- ➀ Confirm if official FFMs will be redeemed
Travelers first check with the airline to ascertain whether their official FFMs are sufficient to purchase reward tickets or upgrade seats before booking an air ticket.
- ➁ Submit evidence if official FFMs cannot be redeemed
In case official FFMs cannot be redeemed*, travelers request for payment of the full air fare by submitting a hard copy of the online ticket confirmation with evidence stating the reason for not using official FFMs.
* Official FFMs are insufficient to issue reward tickets, the airline’s seats allocated for reward tickets are fully booked, etc.
- ➂ Report changes to official FFMs status before travel
Travelers report details of official FFMs earned or redeemed prior to travel
Official Travel Expense Scheme
Official Travel Expense Scheme
Util Menu
Outline
Outline of the official travel expense scheme
- Official travel expenses, incurred in the necessary course of official travel, include transportation, per diem, lodging, meal, relocation, and travel preparation expenses as well as travel expenses incurred by family members.
- Transportation expenses, incurred while traveling to official travel destinations via a means of transportation, include fares for rail, sea, air, and vehicle services. In principle, reimbursement is only for actual expenses incurred.
- Lodging, meal, and per diem expenses, incurred for lodging, meal, and other purposes en route and at the destination, are paid in accordance with the payment grade schedule in Appendix 1 of the Regulations on Official Travel Expenses. Expenses for domestic travel and those for international travel are paid in accordance with Appendix 2 and Appendix 4 of the Regulations, respectively.
- Eligibility for reimbursement of relocation expenses and travel expenses incurred by family members differs from domestic and international relocation. Expenses for domestic relocation are reimbursable for civil servants who move and transport freight to a new place of duty, while those for international relocation are reimbursable for civil servants who move abroad, move from one location to another overseas, or move back to Korea. Domestic moving expenses by family members are reimbursable for civil servants who accompany or bring their family members to a new place of duty. International moving expenses by family members are reimbursed if they qualify under Appendix 6-2 of the Regulations.
Types of official travel expenses
| Classification | Description |
|---|---|
| Transportation expenses |
Expenses incurred in traveling to official travel destinations via a means of transportation (e.g. fares for rail, sea, air, and vehicle services) |
| Lodging expenses | Expenses incurred for lodging during official travel |
| Meal expenses | Expenses incurred for meals during official travel |
| Per diem | Expenses for transportation, telecommunications and other purposes en route or at the destination of official travel |
| Relocation expenses | Expenses incurred for moving freight to a new location due to relocation to a new place of duty or relocation of the government office |
| Moving expenses incurred by family members | Expenses incurred for accompanying family members at a new location due to relocation to a new place of duty or relocation of the government office |
| Travel preparation expenses |
Expenses incurred to prearrange and prepare for official travel (qualifying expenses are determined by the Minister of Personnel Management) (expenses for visa issuance, vaccination, travelers’ insurance, medicines for endemic diseases, diagnostic testing for nationally reportable infectious diseases, etc.) |
Official travel expenses by travel type
| Classification | Eligible expenses | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Official travel | Domestic travel | Within one’s place of duty | Fixed expense of KRW 10,000 or KRW 20,000 |
| Outside one’s place of duty | Transportation, meal, lodging and per diem | ||
| International travel | Transportation, meal, lodging, per diem, and travel preparation expenses | ||
| Relocation to a new place of duty (including new recruitment) | Moving and relocation expenses incurred by civil servants and moving expenses incurred by their family members | ||
Frequent flyer miles from official travel
Management of frequent flyer miles from official travel
Frequent flyer miles (FFMs) from official travel refer to airline loyalty points earned from official travel. Civil servants who earn FFMs from official travel provide details of miles earned on the government’s digital human resource management system (e-Saram) and redeem them later for official purposes only.
| Classification | Description |
|---|---|
| FFMs subject to management | FFMs earned as a result of official travel (both domestic and international) from March 1, 2006, regardless of who pays for the air fare |
| How to use FFMs | FFMs accumulated are redeemed first for civil servants’ official air travel |
| Where to use FFMs | FFMs can be used to purchase reward tickets, pay for part of the air fare with cash, upgrade seats, or use additional services such as additional baggage allowance |
| Reporting on FFMs | Civil servants scheduled to use an airline for official travel or relocation provide changes to their FFMs status (i.e. FFMs to be earned or redeemed) on the e-Saram system before travel (and confirm changes after travel) |
| Limitation on usage | FFMs cannot be redeemed for private use without a justifiable reason (Article 13 of the Civil Servants’ Code of Conduct) |
Methods and procedures for using frequent flyer miles from official travel
Civil servants can redeem FFMs earned from official travel to use an airline’s mileage program, such as reward tickets, for official purposes. Otherwise, civil servants can buy their official FFMs with welfare benefit points or cash and make use of them for personal travel.
| Classification | Description |
|---|---|
| ① Purchase reward tickets | FFMs are redeemed to issue reward tickets subject to the airline’s mileage redemption table |
| ➁ Upgrade seats | FFMs are redeemed to upgrade seats in a lower class purchased with cash |
| ➂ Pay for the air fare with cash | FFMs are redeemed for up to 20% of the air fare (using the Cash and Miles program of Korean Air) |
| ④ Use additional travel services | FFMs are redeemed to purchase additional services (e.g. additional baggage allowance, airport shuttle bus tickets, rental car service) for official purposes authorized by the head of relevant ministry or agency |
| ⑤ Exchange private FFMs for official FFMs | A civil servant’s official FFMs at one airline are exchanged for his or her private FFMs at another airline on a one-to-one basis.
Mileage exchange is available only if the civil servant has private FFMs at an airline used for official travel |
| ⑥ Combine official FFMs with private FFMs | If reward tickets or a seat upgrade are not available due to insufficient miles, civil servants can combine their private FFMs with official FFMs to use mileage services (up to 30% of the air fare is compensated in cash) |
| ⑦ Buy official FFMs | Civil servants can buy official FFMs with welfare benefit points or cash and use them for personal travel.
Miles collected below 30,000 can be purchased for KRW 10 per mile, and those above 30,000 can be purchased for KRW 20 per mile. |
Civil servants on official travel must confirm and report if they plan to redeem official FFMs, etc. according to the procedures below prior to official travel
※ Before approving a request for international travel, ministries or agencies must confirm how many official FFMs the traveler has collected, whether official FFMs are sufficient to be redeemed, and whether FFMs earned and redeemed from the proposed official travel itinerary are correctly reported in the system.