II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1559 

To provide standards relating to airline travel by Federal employees for 

official business. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 21, 2019 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To provide standards relating to airline travel by Federal 

employees for official business. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fly Smart Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. AIRLINE ACCOMMODATIONS FOR OFFICIAL GOV6 ERNMENT TRAVEL. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

8 (1) COACH-CLASS REQUIREMENT.—Except as 

9 provided in subsection (b), for official travel, both 

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1 cluding the head of an agency, shall use coach-class 

2 accommodations. 

3 (2) BAN ON MILITARY AIRCRAFT FOR DOMESTIC

4 TRAVEL.—A covered employee, including the head of 

5 an agency, may not travel on a military aircraft for 

6 domestic official travel unless— 

7 (A) the destination of the covered employee 

8 is a military installation; or 

9 (B) the covered employee is serving in, or 

10 applying to, as applicable, a position in the De11 partment of Defense. 

12 (b) EXCEPTIONS.— 

13 (1) FIRST-CLASS AND BUSINESS CLASS.—Sub14 ject to the other provisions of this subsection, the 

15 head of the agency employing a covered employee (or 

16 to which a covered employee is applying, as applica17 ble), or in the case of the head of an agency, the 

18 White House Chief of Staff, may sign a waiver au19 thorizing the covered employee or the agency head, 

20 as applicable, to use— 

21 (A) first-class accommodations for official 

22 travel if— 

23 (i) no coach-class accommodations are 

24 available on any flight that is scheduled 

25 to— 


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1 (I) leave not more than 24 hours 

2 before the proposed departure time of 

3 the covered employee or the agency 

4 head; or 

5 (II) arrive not more than 24 

6 hours after the proposed arrival time 

7 of the covered employee or the agency 

8 head; 

9 (ii) the use of first-class accommoda10 tions is necessary to accommodate a dis11 ability or a special need that has been cer12 tified under paragraph (4); or 

13 (iii) the use of first-class accommoda14 tions is necessary because of exceptional 

15 security circumstances, which— 

16 (I) shall be established by the in17 dividual signing the waiver; 

18 (II) shall be found only when re19 quired to meet the mission of the 

20 agency in which the covered employee 

21 or the agency head is employed, or to 

22 which the covered employee is apply23 ing, as applicable; and 

24 (III) include a situation in 

25 which— 


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1 (aa) the use of accommoda2 tions other than first-class ac3 commodations would endanger— 

4 (AA) the life of the cov5 ered employee or the agency 

6 head; or 

7 (BB) Government prop8 erty; 

9 (bb) the covered employee 

10 is— 

11 (AA) an agent on pro12 tective detail; and 

13 (BB) accompanying an 

14 individual who is authorized 

15 to use first-class accom16 modations; or 

17 (cc) the covered employee is 

18 a courier or control officer ac19 companying controlled pouches or 

20 packages; and 

21 (B) business-class accommodations for offi22 cial travel if— 

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1 tion described in clause (ii) or (iii) of sub2 paragraph (A); 

3 (ii) coach-class accommodations on an 

4 authorized or approved foreign airline do 

5 not provide adequate sanitation or health 

6 standards; 

7 (iii)(I) regularly scheduled flights be8 tween origin and destination points, includ9 ing connecting points, provide only other 

10 than coach-class accommodations; and 

11 (II) the covered employee or the agen12 cy head certifies, on the voucher of the 

13 covered employee or the agency head, that 

14 the situation described in subclause (I) ap15 plies; 

16 (iv) the transportation costs of the 

17 covered employee or the agency head are 

18 paid in full through the acceptance by the 

19 agency in which the covered employee or 

20 the agency head is employed, or to which 

21 the covered employee is applying, as appli22 cable, of payment from a non-Federal 

23 source in accordance with chapter 300 of 

24 title 41, Code of Federal Regulations, or 

25 any successor regulation; 


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1 (v) subject to paragraph (5), with re2 spect to a situation in which the origin or 

3 the destination of the travel is outside the 

4 continental United States— 

5 (I) the scheduled flight time is 

6 more than 14 hours; and 

7 (II) the covered employee or the 

8 agency head is required to report to 

9 duty not later than the day after the 

10 date on which the travel of the cov11 ered employee or the agency head be12 gins; 

