Division of Research
Sponsored Travel Policy
Overview
Effective Date: July 1, 2017
Revised: November 2018
The official version of this information will only be maintained in an online format. Any and all printed copies of this material are dated as of the print date. Please make certain to review the material online prior to placing reliance on a dated printed version.
Policy Statement
The Fly America Act is a federal regulation that states that any foreign air travel that is financed by federal funds must be booked on U.S. flag air carriers or "codeshare" carriers, regardless of cost or convenience.
Purpose of Policy
This policy is an extension of the University Travel Policy. The policy provides guidance to ensure the University and the traveler are in compliance with the Fly America Act. It also assures that travel and business expenses charged to sponsored projects conform to the regulations and restrictions placed on the use of the funds by the sponsor and the Fly America Act.
For additional information about sponsored travel, including questions about allowable expenses, meals and lodging, complying with the Fly America Act and related topics, see the Sponsored Travel Guidance page.
Brown University Travel Policy
Who Is Governed by This Policy
The Sponsored Travel Policy must be followed by all Brown University faculty, staff, students, trainees, consultants and collaborators who are reimbursed for air travel with federal prime or federal pass-through funds. It is the responsibility of the principal investigator (PI) or their to ensure that all air travel charged to federal prime or federal pass-through awards is in compliance with this regulation.
Code Sharing
Code-sharing agreements with foreign air carriers, whereby American carriers purchase or have the right to sell a block of tickets on a foreign carrier, comply with the Fly America Act regulations. The ticket, or documentation for an electronic ticket, must identify the U.S. carrier's designator code and flight number. This indicates that the flier is in a U.S. flag carrier seat, regardless of the air carrier that owns the aircraft. The key to meeting the requirements is that the ticket is purchased through the U.S. air carrier.
Exceptions to the Fly America Act
Travel To and From the U.S.
If a U.S. flag carrier offers nonstop or direct service (no aircraft change) from your origin to your destination, you must use a U.S. flag air carrier service unless such use would extend travel time (including delay at origin) by 24 hours or more.
If a U.S. flag carrier does not offer nonstop or direct service (no aircraft change) from your point of origin to your destination, you must use a U.S. flag air carrier service on every portion of the route that it provides service, unless such use would:
- increase the number of aircraft changes outside of the U.S. by two or more;
- extend travel time by at least six hours or more; or
- require a connecting time of four hours or more at an overseas interchange point.
Travel Between Two Points Outside the U.S.
You must always use a U.S. flag air carrier for travel between two points outside the U.S., if available, unless when compared to using a foreign air carrier, such use would:
- increase the number of aircraft changes you must make enroute by two or more;
- require a connecting time of four hours or more at an overseas interchange point; or
- extend travel time by six hours or more.
Involuntary Rerouting
Travel on a foreign flag carrier is permitted if a U.S. flag air carrier involuntarily reroutes the traveler via a foreign flag air carrier, notwithstanding the availability of alternative U.S. flag air carrier service.
Short Distance Travel
For all short distance travel, regardless of origin and destination, use of a foreign flag air carrier is permissible if the elapsed travel time on a scheduled flight from origin to destination by a foreign air carrier is three hours or less and the use of a U.S. flag air carrier doubles time en route.
Note that all exceptions should be documented at the time of purchase. Exceptions to Fly America must meet one of the exception criteria and be justified and documented to be allowable on a federal award.
Open Skies Agreement
The biggest exception to the Fly America Act is the Open Skies Agreement, which is a bilateral or multilateral transport agreement between the U.S. government and the government of a foreign country. Currently there are four Open Skies agreements with the U.S.: the European Union (EU), excluding the United Kingdom; Australia; Switzerland; and Japan. These agreements allow for travel sponsored on federal awards to use foreign air carriers under certain circumstances. The U.S. Department of Transportation has determined that Open Skies agreements meet the requirements of the Fly America Act.
Where an open skies agreement exists a traveler may use the foreign airline except when a General Services Administration (GSA) City Pair agreement exists or the travel is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
City Pair Program
The GSA City Pair Program offers significantly discounted rates to federal employees traveling abroad. If a City Pair agreement exists for a foreign carrier, then the traveler using funds from a federal sponsored project must fly on a U.S. flag carrier. Travelers cannot purchase the discounted City Pair contract rate; this is only for federal employees.
