CLARE HANSEN-SHINNERLSR. ASSOCIATE DEAN, ADMINISTRATION & FINANCE

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERINGCLAREHS@STANFORD.EDU

Fly America Act1

Fly America Act: Origins & Key Amendments

Instituted in 1974 to require use of U.S. airlines Federal Acquisition Regulations; Subpart 47.4

Applies to federally-funded international travel Includes Canada and Mexico Contractors, sub contractors, and federal employees

Some of the Act’s provisions remain inflexible E.g. lower cost is not an exception

Two key amendments have made Act more flexible Code Sharing Amend. (1991) Open Skies Amend.  (2010) … SU not yet ready

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Fly America Act: Compliance Responsibility

Travelers and their administrators are responsible for buying tickets in compliance

University suggests use of contracted travel agencies to help ensure compliance at point-of-sale (agencies listed on Fingate)

ERA needs to know the rules to help travelers / administrators - before tickets are purchased

ERA needs to confirm compliance by opening attachment/receipt when reviewing/approving IOUs– after the fact

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Code Share Amendment: Meaning

Code sharing occurs when two or more airlines “code” the same flight as if it was their own

The designator code and flight number that prints on the ticket will tell you whether it was coded as a foreign carrier (not allowed) or US carrier (allowed)

In other words, to be in compliance the international flight can be on a foreign air carrier (Singapore Airlines, China Airlines, etc.) - provided the designator code / flight # printed on the ticket is coded as operated by the U.S. carrier

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Code Sharing: Ticket Example (Compliant)

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Code Sharing: Ticket Example (Non-Compliant)

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Code Sharing: US Carrier Codes

On the right is a list of the most common US Carriers providing service to major cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and South America

If you see one of these codes on an international ticket, it will be in compliance

Airtran Airways (FL) Alaska Airlines (AS) American Airlines (AA) Continental Airlines

(CO) Delta Airlines (DL) Hawaiian Airlines (HA) JetBlue (B6) United Airlines (UA) US Airways (US)

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Open Skies Amendment: Meaning

Stanford / Fingate has not updated its policies/website to allow/explain this, but the Open Skies Amendment is in effect - per Federal Travel Regulation (FTR), Bulletin 11-02

We will need to wait until the SU has a position on this until we use

This is a ‘heads up’

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Open Skies Amendment: Meaning

Open Skies allows use of European Union, Australian, and Swiss carriers To transport federal contractors (still doesn’t apply to

federal employees) Given bilateral agreements between these

governments and US

When using an open skies carrier Designator / flight number does not need to be a US

carrier Can be LH - Lufthansa, OS - Austrian, etc.

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Fly America: Exceptions

There are a limited number of exceptions that allow use of a foreign carrier (beyond code sharing and open skies). Here are some examples: Necessity:

No U.S. flag carrier provides service on a particular leg of your trip

Medical or safety reasons Required class of service on US carrier is not available US carrier involuntarily reroutes you to a foreign carrier

Inconveniences: Use of a U.S. carrier will unreasonably delay your travel time:

extends trip by more than 6 hours, extends connection time by 4 or more hours, increases aircraft changes by 2 or more

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Fly America: Exceptions

Fingate has a Checklist showing allowable exceptions

If an exception is warranted, must submit Certification of Exception (on Fingate) with IOU

Questions? Liane Pfeiffer: lpfeiffer@stanford.edu / Disbursements Clare Hansen-Shinnerl: clarehs@stanford.edu / SoE

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