LAWMAKERS DON'T FLY FARE, CRITICS SAY.

Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - The feds really know how to fly.

Thanks to a government partnership program with major air carriers, millions of federal employees, including bureaucrats and lawmakers charged with regulating the airline industry, enjoy discounts up to 90 percent off full fares and other advantages when they take to the skies on official business.

Proponents of the General Service Administration's Paired Cities travel program call it a win-win proposition for the government, which saves an estimated $2 billion in taxpayer dollars per year on more than 1 million official business flights; and the 14 participating major airlines, which fill tens of thousands of otherwise empty seats.

Critics argue that the program, which insulates federal travelers from such vexing practices as dizzying arrays of discounts, blackout periods, nonrefundable fares and cancellation fees, leaves bureaucrats and lawmakers clueless as to many of the challenges faced by the traveling public.

``Members of Congress have so many perks, including these cheap flights, that they lose track of what it's like to be an ordinary citizen,'' said Gary Ruskin, director of the Congressional Accountability Project, a watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader. ``But I am all for travel. It gets lawmakers away from all the lobbyists here in Washington.''

Congressional members praised the travel program for its cost-saving efforts.

``The GSA has done an outstanding job and has saved the taxpayers billions of dollars,'' said Rep. Stephen Horn, R-Long Beach, a member of the Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation.

Horn and his fellow Southland House members are among the government's most frequent fliers. Most area lawmakers return home weekly when Congress is in session. They often fly home on Thursday nights and return to the Capitol late Monday, in time for the first scheduled vote of the week.

Those trips home, including longer breaks over holiday periods, are designated under House and Senate rules as ``district work periods'' and qualify as official government business. Travel home for election purposes is not covered by the GSA program. It must be arranged by the lawmakers and paid for out of campaign funds.

Lawmakers, who make $145,100 per year, pay for their air fares and other official travel costs out of their representation budgets, which average $975,000 of taxpayer money per year for each House member and up to $3 million for senators. Those budgets also cover staff salaries, rent on district offices and other operating costs.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Woodlands Hills, who estimated he travels 90,000 miles per year by air, said the cross-country commuting is a necessity. He also credited the GSA with ``doing an amazing job of negotiating their travel deal.''

``I don't travel to my district, I live in my district,'' Sherman said. ``I visit Washington when compelled to do so by the Speaker of the House for official business. Constituents also demand my presence. Nobody asks me, Why didn't you stay in Washington? They ask, Why weren't you here?''

But critics said while federal employees experience many of the same frustrations encountered by the traveling public, they are unaware of travel's steep expense.

``Lawmakers are frequent fliers, so they are familiar with many of the service problems, including delays with one out of four flights,'' said Paul Hudson, director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, another Nader watchdog group. ``But they know very little about the high cost of fares for small-business owners and families.''

``A different issue is why do government workers have to travel so much?'' said Lewis K. Uhler, president of the National Tax Limitation Committee, which is based in Roseville, near Sacramento. Why don't they telecommute? We have the technology.''

But Uhler said that federal travel has its upside, especially for members of Congress.

``I'm all in favor of doubling their travel time,'' he said of lawmakers. ``A Congress that is not in session cannot hurt you.''

Lawmakers and millions of other civilian and military employees in the GSA program all fly coach class, but that's where the similarities end between government and public travel.

While the airline industry touts the fact that its deregulated skies have translated into discounts averaging 66 percent on the majority of its seats, obtaining cheap fares calls for vigilance by the general public and travel agents.

Bookings must be made weeks or months in advance, seats covered by special offers are limited, fares are often nonrefundable and penalties averaging $100 are levied for itinerary changes. For example, airline tickets sold over the Internet by Priceline.com carry many of those restrictions and also bar buyers from collecting frequent flier miles.

In addition, blackout periods imposed by airlines mean that many discount offers are suspended during prime public and family flying times, including major holidays and summer months that coincide with school vacations.

But every day is a deep air fare discount day for the feds, who can fly anytime and anywhere as long as a seat is available. Changes and cancellations are accommodated at no additional cost, and frequent flier miles are awarded. The GSA and its major airline contractors also feature a large number of nonstop flights. Intervening stops are limited to one per flight with a scheduled layover of no more than 90 minutes.

House members enjoy a few additional goodies. While most feds, like many business travelers in the private sector, must turn in their frequent flier miles to employers to pay for additional trips, lawmakers get to keep their miles and use them as they see fit. House members also get free parking at Washington's Reagan and Dulles airports, a perk worth up to $14 per day.

The GSA flying program, which also uses government credit cards, issued to employees to handle and track expenses, was established as part of a 1978 federal law, approved by Congress and signed by President Carter, that deregulated the airline industry and cleared the way for competition on routes and fares.

``We had a need for travel and to cut costs, and the airlines needed to fill seats,'' said Jeff Koses, a GSA official who oversees the air travel operation. ``This program has filled all of those needs.''

Koses noted that competition among major airlines for federal business has resulted ``in some absolutely unbelievable government fares, especially on heavily traveled routes like Washington to Los Angeles.''

Joe Hopkins, spokesman for United Airlines, said the federal program generates an estimated $300 million per year of fare income for the Chicago-based carrier. He said that United and other airlines bid for government business based on both government and public demand, as well as traffic levels.

``We give large discounts on busy routes like those serving Los Angeles,'' Hopkins explained. ``And the discounts are less to cities with more limited service. We want to fill as many seats as possible, but we also have to make sure we don't limit seats for the public by allotting too many for the government program.''

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box: (1) AIR FARES

Sources: United Airlines, US Airways, General Services Administration 

(2) FLIGHT PLANS

Sources: General Services Administration, Air Transport Association