Flat Rate Per Deim - Gone

[ThreeHoler]

FY19 NDAA gets rid of flat rate per diem effective 13 Aug.

[ViperStud]

This is a bad deal for folks who do long TDYs, especially overseas. I’ve done several OCONUS TDYs where I could procure furnished apartments for half of my 75% allotment - and pocket the rest. 

I never did understand why there was such uproar over this rule. If you actually understood it, and put in a little effort to find something beyond the Hilton/Marriott, you could really make some coin. 

[MDDieselPilot]

Quick google search doesn't show new policy.. what's the new rate for >30, >180 days, etc?

[Fly4five]

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

[SurelySerious]

  On 8/14/2018 at 4:02 PM, Fly4five said:

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

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Sounds like expanding the requirement to go through DTS/TMC further, if I’m reading that correctly. Great. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by SurelySerious

[ThreeHoler]

  On 8/14/2018 at 3:49 PM, MDDieselPilot said:

Quick google search doesn't show new policy.. what's the new rate for >30, >180 days, etc?

Gone.

[pawnman]

  On 8/14/2018 at 3:49 PM, MDDieselPilot said:

Quick google search doesn't show new policy.. what's the new rate for >30, >180 days, etc?

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There isn't one. You stay in a hotel, you get paid up to the locality rate regardless of the length of the TDY. You also get the full per diem, regardless of the length of the stay.

[SFG]

  On 8/14/2018 at 3:28 PM, ViperStud said:

This is a bad deal for folks who do long TDYs, especially overseas. I’ve done several OCONUS TDYs where I could procure furnished apartments for half of my 75% allotment - and pocket the rest. 

I never did understand why there was such uproar over this rule. If you actually understood it, and put in a little effort to find something beyond the Hilton/Marriott, you could really make some coin. 

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I always took my family on long TDYs to try to offset the years I spent away from them deployed... when the new (now old) rule took effect it made it almost impossible to find decent places to stay where I was for 75% lodging, much less getting schwacked for 75% M&IE. Every situation is different. Good on you for making some coin.

[Guest]

  On 8/14/2018 at 9:07 PM, Klepto said:

I always took my family on long TDYs to try to offset the years I spent away from them deployed... when the new (now old) rule took effect it made it almost impossible to find decent places to stay where I was for 75% lodging, much less getting schwacked for 75% M&IE. Every situation is different. Good on you for making some coin.

2. I did a 6 monther in Tampastan just before the flat rate policy came out. I would have been very hard pressed to find an acceptable hotel or furnished apartment at the 55% rate.


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[SPAWNmaster]

Anyone know what the actual benefit to a letter of non-A is now? Some finance dude tried to tell me it's only good to get off base during TDY but my sub-par JTR knowledge made me question that. Now I'm curious...

[Bode]

  On 8/14/2018 at 10:45 PM, SPAWNmaster said:

Anyone know what the actual benefit to a letter of non-A is now? Some finance dude tried to tell me it's only good to get off base during TDY but my sub-par JTR knowledge made me question that. Now I'm curious...

Gives you the ability to get more than the on base lodging rate when you stay in off base lodging.

[pawnman]

  On 8/14/2018 at 10:57 PM, Bode said:

Gives you the ability to get more than the on base lodging rate when you stay in off base lodging.

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Except the JTR lets you self-certify non-availability.

[Waingro]

  On 8/14/2018 at 9:21 PM, ihtfp06 said:

2. I did a 6 monther in Tampastan just before the flat rate policy came out. I would have been very hard pressed to find an acceptable hotel or furnished apartment at the 55% rate.


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55% for Tampa is $1,980/mo for lodging, which is around the same as BAH for a single Captain at MacDill. Anything under that and the balance goes (went) into your pocket. Get a fellow deployed roommate to rent a townhouse; profit.

[Guest]

  On 8/14/2018 at 11:38 PM, Waingro said:

55% for Tampa is $1,980/mo for lodging, which is around the same as BAH for a single Captain at MacDill. Anything under that and the balance goes (went) into your pocket. Get a fellow deployed roommate to rent a townhouse; profit.

Nice try. Per diem is reduced when you share a place. The lack of a requirement to provide receipts isn’t carte blanche to commit fraud. Finance can still request a copy of your lease. You’d have to get the landlord to lease each of you a room individually to avoid that, which many would be unwilling to do.


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[xaarman]

I did a 6 monther (7.5) to Tampstan during this. If you can’t find lodging for 55%, with a non-A, proof of CTO consultation and independent justification to your commander, it’s waiverable back up to 100% by your CC. 

 

Glad it’s going away, it was an ass pain that I was fighting finance every day of the week over it.

