the government by submitting doctored receipts, loading cinder blocks in their trailer for a DITY, etc.  But we're not talking about obviously bad stuff like that, we're talking about you getting reimbursed for airfare you bought to go on a TDY you were given a couple day's notice on right before a weekend (no time for the standard DTS timeline).

2. If GS-15 d-bag is the ultimate AO holding the key to your unit's LOA, then shouldn't he be the guy approving DTS?  Sounds like you're saying TSgt Smith is an AO, approves your DTS, but because "god" didn't know about it, he won't reimburse.  So I think you have two COAs...

COA 1: Shove 1035 in his face and say no JTR portion was violated and you had authorization/orders (notice there is no where in the JTR that says there is rank among AOs...though FM can trump an AO, but he's not FM, so his argument is DOA).

COA 2: Don't write bullshit emails, just use DTS normally and refuse to go on anymore TDYs until your GTC is paid per the JTR (hypothetically saying this happens again).  Saw a bro who was fighting the finance reimburse GTC battle, he said fuck it, he's not going on any more TDYs until it's fixed (and this is a guy who has a lot of necessary TDYs for his job).  He missed a couple big TDYs, nobody could officially fault him, problem was solved shortly after.

I personally like the idea of simultaneously executing both COAs.