First Class Waste of Your Money

Federal employees wasted $146 million of your tax dollars in a single year on first class or other premium airline tickets.

A report from the Government Accountability Office -- the investigative arm of Congress -- reviewed more than a dozen agencies. The GAO found 67% of premium class travel was unauthorized. Some of their findings:

• An Agriculture Department executive took 25 premium-class flights costing $163,000
• At the Pentagon, a political appointee took 15 premium-class flights and cited a medical condition as justification for the $105,000 in expenses -- though he couldn't provide a doctor's statement to back up his claim
• Thirty-two State Department employees flew from Washington to Liberia in premium class over a six-month period -- it cost $293,000 and comparable coach-class tickets would have cost $124,000 - a difference of $169,000

The GAO report also points out that several federal agencies are not subject to the rules limiting first class flying. These include the US Postal Service, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (Seattle Times)