§ 301-10.111 Exceptions to contract City Pair Program fare usage.

The agency head or designee may authorize use of a non-contract fare when— (a) There are no accommodations available on any scheduled contract City Pair Program flight arriving to the employee's destination in time to accomplish the travel purpose or use of contract service would require the employee to incur unnecessary overnight lodging costs which would increase the total cost of the trip; (b) The contractor's flight schedule is inconsistent with explicit policies of the Federal department or agency with regard to scheduling travel during normal working hours; (c) A non-contract carrier offers a lower fare to the general public that, if used, will result in a lower total trip cost to the Government (the combined costs of transportation, lodging, meals, and related expenses considered); or (1) The exception in this paragraph (c) does not apply if the contract carrier offers the same or lower fare and has seats available at that fare, or if the fare offered by the non-contract carrier is restricted to Government and military travelers performing official business and may be purchased only with a contractor-issued charge card, centrally billed account (e.g., YDG, MDG, QDG, VDG, and similar fares) or GTR where the two previous options are not available. (2) [Reserved] (d) Cost effective rail transportation is available and is consistent with mission requirements. (e) A group of 10 or more passengers traveling together on the same day, on the same flight, for the same mission, requiring group integrity and identified as a group by the travel management service upon booking is not a mandatory user of the Government's contract City Pair Program fares. For group travel, agencies are expected to obtain air passenger transportation service that is practical and cost effective to the Government. (f) Contractors are not authorized to use contract City Pair Program fares to perform travel under their contracts. (g) Carrier preference is not a valid exception for using a non-contract City Pair Program fare.