13 (vi) the use of the accommodations re14 sults in overall cost savings to the Federal 

15 Government by avoiding additional subsist16 ence costs, overtime, or lost productive 

17 time while the covered employee or the 

18 agency head waits for coach-class accom19 modations to become available; 

20 (vii) no space is available in coach21 class accommodations in time to accom22 plish the mission of the agency in which 

23 the covered employee or the agency head is 

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1 ployee is applying, as applicable, which is 

2 urgent and cannot be postponed; or 

3 (viii) when required because of the 

4 mission of the agency in which the covered 

5 employee or the agency head is employed, 

6 or to which the covered employee is apply7 ing, as applicable, consistent with the in8 ternal procedures of that agency. 

9 (2) DISCLOSURE OF COST.—Not later than 90 

10 days after the date on which official travel for which 

11 the head of an agency or the White House Chief of 

12 Staff has signed a waiver under paragraph (1) ends, 

13 the head of the agency or the White House Chief of 

14 Staff, as applicable, shall disclose on a public 

15 website— 

16 (A) the signed waiver; 

17 (B) the exception under that paragraph on 

18 which the head of the agency or the White 

19 House Chief of Staff relied when authorizing 

20 the travel; and 

21 (C) the cost of any flight in other than 

22 coach-class accommodations with respect to the 

23 waiver. 

24 (3) NO BLANKET APPROVAL.—The head of the 

25 agency employing a covered employee (or to which a 


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1 covered employee is applying, as applicable), or in 

2 the case of the head of an agency, the White House 

3 Chief of Staff, may authorize a covered employee or 

4 an agency head, as applicable, to use accommoda5 tions other than coach-class accommodations for of6 ficial travel only on a case-by-case basis, unless the 

7 covered employee or the agency head has a disability 

8 or a special need that has been certified under para9 graph (4). 

10 (4) CERTIFICATION OF DISABILITY OR SPECIAL

11 NEED.— 

12 (A) DISABILITY.— 

13 (i) IN GENERAL.—A disability de14 scribed in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) shall be 

15 certified annually, unless the disability is a 

16 lifelong condition, in which case the dis17 ability shall be certified once. 

18 (ii) CONTENTS.—A certification re19 quired under clause (i) shall include, at a 

20 minimum— 

21 (I) a written statement by a com22 petent medical authority stating that 

23 a special accommodation for the cov24 ered employee is necessary; 


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1 (II) an approximate duration of 

2 the special accommodation described 

3 in subclause (I); and 

4 (III) a recommendation regard5 ing the suitable class of transportation 

6 for the covered employee based on the 

7 disability. 

8 (B) SPECIAL NEED.—The special need of a 

9 covered employee, including the head of an 

10 agency, described in paragraph (1)(A)(ii) shall 

11 be certified annually (unless the special need is 

12 a lifelong condition, in which case the special 

13 need shall be certified once) in accordance with 

14 the procedures of the agency in which the cov15 ered employee is employed, or to which the cov16 ered employee is applying, as applicable. 

17 (5) APPLICATION OF 14-HOUR RULE.—A cov18 ered employee, including the head of an agency, who 

19 travels using business-class accommodations under 

20 paragraph (1)(B)(v) shall not be eligible for a rest 

21 stop on the way to, or upon arrival at, the duty site 

22 of the covered employee. 

23 (6) INCLUSION OF ATTENDANT.—If a covered 

24 employee, including the head of an agency, the travel 

25 of whom in accommodations other than coach-class 


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1 accommodations is authorized because of a disability 

2 or special need that is certified under paragraph (4), 

3 is authorized to have an attendant accompany that 

4 covered employee, the head of the agency employing 

5 the covered employee (or to which a covered em6 ployee is applying, as applicable), or in the case of 

7 the head of an agency, the White House Chief of 

8 Staff, may also authorize the attendant to use other 

9 than coach-class accommodations during that travel. 

10 (7) LIMIT ON DELEGATION.—The head of an 

11 agency and the White House Chief of Staff may not 

12 delegate the duties and authorities under this sub13 section, except for the duties and authorities under 

14 paragraph (2). 

