8 SR 07-19-1993ITEM 8
TO: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
ver FROM: PATRICK KLAERS, CITY ADMINIST� TOR
lel DATE: JULY 8, 1993
SUBJECT: FREQUENTLY FLYERS
The 1992 Legislature approved a law which required local
governing bodies to develop and implement policies covering
frequent flyer benefits for municipal employees and officials.
This law was part of the State Auditor's bill in 1992. This
law is meant mainly for large cities where lots of out-of-state
business takes place and airplane travel trips are common. It
is now illegal for employees or officials to receive frequent
flyer benefits for personal use when the miles used to obtain
these benefits were from a City paid trip.
Until I talked with Marcy VanValkenburg at Elk River Travel, I
thought that this law really did not apply to anybody in Elk
River and that the Elk River policy would be very simple ... if
an employee or official receives a frequent flyer benefit, it
must be turned over to the City. This will still be the
recommendation for an Elk River policy, but the policy will be
a little more detailed than this one sentence. After
discussing frequent flyers with Marcy, I now understand that
over time, one or more City employees may be able to get one or
more free airplane tickets that could be used for a future
conference/training session.
Frequent flyer miles cannot be accumulated by a corporation or
a city, but can only be accumulated by an individual. Frequent
flyer benefit tickets are transferable. Frequent flyer
programs are offered one per airline and, general speaking, the
benefit that you get is one free trip within the continental 48
United States per 20,000 miles that has been accumulated.
Lori Johnson, Fritz Dolejs, and myself do most of the travel as
City employees. I have flown to six national conferences and
if each trip was 3,350 miles per round trip (very unlikely) I
would have been able to have one free flight obtained through a
frequent flyer program, provided that all the flights were
taken with the same airline. If this were the case, I would
have received a free ticket to anywhere in the 48 continental
United States and this ticket could be used by any City
employee or official, as the benefits are transferable. We can
not say if the frequent flyer policies will change by the
airlines by the time we have actually accumulated miles for
this benefit or even if the airline we are using will still be
in business.
To the best of my knowledge, no City employee has a frequent
flyer card which has obtained mileage toward a free trip by
P.O. Box 490 • 13065 Orono Parkway • Elk River, MN 55330 • (612) 441-7420 • Fax: (612) 441-7425
using miles traveled on City business and paid for by the
City. If I or the Finance Director learn of any employee that
has a frequent flyer card and has been using it in this manner,
then this practice will stop.
It is recommended that the City Council adopt the following
frequent flyer policy for the City of Elk River:
- All City employees and officials who would typically take
one or more air travel trips for City business per year
will request a frequent flyer card from the airline most
commonly used.
- All City employees and officials will attempt to fly the
same airlines on trips in attempt to obtain frequent flyer
miles and benefits (a free airline ticket).
- All City employees and officials who have obtained a
frequent flyer benefit (a free airline ticket) through
accumulation of miles while on City business and which was
paid for by the City, will turn the ticket over to the
City (Finance Department).
The Finance Director will distribute the frequent flyer
ticket within a reasonable time frame to a City employee
1 or official who is flying to a conference or training
session which has a relatively high priced airfare. This
will allow for a saving of City funds since the tickets
are transferable.
- No City employee or official shall used miles accumulated
from City travel and paid for by the City to benefit
themselves towards a personal frequent flyer free ticket.