Board of Contract Appeals
                    General Services Administration
                         Washington, D.C. 20405
 
 
 
                                                            
 
                            December 7, 1998
                                                            
 
 
                            GSBCA 14720-TRAV
 
 
                   In the Matter of LOUIS J. SAMELSON
 
 
        Louis J. Samelson, Huber Heights, OH, Claimant.
 
        Gerald  Moore,   Chief,  Travel  Pay   Branch,  Headquarters
   Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH,
   appearing for Department of the Air Force.
 
   GOODMAN, Board Judge.
 
        Claimant, Louis J. Samelson,  is a civilian employee of  the
   Department  of the  Air Force.   He has  requested review  of the
   agency s denial  of reimbursement  for airline tickets  purchased
   for official travel.
 
        In   July  1998,  travel  orders  were  issued  to  claimant
   authorizing him to  procure commercial transportation and receive
   reimbursement  for travel from Dayton, Ohio, to Israel.  Claimant
   asserts that he was unaware of the regulations which required him
   to purchase the tickets from a government-provided payment source
   and that  he therefore   purchased the tickets from  a commercial
   travel agent in  order to coordinate the purchase  of tickets for
   his wife, who accompanied him.
 
        The agency denied his request for reimbursement.  The agency
   justifies the denial  of claimant s request for  reimbursement as
   follows:
 
        [Claimant s] request  for reimbursement  for personally
        procured . . .  travel was denied due to the failure to
        meet  the exception  for reimbursement  as outlined  in
        paragraph 2207A of  the JTR Vol. II.   Mr. Samelson has
        not  provided  us  with  reasonable evidence  that  the
        services  of a Commercial Travel Office (CTO), in house
        travel  office or Travel  Management Center  (TMC) were
        not available.   Wright-Patterson  AFB has  air service
        for Department of Defense travelers through CI  Travel.
        Without this justification we are unable to look at the
 
        exceptions listed in 2207 B, C and D of the JTR Vol II.
 
        JTR C2207-A, to which the agency refers, reads as follows:
 
        In arranging official travel,  employees are authorized
        to   use  the  following  in  accordance  with  Service
        regulations:
 
             1.  Commercial  travel  offices  (CTO)  under
             contract to their respective organizations; 
 
             2. In-house travel offices;
 
             3.  General  Services   Administration  (GSA)
             Travel Management Centers (TMC).
 
        Except as  indicated in subparagraph B, C  and D below,
        when an employee purchases transportation from a travel
        agent  (other than  a CTO,  in house  travel office  or
        TMC),  reimbursement  is   authorized  only  when   the
        employee  provides  acceptable   information  that  the
        services of a CTO, in house travel office or TMC aren t
        reasonably available  and ticketing  arrangements can t
        be secured from a branch  office or general agent of an
        American-flag carrier.
 
        The  agency misreads  the relevant  regulation.   The  plain
   meaning of  the regulation is  that the exceptions in  the listed
   subparagraphs may be  applicable even  if the  employee does  not
   provide acceptable  information that the  services of  a CTO,  in
   house travel  office or TMC were not available.   The one that is
   relevant in  the instant case  is subparagraph B, which  reads as
   follows:
 
        Infrequent Traveler.  An infrequent traveler;
 
             1.  who is unaware of the general prohibition
             against the use of  travel agents (other than
             a CTO, in house travel office or TMC), and 
 
             2.         who    inadvertently     purchases
             transportation  with  personal funds  from  a
             travel agent,
 
        may  be granted  an exception  on a one-time  basis and
        paid for  the travel costs  incurred not to  exceed the
        cost which would  have been properly chargeable  to the
        Government  if  the  transportation  service  had  been
        purchased  directly from the  carrier.  In  such cases,
        the traveler  must be  advised that  the recurrence  of
        such   use  of  travel  agents  results  in  denial  of
        reimbursement unless  it can  be demonstrated  that the
        traveler had no alternative.
 
        The claimant clearly falls within the exception stated above
   --  an  infrequent traveler  who  was unaware  of  the conditions
   affecting reimbursement of travel.  The agency has not challenged
   his assertion that he is  an infrequent traveler, but instead has
   erroneously  asserted  that  the  infrequent  traveler  exception
   cannot  be applicable.   The  agency has  asserted no  reasonable
   basis to deny  reimbursement to the claimant, who  was unaware of
   the restriction on ticket purchasing.  In fact, the travel orders
   on their face  contained no restrictions and  authorized claimant
   to procure  commercial transportation and  receive reimbursement.
   Under such circumstances, the agency is to reimburse the claimant
   in  an amount  not  to  exceed the  cost  which would  have  been
   properly chargeable  to the  Government if the  tickets had  been
   purchased  directly from  the carrier  and that  the  agency must
   inform  the  claimant  as  required by  regulation.    Andrew  A.
   Rahaman, GSBCA 14365-TRAV, 98-1 BCA   29,679.
 
 
 
                                      __________________________
                                      ALLAN H. GOODMAN
                                      Board Judge