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ederal business travelers will continue to save big bucks on airfare this year under contracts awarded to 14 airlines in August. Government travelers will get an average discount of 70 percent off the full walk-up fares for about 4,800 routes under the General Services Administration's city-pair contracts. The contracts save the government $2 billion a year off standard airfares.

Some rates are staying the same. A one-way ticket from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport will be $53 in fiscal 2000, the same as in 1999. Other rates have changed. A ticket from Dallas to Reagan National rose from $177 in 1999 to $225. On the other hand, a ticket from Dallas to Washington's Dulles International Airport fell from $259 to $181. Only federal employees flying on official business are eligible for the fares.

Discounts are taken from unrestricted coach fares and are typically larger on the routes federal employees travel most frequently. Other perks of the contracts are:

• No advanced purchase is required.
• No minimum or maximum length of stay is required.
• Tickets are fully refundable.
• There are no blackout periods.
• Prices are set for the whole year.
• As long as a coach class seat is available, federal travelers can purchase tickets at the government rate.

GSA awards the contracts competitively, scrutinizing the airlines' bids for the routes feds travel most often. On those 2,220 routes, GSA looks at factors like services offered, how long a trip takes, and the number of fights per day, says Sue McIver, director of GSA's services acquisition center. For some of these routes, the contract goes not to the lowest bidder but to an airline with overall best value. On the remaining 2,500 routes, the award goes to the lowest bidder that meets the basic criteria (which include two flights in and two flights out per day, one connection maximum and no extended waits for connections). GSA awarded contracted for nonstop service in 99 percent of the routes where it was offered.

Some agencies are offering employees additional perks. At the Food and Drug Administration, employees covered by a recently signed collective bargaining agreement with the National Treasury Employees Union are eligible to keep 50 percent of the frequent-flier miles they earn while traveling for the government. Usually, employees must use all frequent-flier miles earned on business trips for official travel.

Federal travelers purchased $1.7 billion worth of airfares using government travel charge cards in fiscal 1998. Federal employees put about 50 percent of their travel spending on such charge cards last year. Under a law that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2000, almost all travel costs, including airfare, will have to be paid with the cards.

Delta continues to be federal travelers' most frequently flown airline: It won the government's business on 777 routes. U.S. Airways will provide service on 772 routes, American Airlines on 611, United Airlines on 584, TWA on 346, and Southwest Airlines on 320. Other city-pair airlines are Northwest, Continental, America West, Alaska, AirTran, Midway, Midway Express and American Trans Air.

Brian Friel contributed to this report

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