Fly America Act

The Fly America Act — 49 U.S.C. § 40118 — is the federal statute requiring that air transportation of passengers and property paid for with U.S. government funds be provided by a U.S. flag air carrier, with a narrow set of defined exceptions. It applies more broadly than its name suggests: the statute reaches any arrangement “under which payment is made by the Government, or payment is made from amounts provided for the use of the Government,” which is why it governs not just federal employees on official travel but also university faculty, staff, and students traveling on federally sponsored grants and cooperative agreements — anywhere the airfare is ultimately charged to federal award funds. For a research administrator, it is a carrier-selection compliance rule layered on top of the general travel-cost allowability standard, distinct from (and narrower than) the broader travel cost question of whether a trip is reasonable, necessary, and properly documented under 2 CFR § 200.475.

What makes something an instance of the Fly America Act requirement

The statute itself is short; the operational detail lives in its implementing regulation, the Federal Travel Regulation, 41 CFR part 301-10, subpart B (§§ 301-10.131–301-10.143), which the General Services Administration is directed to prescribe under the statute’s own delegation of authority. Two elements have to both be true for a given trip to fall under the requirement:

• Government-financed air travel. The airfare is paid, in whole or in part, with U.S. government funds — including a federal grant, cooperative agreement, or contract, not only direct federal-employee travel orders.
• An available U.S. flag air carrier. 41 CFR § 301-10.133 defines “U.S. flag air carrier service” as service on a carrier holding a certificate under 49 U.S.C. § 41102, including service provided under a code-share agreement with a foreign carrier — but only when the ticket is issued under the U.S. carrier’s own designator code and flight number. Booking a code-share seat under the foreign partner’s code does not satisfy the requirement even if the same aircraft operates the flight.

Where both hold, 41 CFR § 301-10.132 states the baseline rule directly: “Anyone whose air travel is financed by U.S. Government funds must use a U.S. flag air carrier,” except as provided in the three exception sections that follow it (§§ 301-10.134–301-10.136).

The Open Skies Agreement exceptions

The exception research administrators most often misunderstand — and the one worth the closest attention when booking international conference or collaboration travel — is the bilateral/multilateral air transport agreement exception. 41 CFR § 301-10.134 permits use of a foreign carrier under “a bilateral or multilateral air transportation agreement to which the United States Government and the government of a foreign country are parties, and which the Department of Transportation has determined meets the requirements of the Fly America Act.” As of this writing, four such agreements have received that determination and qualify as Fly America Act exceptions:

• The US–European Union “Open Skies” Air Transport Agreement (signed April 30, 2007), covering carriers of European Union member states;
• The US–Switzerland agreement;
• The US–Australia agreement; and
• The US–Japan agreement.

Where a qualifying Open Skies agreement is in effect, a traveler funded by a federal grant may book a covered carrier of that country (for example, a European Union flag carrier under the US–EU agreement) for the applicable route without that booking itself constituting a Fly America Act violation. This is a genuinely narrow carve-out, not a general license to book any non-U.S. carrier flying to or from those regions: it applies only to the specific agreements DOT has determined meet the Act’s requirements, and institutional travel offices typically still require the booking to be documented as an Open Skies exception at the time of purchase (see Compliance implications, below) rather than assumed automatically.

Other recognized exceptions

Beyond Open Skies, 41 CFR §§ 301-10.135–301-10.137 set out the remaining exception categories:

• Necessity (§ 301-10.135). Foreign carrier service is deemed necessary when a U.S. flag carrier is available but cannot provide the required transportation or will not accomplish the agency’s mission — including defined circumstances such as medical necessity, avoiding an unreasonable safety risk (with agency approval), a documented threat against U.S. flag carriers or the traveler, or the inability to purchase a ticket in the authorized class of service on a U.S. carrier when a seat in that class is available on a foreign carrier.
• Travel time thresholds, U.S.–to–foreign-country travel (§ 301-10.136). Where no nonstop or direct U.S. flag service is available, use of a foreign carrier is permitted if using the U.S. carrier instead would increase the number of aircraft changes made outside the U.S. by 2 or more, extend travel time by 6 hours or more, or require a connecting time of 4 hours or more at an overseas interchange point; for nonstop/direct comparisons, the threshold is a 24-hour-or-more increase in total travel time including origin delay.
• Travel solely outside the United States (§ 301-10.137). The same three thresholds — 2 or more additional aircraft changes, 6 or more hours of extended travel time, or a 4-or-more-hour overseas connection — apply when comparing a U.S. flag carrier to a foreign carrier for a trip that neither originates nor terminates in the U.S.

What is not a valid exception, under any of these sections, is cost or personal convenience. A cheaper fare, a preferred loyalty program, or a more convenient departure time on a foreign carrier does not excuse the requirement to use a U.S. flag carrier when one is reasonably available within the regulation’s own thresholds.