Prior to booking a flight, travelers should look up their travel route on the City Pair website. If a published airfare rate exists, the traveler must fly on a U.S. flag carrier.
Australia Agreement
Travelers using federal dollars can use an Australian airline only if a point of origin or destination is either the U.S. or Australia and there is no City Pair contract flight between the two points (origin and destination) .If there is a City Pair contract flight, a U.S. airline must be used.
EU Agreement
When traveling to a destination serviced by an EU airline, travelers flying on a federal grant can fly on either a U.S. carrier or EU carrier as long as they touch down in an EU country. On June 21, 2011, the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement was amended to include Norway and Iceland as though they were member states of the EU. The traveler may use a Norwegian airline or an Icelandic airline.
Japan Agreement
Travelers using federal dollars can use a Japanese airline only if a point of origin or destination is either the U.S. or Japan and there is no City Pair contract flight between the two points (origin and destination). If there is a City Pair contract flight, a U.S. airline must be use
Switzerland Agreement
Travelers using federal dollars can use a Swiss airline only if a point of origin or destination is either the U.S. or Switzerland and there is no City Pair contract flight between the two points (origin and destination). If there is a City Pair contract flight, a U.S. airline must be used.
Department of Defense-Funded Travel
Travelers using funding from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) are not permitted to take advantage of the Open Skies agreements. Travelers using DOD funds must use a U.S. carrier, unless they qualify for an exemption as noted in FTR 301-10.135, sections (a), (d), (e), (f), and (g):
(a) Use of a foreign air carrier is determined to be a matter of necessity in accordance with § 301–10.138; or
(d) No U.S. flag air carrier provides service on a particular leg of the route, in which case foreign air carrier service may be used, but only to or from the nearest interchange point on a usually traveled route to connect with U.S. flag air carrier service; or
(e) A U.S. flag air carrier involuntarily reroutes your travel on a foreign air carrier; or
(f) Service on a foreign air carrier would be three hours or less, and use of the U.S. flag air carrier would at least double your en route travel time; or
(g) When the costs of transportation are reimbursed in full by a third party, such as a foreign government, international agency, or other organization.
Exceptions should be documented at the time of purchase. Exceptions to the Fly America Act must meet one of the exception criterias and be justified and documented to be allowable on a federal award (see 41 CFR 301.10-141). If supporting documentation is not provided, the cost of foreign air carrier travel is deemed unallowable and must be covered by nonsponsored (personal or departmental) funds.
FAQ
Federal regulations (2 CFR §200.475.e(1)) require that airfare costs in excess of the lowest economy fare class are unallowable except when the latter would offer accommodations not reasonably adequate for the traveler’s medical needs. This is one of several exceptions.
In order to document this exception, a doctor’s note should be obtained to identify the medical accommodation(s) being requested, such as extra leg room, etc. The note should NOT include any privileged medical information regarding the traveler’s medical condition. The traveler’s privacy must be maintained.
Doctor’s Note Example: John Smith is currently under my care and is advised to only book airfare with extra leg room to accommodate his medical needs.
Meals on federal awards are generally only allowable when on travel status, for participant support subsistence, if outlined in the budget, and for any other meals related to business components integral to the research, as outlined in the approved proposal budget.
If during the recruitment process, a PI chooses to take a potential candidate out for a meal, only the potential candidate’s meal is reimbursable. The candidate's visit is integral to the project and they are on travel status, so their meal is allowable.
Brown employees are expected to take lunch and dinner breaks. Although recruitment may be an integral part of a project, conducting the recruitment interview during a meal break is not a requirement. If a faculty member chooses to take a candidate out for a meal, the PI’s meal and the meal for any other Brown employees in attendance should be covered by non-sponsored funds.
Travel on federal awards requires an itemized hotel bill, with $0 balance due. A hotel booking agency receipt is a prepaid hotel 'reservation', however, the itemized hotel bill confirms the travel has taken place and details the full accommodation costs, travel dates, and the payment confirmation. If necessary, a traveler should be able to request a copy of an itemized bill, even after the travel has taken place.