15 (c) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.— 

16 (1) UPGRADES.—Nothing in this section may 

17 be construed to prevent a covered employee from up18 grading to first-class accommodations or business19 class accommodations for official travel at the per20 sonal expense of the covered employee, including 

21 through the redemption by the covered employee of 

22 frequent flyer benefits. 

23 (2) TWO CABINS AVAILABLE.— 

24 (A) DIFFERENT SEAT TYPES.—If an air25 line flight has 2 classes of accommodations 


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1 available with 2 distinctly different seating 

2 types (including a situation in which the girth 

3 and pitch of the seats between the 2 cabins are 

4 different), the airline terms the front cabin as 

5 business-class accommodations or higher, and 

6 the tickets for the flight are fare-coded as busi7 ness-class accommodations, the front cabin 

8 shall be construed to be other than coach-class 

9 accommodations for the purposes of this sec10 tion. 

11 (B) IDENTICAL SEAT TYPES.—If an airline 

12 flight has 2 cabins available with 1 type of seat13 ing available for the entire aircraft (such that 

14 the girth and pitch of the seats are identical in 

15 both cabins), the seats in the front cabin are 

16 fare-coded as full-fare economy class, and only 

17 restricted economy fares are available in the 

18 rear cabin, the entire aircraft shall be construed 

19 to be coach-class accommodations for the pur20 poses of this section. 

21 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act— 

23 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

24 the term ‘‘Executive agency’’ in section 105 of title 

25 5, United States Code; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘business-class accommodations’’ 

2 means a premium class of accommodation offered by 

3 an airline that— 

4 (A) is more expensive, and offers more 

5 amenities, than coach-class accommodations; 

6 (B) is less expensive, and offers fewer 

7 amenities, than first-class accommodations; and 

8 (C) is occasionally described by the airline 

9 using terms including ‘‘business’’, ‘‘business 

10 elite’’, ‘‘business first’’, ‘‘world business’’, ‘‘con11 noisseur’’, and ‘‘envoy’’; 

12 (3) the term ‘‘coach-class accommodations’’— 

13 (A) means the basic class of accommoda14 tion offered to a traveler on an airline and 

15 which is normally the lowest fare offered by the 

16 airline, without regard to the terminology used 

17 to describe the accommodations; and 

18 (B) is occasionally described by an airline 

19 using terms including— 

20 (i) ‘‘tourist class’’ or ‘‘economy-class’’; 

21 and 

22 (ii) ‘‘single class’’ if the airline offers 

23 1 class of accommodations to all travelers; 

24 (4) the term ‘‘covered employee’’ means— 


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1 (A) an employee traveling on official busi2 ness; 

3 (B) an individual who is— 

4 (i) interviewing for a position as an 

5 employee; and 

6 (ii) performing pre-employment inter7 view travel; 

8 (C) an employee who is required to inter9 rupt the official business travel of the employee 

10 to perform emergency travel as a result of— 

11 (i) an incapacitating illness or injury; 

12 or 

13 (ii) a personal emergency situation; or 

14 (D) an employee who— 

15 (i) is employed in a law enforcement 

16 or investigative capacity; and 

17 (ii) along with the family members of 

18 the employee, is required to relocate tem19 porarily to safeguard the life of the em20 ployee, and any family members of the em21 ployee, as applicable, because of a threat 

22 resulting from the assigned duties of the 

23 employee; 

24 (5) the term ‘‘employee’’ means an individual 

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1 vidual employed intermittently in the Government 

2 service as an expert or consultant and paid on a 

3 daily when-actually-employed basis and an individual 

4 serving without pay or at $1 a year; 

5 (6) the term ‘‘first-class accommodations’’ 

6 means the highest class of accommodation offered by 

7 an airline with respect to cost and amenities; 

8 (7) the term ‘‘other than coach-class accom9 modations’’— 

10 (A) means any class of accommodation 

11 above coach-class accommodations; and 

12 (B) includes first-class accommodations 

13 and business-class accommodations; and 

14 (8) the term ‘‘scheduled flight time’’— 

15 (A) with respect to air travel, means the 

16 flight time between the originating departure 

17 point of the travel and the ultimate arrival 

18 point of the travel; 

19 (B) includes scheduled non-overnight time 

20 spent at an airport during a change of planes; 

21 and 

22 (C) does not include time spent at the 

23 originating or ultimate arrival airport. 

Æ 


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