How it applies to federal grant travel specifically

The Fly America Act is not itself a cost-allowability rule — it is a carrier-selection rule that federal awarding agencies incorporate into the terms and conditions of grants and cooperative agreements. For research administrators, it sits alongside, and is conceptually distinct from, the general allowability standard for travel costs at 2 CFR § 200.475 under the OMB Uniform Guidance (see CASRAI’s Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) guide and the travel cost (grant) entry). A trip can be allowable in every other respect — reasonable in cost, necessary for the project, properly authorized and receipted — and still violate the Fly America Act if the carrier itself was not a permitted choice. Federal agencies apply the requirement to grantees through the award’s general terms and conditions rather than restating the full 41 CFR text in each notice of award; NIH, for example, addresses it directly in the NIH Grants Policy Statement’s travel-cost section, which cross-references the Act for any air travel charged to an NIH award.

Compliance implications for research administrators

In practice, applying the Fly America Act to international conference and collaboration travel on a federal grant means:

• Check for U.S. flag carrier service first. Before booking, confirm whether a U.S. flag carrier (including a code-share ticketed under its own designator code) can perform the itinerary, and whether it falls within the regulation’s time/connection thresholds.
• Document any exception at time of booking, not after the fact. Institutional travel offices commonly require a completed Fly America Act exception form or equivalent record — identifying which specific exception applies (Open Skies, necessity, or a travel-time threshold) — along with the fare-comparison search results from the time of booking, retained with the trip file for audit purposes.
• Don’t assume Open Skies covers a whole region. Only the four agreements above carry a DOT determination; a booking on a non-U.S., non-Open-Skies-country carrier still needs one of the other exceptions to be compliant.
• Know the consequence of an undocumented violation. Under 41 CFR § 301-10.143, a traveler is not reimbursed for transportation costs where a foreign air carrier was used improperly — agencies are directed to maintain internal procedures for denying reimbursement in that circumstance, which in practice means the cost becomes unallowable on the federal award and typically shifts to non-sponsored (institutional or personal) funds.
• Treat it as a distinct check from general travel-cost review. A pre-award or post-award reviewer approving a conference-travel line item under 2 CFR § 200.475 should not assume that approval also confirms Fly America Act compliance — the carrier-selection question needs its own check, typically performed by the travel booking office or agent at the point of purchase.

Worked examples

• A postdoctoral researcher funded by an NSF grant books round-trip economy airfare on a U.S. flag carrier for an international conference, even though an itinerary on a foreign carrier was available for less. This satisfies the Fly America Act — lower cost on the foreign option is not itself a valid reason to avoid the requirement.
• A principal investigator travels from the U.S. to Frankfurt, Germany for a collaboration meeting funded by an NIH grant. No U.S. flag carrier offers nonstop service on that city pair, and connecting through a U.S. carrier would add a qualifying delay under 41 CFR § 301-10.136. The institution’s travel office books the trip on a European Union carrier under the US–EU Open Skies Agreement and documents the exception at the time of booking — a compliant use of the Open Skies exception, not a violation.

Counter-example

A researcher on a federally funded grant books a foreign, non-Open-Skies carrier solely because it was several hundred dollars cheaper than the available U.S. flag carrier option, with no applicable necessity or time-threshold exception. Even though the trip itself may otherwise be a reasonable, project-related, properly authorized travel cost under 2 CFR § 200.475, the carrier selection does not satisfy the Fly America Act, and the airfare is subject to being disallowed on the federal award under 41 CFR § 301-10.143 — illustrating why Fly America Act compliance and general travel-cost allowability are two separate checks, not one.

Frequently asked questions

Does the Fly America Act apply to all international travel on a federal grant?

It applies whenever the airfare is paid from federal grant, cooperative agreement, or contract funds — the statute’s own language covers any arrangement where payment is made by, or from amounts provided for the use of, the U.S. government. It does not apply to travel paid entirely from non-federal sources, such as institutional discretionary funds or a non-federal sponsor.

Can a researcher use a foreign carrier just because it is cheaper?

No. Cost and personal convenience are explicitly not recognized exceptions under 41 CFR part 301-10 — only the defined necessity, Open Skies, and travel-time-threshold exceptions apply.

What are the current Open Skies Agreement exceptions?

Four bilateral/multilateral agreements currently carry a Department of Transportation determination that they meet the Fly America Act’s requirements: the US–European Union Open Skies Agreement, and separate agreements with Switzerland, Australia, and Japan.

What happens if a grant-funded trip violates the Fly America Act?

Under 41 CFR § 301-10.143, the traveler is not entitled to reimbursement for transportation costs where a foreign air carrier was used improperly. On a federal grant, this typically means the airfare becomes an unallowable cost on the award and has to be covered from non-federal funds instead.