For all sponsored projects, proposed per diem or subsistence allowances must be reasonable and limited to the days of attendance at the conference plus the actual travel time to reach the conference location by the most direct route. Where meals and/or lodgings are furnished without charge or at a nominal cost (e.g., as part of the registration fee), the proposed per diem or subsistence allowance must take this into consideration.
Resources:
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Meals & Incidentals (M&IE) breakdown for further guidance on meal deductions.
NIH Grants Policy Statement NIHGPS 14.10 Allowable and Unallowable Costs
- If you are booking a flight with more stops or a longer duration than required for a business trip, due to personal travel, a
comparable airfare quote must be obtained. It's best practice to provide comparable itinerary using a flight search aggregator,
such as Google Flights or Kayak. The comparison quote must be obtained at the time of booking to show the available
airfares for the sponsor-related portion of the trip (including price, dates, and air class). That comparison quote report should
be attached to the expense report in Workday. The traveler will be reimbursed up to the value of the least expensive
comparison quote or the actual airfare, whichever is less.
- If you are directly booking your flight with FCm Travel Solutions, then the travel agent must also obtain the comparison quotes
(see above for process) at the time of booking. If the airfare cost is greater than the comparison quote, FCm Travel must be
provided with a non-sponsored account or the traveler's credit card information to pay directly for the difference.
- Multipurpose trips without a timely comparison quote cannot be reimbursed from sponsored project funds.
The Fly America Act is a federal regulation that requires that any foreign air travel funded by the federal government be booked with U.S. flag air carriers, regardless of cost and convenience.
Yes. Any travel costs charged to federal awards must comply with federal regulations, including the requirement to book the lowest economy airfare and comply with the Fly America Act. Travel on a non-federal award does not need to meet the Fly America Act requirement.
In general, all airlines based in the United States qualify. Specifically, a U.S. flag air carrier is one that holds a certificate under Section 401 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. If you have questions on where a particular airline is based, you can search this airline database.
In addition, travelers are allowed to fly on code share flights operated by foreign carriers. A flight qualifies if a ticket is purchased from a U.S. flag carrier but the aircraft is operated by a foreign airline. Your ticket will identify the U.S. carrier in this case. For example: “AA 1234 operated by SAA 567” (AA = American Airlines, SAA = South African Airways).
The traveler is considered to be on a code share flight if he/she purchases a ticket from one carrier but flies on an aircraft owned by another airline. This would be a ticket that is issued by a U.S. air carrier that states “U.S. air carrier flight XXXX operated by foreign air carrier.” There may be a list of code share partners on the U.S. air carrier’s website; however, not all flights on those partner airlines are operated under code share agreements. Only code share flights booked properly through the U.S. carrier are allowable.
Allowable: AA 1234 operated by QF 4321
Unallowable: QF 4321 operated by AA 1234
(AA = American Airlines, QF = Qantas Airways)
Tickets/electronic receipts include the information necessary to determine if a flight is a qualifying code share. Tickets must be issued by the U.S. flag air carrier and the flight number in most cases has the code of a U.S. carrier (e.g. UA, AA).
If you have questions before purchasing a ticket, you can contact the airline, which is required by law to answer questions related to code share flights.
If you are trying to determine the country of origin of an airline, visit The Airline Codes Website.
You can search for any airline and see the country associated with the airline on the Airline Code Search Results page.
Even when traveling between two foreign locations, a traveler must abide by the Fly America Act regulations. Certain exceptions may apply.
You must use a U.S. flag air carrier for all legs of your route on which a U.S. flag air carrier is an option. If a U.S. flag air carrier does not travel to your final destination or does not provide service on a portion of your route, you may use a foreign air carrier only on the leg(s) for which U.S. service is unavailable. If a Fly America Act exception exists, it is the traveler’s responsibility to obtain the supporting documentation at the time of purchase to substantiate the allowable exception.
The Fly America Act states that when using federal funds you must use U.S. flag air carriers or flights operated under a U.S. code share agreement to travel to the foreign destination. The easiest way to ensure that you are flying on a U.S. Flag Air Carrier is to book your travel directly through the U.S. flag air carrier. Using a travel website such as Kayak, Expedia, Travelocity, etc. can cause confusion, as these websites are designed to find the lowest fares regardless of air carrier.
