Regulations and Guidance

International Travel and Fly America Act

R05.02.060.A.(10)(d)

  1. All international travel (travel outside the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the territories and possessions of the United States), including travel of those individuals normally exempt from the requirement of supervisory approval, must be approved by the traveler's supervisor.
  2. Federally funded travel must comply with 49 U.S.C. 40118, commonly referred to as the “Fly America Act”, to use U.S. flag air carrier service for all air travel. The requirements are further described in 41 CFR301-10.131 – 10.143. Use of a foreign air carrier for federally funded travel requires specific documentation and approval by the travel administrator (contact your university travel administrator for specific requirements). The university supports the Fly America Act by requiring all travelers using federal funding to be on an American air carrier into and out of the United States regardless of cost and/or travel times. In cases where there are no direct flights by an American carrier, travelers must fly to a gateway city for connecting flights to his/her final destination. The university supports the use of American carriers on all legs of the trip where American carriers are available. Amendments to, or agreements with, the “Fly America Act”, such as the “Open Skies Agreements”, will be followed.

All international travel requires supervisor approval including international travel for those otherwise authorized to approve their own travel.

International travel on federal awards requires approval by the granting agency.

Federally funded travel must comply with the Fly America Act. Information and guidelines are available on the GSA's Fly America Act website..

Contact your campus travel office if you need assistance navigating international travel requirements including Fly America.

Additional Considerations

US Export Control laws regulate the transfer (physical and electronic) of goods, technologies and technical data outside of the US for economic, national security and foreign policy reasons. The regulations also cover the provisions of services to restricted entities or denied parties.

The three main regulatory agencies are the Department of State, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Treasury. The list below may trigger the need for an export license from any of those agencies, although the regulations do contain some licensing exceptions and exemptions.

For foreign travel, this means UA needs to screen the following:

  1. Destination countries for embargoed or sanctioned destinations
  2. Hosting organization or individual or foreign collaborator (for professional conferences, these are the sponsoring institutions) for denied or restricted entities
  3. Transportation of any UA owned equipment either for temporary or permanent export, whether shipped ahead of time or taken as carry-on or checked baggage including laptops, computers, after-market software including encryption, scientific instruments, etc.
  4. Any technical data including proprietary or confidential data (e.g. via an NDA) and data required for the design, fabrication, operation or maintenance of military or dual-use technology

Q: Does Concur automatically comply with Fly America if we answer "Yes" to the federal funds question?

A: No, flights in Concur do not automatically comply with Fly America or Open Skies. The federal funds question is only for reporting.

The Fly America icon (silver check-mark in shield) appears next to the flight information if it is compliant. However, this compliance check will not take into consideration any allowable exceptions (e.g., Open Skies).