Fly America Act and Open Skies Agreements

Using Concur to book your travel will ensure that you comply with the Fly America Act. When booking your travel in Concur, you will be alerted when a flight is not in compliance. When creating your expense report, you will be prompted to select the exemption reasons for using non-U.S. Flag carriers.

Fly America Act

The Fly America Act, 49 U.S.C. App. 1517 requires federal employees and their dependents, consultants, contractors, grantees, and others performing United States government-financed foreign air travel to use U.S. flag air carriers, such as American, United, Delta, etc., when available unless using a foreign air carrier is necessary.

Airfare reimbursements are not permitted on federal funds if Fly America Act regulations are not followed.

At Cornell, if you are traveling on federal funds, you must use U.S. Flag carriers – even when foreign carriers are cheaper or provide preferred routing, are more convenient, or are part of frequent‐flyer agreements such as Star Alliance, which do not infer U.S. carrier status on their members without using a Code Shared flight with a U.S. designator.

“Code Sharing,” a process by which a ticket may be issued by one airline but flown by another, requires that the ticketing airline be the U.S. carrier. The “carrier” is defined by the airline designator noted on the ticket. Examples:

• American flight 4332, shown as AA 4332 on the ticket, flown by British Airways, is considered a U.S. carrier.
• Korean Airways 324, shown on the ticket as KE 324, flown by American Airlines, is not considered a U.S. carrier.
• American flight 467, shown on the ticket as AA467, which happens to be the same plane as KE 324 above, is a U.S. carrier.

Exceptions

When traveling to and from the U.S., a non‐U.S. carrier is allowed under any of the following circumstances. Lower cost is not an acceptable criterion for exception.

• The airport abroad is the origin or destination airport, and using a U.S. carrier would extend the total travel time by 24 hours or more than using a non‐U.S. carrier.
• The airport abroad is an interchange point, and using a U.S. carrier would require you to wait 4 hours or more to make an overseas connection or extend the total travel time by 6 hours or more than would using a non‐U.S. carrier.
  • When you must use a foreign airline, consider what is an appropriate interchange point or gateway city. Generally, an interchange point will not be in the United States (i.e., not JFK, EWR, LAX), but will likely be the capital or a large city near the destination. Examples of improper gateway cities:
    • Baltimore was indicated as the gateway city for flying to Oslo, Norway, and the traveler flew on SAS, a non‐U.S. carrier. However, Oslo is served by several U.S. carriers from New York airports. This flight would not be eligible for federal grant reimbursement.
    • New York was indicated as the interchange point for a flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, with a plane change there for Lusaka, Zambia. However, several U.S. carriers serve Johannesburg and should have been used. This flight would not be eligible for federal grant reimbursement.

    When traveling between points outside the U.S., a non‐U.S. carrier is allowed under any of the following circumstances:

    • Using a non‐U.S. carrier would eliminate two or more aircraft changes en route.
    • Using a U.S. carrier would extend the total travel timeby 6 hours or more than using a non‐U.S. carrier.
      • For all short-distance travel, regardless of origin and destination, using a non‐U.S. carrier is allowed if the elapsed travel time on a scheduled flight from the origin to the destination airport using a non‐U.S. carrier is 3 hours or less, and using a U.S. carrier would double the travel time.

      In the Code of Federal Regulations, the following additional exceptions apply:

      When the U.S. air carrier only has seats in first and/or business class, and economy class service is available from a non‐U.S. air carrier.

      When a non‐U.S. air carrier service is deemed a matter of necessity under any of the following circumstances:

      • When the agency determines that using a non‐U.S. air carrier is necessary for medical reasons, including using a non‐U.S. air carrier service to reduce the number of connections and possible delays in transporting people who need medical treatment.
      • When using a non‐U.S. air carrier is required to avoid an unreasonable risk to your safetyand is approved by your agency (e.g., terrorist threats). The agency must provide written approval of their determination on a case-by-case basis, supported by a travel advisory notice issued by the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of State. Such a determination and approval based on a threat against U.S. Government employees or other travelers must also be supported by evidence of the threat(s).
      • When you cannot purchase a ticket in your authorized class of service on a U.S. flag air carrier, and a seat is available in your authorized class of service on a non‐U.S. air carrier.

      Open Skies Agreements

      International treaties referred to as Open Skies Agreements provide a limited exception to the Fly America Act. Except when the travel is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, where an open skies agreement exists, you may use the foreign airline in the situations described in the treaty (generally between the U.S. and the airline’s country).

      Open Skies Agreements that apply exist with:

      • European Union (excluding the UK)
      • Australia
      • Switzerland
      • Japan

      Exemption Certification Procedures

      Concur users do not have to complete the PDF form below because Concur provides an automated exemption certification process. These procedures only need to be followed for non-concur users.

      For federally funded international travel that is not Fly America compliant, and you (or the traveler) are a non-Concur user (e.g., students, emeritus faculty, or non-employees), you must do the following:

      1. Retain documentation supporting the specific exception claimed, which may include:
         1. Travel site data indicating the absence of US‐based carriers.
         2. The specific amount of time that using a U.S. carrier would require.
         3. Any safety information such as State Department travel advisories that recommend not using United States carriers.
         4. Documentation from a licensed practitioner of any medical condition that requires you to use a foreign carrier, and for what reason (e.g., shorter elapsed time, wider seats, etc.).