Yes, the Fly America Act must be utilized by all individuals who are seeking reimbursement for travel costs on federal awards. If trainees, students, consultants, collaborators, or other non-Brown personnel book travel on foreign air carriers, they will not be eligible for reimbursement from federal sources.
In addition, international collaborators and consultants must also follow this regulation. Please make sure to work with international consultants before they make flight arrangements to ensure that they are aware of U.S. air carrier restrictions.
We want to save the award funding for other research-related purposes. Is this an allowable exception to the Fly America Act?
No, the Fly America Act specifically states that the decision to use a foreign air carrier service must not be made solely based on the cost of the ticket.
Can the portions booked on the U.S. flag air carriers be charged to the grant?
It depends on who issued the ticket or if there is a flight specific code share in place. If a U.S. flag carrier issued the ticket (i.e., it is printed on a U.S. air carrier ticket/boarding pass/receipt), then the expense will, in most cases, be eligible for reimbursement. If the ticket is issued by a foreign air carrier (i.e., the foreign airline is printed on the ticket/boarding pass/receipt), the ticket is not eligible for reimbursement on a federal award, even if there are portions of the flight that have a U.S. Air Carrier flight designator code. This is due to the fact that this ticket would have been booked incorrectly through the code share process. If a Fly America Act exception exists, it is the traveler’s responsibility to obtain the supporting documentation at the time of purchase to substantiate the allowable exception.
…and the flights to and/or within the foreign countries were on foreign carriers with tickets issued by the foreign carrier. Can the domestic flights be charged to the grant?
Yes, the domestic portions issued on tickets from U.S. air carriers can be charged to the federal grant. However, the tickets issued by the foreign carriers may not be charged unless there were no U.S. flag air carriers flying to that destination. Please note that U.S. flag air carriers must be used to the furthest point possible, and one should only switch to the foreign carrier for the portion where there is no U.S. flag air carrier available. Travelers must make sure to attach to the Expense Report request in Workday the flight information at the time of purchase to substantiate that there was no U.S. flag air carrier available.
No, this flight would not be eligible for reimbursement under the open skies exception because the United Kingdom is not a part of the European Union (EU).
Yes, it is still your responsibility to ensure that the flight meets the U.S. flag air carrier criteria. However, you should inform the preferred vendor that the traveler is using federal funds.
No. You must adhere to the Fly America Act and fly a U.S. flag air carrier, unless you meet one of the exemptions allowed in the Fly America regulations.
The traveler is expected to secure the lowest available commercial discount or coach airfare at the time of booking travel, whether through a travel agent or by booking travel themselves.
The cost of premium economy airfare and other offers provided by airlines in excess of the base price for a coach ticket is unallowable on sponsored projects. The use of these upgraded/ preferred coach seating options is generally a traveler's personal choice and therefore is at the traveler's personal expense (see 41 CFR 301-10.124). The cost attributed to the upgraded service cannot be charged to a sponsored project and must be deducted from the total amount of the airfare requested for reimbursement. Comparable flight documentation should be provided with the reimbursement request. The comparable flight documentation provided should include the base price for the coach airfare at the time of booking. Failure to isolate the upgrade cost and provide comparable documentation will result in denial of the reimbursement of the entire airfare on a sponsored project.
If airfare is determined unreasonable and no comparable documentation provided, the flight cost will be disallowed and not be reimbursed on a sponsored project.
No. In most cases it is less expensive to pay the change fee for a rebooked ticket than to pay for a fully refundable ticket. In cases where there is a high probability that the trip could be canceled and the funds are not available for a future flight, the purchase of trip insurance is allowable if supporting documentation is thoroughly completed and justification is provided.
Many non-refundable tickets can be used for future travel after paying a change fee. Confirm with the issuing agent or airline that the ticket can be used for future travel. It is the responsibility of the traveler to track unused airline tickets for future business use. If future travel is related to a sponsored project the usual sponsored project rules apply.
An upgrade is an unallowable expense on sponsored projects and is not permitted and will not be reimbursed. Free upgrades or upgrades paid by the traveler must be clearly documented when seeking reimbursement. Extra cost beyond the base fare is considered an upgrade to the ticket and is not reimbursable by a sponsored project account.
If supporting documentation is not provided, the cost of foreign air carrier travel is unallowable on a sponsored project and must be reimbursed by non-sponsored (personal or departmental) funds.