U.S. Department of Health and Human Services executives spent $31 million on thousands of first class and business class flights over four years, largely at the expense of taxpayers, records obtained by the Washington Examiner show.
Between 2009 and 2013, HHS executives spent $31 million on 7,000 upgraded flights, "including 253 trips for which a one-way ticket cost more than $15,000," the Examiner said.
Half of the records obtained by the paper through a Freedom of Information Act request include the price of a coach ticket for comparison, and show that the department spent nearly $14 million for the first class upgrades for that portion alone.
Federal employees are allowed to upgrade to business or first class if the flight is longer than 14 hours, according to the U.S. General Services Administration, but only 1,400 of the 7,000 flights met that description, the Examiner reported.
"For the vast majority of the flights - 5,100 - the government executives upgraded because they claimed they had a medical disability that necessitated it," the paper said. Others cited "exceptional security circumstances," meaning no coach tickets were available, that a non-federal source was paying for the flight or that an upgrade was "required because of agency mission."
Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took 14 upgraded flights costing $56,000, including international flights in India, Paris and Vietnam.
"The Food and Drug Administration took 2,000 upgraded trips costing $14 million and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took 3,000 trips costing $11 million," reported the Examiner. "The National Institutes of Health took 1,300 such trips costing $3.5 million."
More than 1,000 trips were for conferences, training sessions, meetings and speeches, but 1,000 records didn't list a flight purpose.
The Examiner said it has reviewed records from a number of other federal agencies over the years and found that while they too spend heavily on upgraded travel, none appear to match the amount spent by the HHS in the four year period.