 

 

[pawnman]

  On 8/15/2018 at 12:28 AM, ihtfp06 said:

Nice try. Per diem is reduced when you share a place. The lack of a requirement to provide receipts isn’t carte blanche to commit fraud. Finance can still request a copy of your lease. You’d have to get the landlord to lease each of you a room individually to avoid that, which many would be unwilling to do.


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I must have missed that part of the JTR.  My lease cost is my lease cost.  My roommate's lease cost is my roommate's lease cost.  Sign independent leases, and I don't see what finance could possibly argue against.

[jazzdude]

Flat rate per diem exists for gov benefit, not mine. It forces me to have to seek out a place to live and negotiate a price, including utilities. Yeah, I might be able to find a cheap furnished apartment and pocket the remainder, or I might not and have to pay out of pocket. It puts all the responsibility on me to make sure I find cheap lodging.

Without flat rate per diem, I can just get the gov rate at hotel, not worry about negotiating leases and hunting for cheap rents, and accrue a ridiculous amount of hotel points and status to use on a future vacation. Want a kitchen? Extended stay hotel. Want a bigger apartment to bring the family? Find a nice month to month apartment that comes under the gov per diem rate. Yeah, you can't pocket the difference, but you get a lot more flexibility in where you can stay. Plus, getting back that 25% of meals should make up any profit you would've made anyhow on flat rate per diem.

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[BADFNZ]

  On 8/14/2018 at 10:45 PM, SPAWNmaster said:

Anyone know what the actual benefit to a letter of non-A is now? Some finance dude tried to tell me it's only good to get off base during TDY but my sub-par JTR knowledge made me question that. Now I'm curious...

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Full rate per diem. 

[ViperStud]

  On 8/15/2018 at 3:06 AM, jazzdude said:

Flat rate per diem exists for gov benefit, not mine. It forces me to have to seek out a place to live and negotiate a price, including utilities. Plus, getting back that 25% of meals should make up any profit you would've made anyhow on flat rate per diem.

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YMMV. My last 3-monther overseas: 75% lodging was $167/NT and scored a furnished apartment for $70/NT. A little effort was worth $100/day.  If applied properly it benefited both govt and member: govt by bypassing hotels that automatically set rate right at perdiem max and members willing to put in some small effort to find a (generally) larger place and pocket some cash  

Stateside, it didn’t work as well because hotels are smart and set govt rates right at perdiem  This rule was great for overseas TDYs though, where hotels give zero fvcks about US military perdiem rates.

 

 

[SocialD]

This cost me ~$3,000 on my last 3 month trip overseas.  We weren't allowed to go find our own places due to "logical/security" concerns.   Would have helped make up for the massive pay cut to go fly CT from an overseas location.  

[raimius]

This has screwed over several of our younger airmen, as their IQT got extended, resulting in large negative adjustments when filing their vouchers (so, they got almost nothing their next paycheck).  I'm cool with it going away.

[jazzdude]

  On 8/15/2018 at 3:39 AM, ViperStud said:

YMMV. My last 3-monther overseas: 75% lodging was $167/NT and scored a furnished apartment for $70/NT. A little effort was worth $100/day.  If applied properly it benefited both govt and member: govt by bypassing hotels that automatically set rate right at perdiem max and members willing to put in some small effort to find a (generally) larger place and pocket some cash  
Stateside, it didn’t work as well because hotels are smart and set govt rates right at perdiem  This rule was great for overseas TDYs though, where hotels give zero fvcks about US military perdiem rates.
 
 

Without flat rate per diem, you still could've sought out and got the apartment, just wouldn't have gotten the difference.

Can't find commercial lodging at per diem rate? Document where you looked, then file for actual lodging costs.

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[Breckey]

  On 8/15/2018 at 5:44 AM, raimius said:

This has screwed over several of our younger airmen, as their IQT got extended, resulting in large negative adjustments when filing their vouchers (so, they got almost nothing their next paycheck).  I'm cool with it going away.

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At least at Kirtland it was actually cheaper to refuse gov't lodging and get the $60/day + proportional per diem than it is to get a non-a and get 50%. Also if their orders were extended from <180 days to >180 days then the reduction in per diem should only apply from the order ammendment date, not the entire TDY.

[SPAWNmaster]

  On 8/15/2018 at 3:30 AM, BADFNZ said:

Full rate per diem. 

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You get that anyways now. Full rate meals and up to max locality for lodging. So what’s the benefit?

[jazzdude]

  On 8/15/2018 at 2:59 PM, SPAWNmaster said:

You get that anyways now. Full rate meals and up to max locality for lodging. So what’s the benefit?

Well, that's not always the case. Last 3 TDYs I went on booked through DTS, I was issued a non-a, but since there were preferred commercial lodging available, my lodging rate was capped at the highest available preferred rate, about $20-60 below the max lodging rate.

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