travel claims can vary from trip to another trip and from soldier to soldier.
trip from toronto to gagetown
samples way of getting there
air ( did the unit order the tickets, or did you pay for the tickets )
service air no frills flight, you can get more to claim, meals and other costs.
bus,
dnd road trip, could have to sleep on the green bus no hotel or motel
pomv personal owned motor vech mileage, hi or low rate depending on how many people are travelling with you. and who gives the okay for the hi rate. depending on distance , there is an expected distance that can be driven in one day and motel/hotels bills
there are various ways of getting to the airport
1 family member drops you off and picks you up, you can claim milage to and from your house, depending on distance and reasoning you can get milage to the airport, back home and back to the air port and back home again, ( cheaper then long term parking of pomv)
actual milage is require or it is the book rate
2 Taxi service to and from the airport, with receipts ( no receipt 5.00 was the allowed charge)
3 DND duty driver drops you off and picks you up no charges allowed no claim amount allowed
3 drive your own car and put it in long term parking, this is claimable to a maxium, ( been a while since I have done a DND 99 )
4 public transport to and from the airport,shuttle bus, city transport, etc, exact fare and reciepts required
there are 4 various ways of getting to airport and all have various claimable rates so the money back can be lower or higher depending in the arrangements
timings of your travel
travel before or during what meal hours, were meals provided to you on your flight
did you have to buy your own meals as you travelled
that all affects the meal claim part.
if meals were included in on your plane or train trip ( over 4 hours by train the entitlement was first class seating which came with a meal)
then you could not claim that meal
timing you arrive on base or near by, could you check into the base and get quarters?
did you stay at hotel/motel or did you stay with a friend till you could check in the next morning this could vary the claim
temp duty allowance
it can vary soldier to soldier on the same course.
when he/she left home, wether or not they claimed the FOA( field operations allowance) for the entire period if or if they did not claim FOA
( some soldiers do not claim FOA as it is a taxable benefit and TD allowance which is lower is not , or they take the TD allowance and pocket the money and not tell his or her spouse ) { I had officers who were stationed at LFCA HQ who always claimed TD rates because that way the wife did not know about his extra pocket money , and claims cheques were not to be mailed out if they were away when the claim was audited and paid}
FOA is paind on the pay side of the pay office so the soldier does not always see it right away as with the TD allowance it is paid direct no taxes.
there are some of the reasons that your claim for the same course might be higher or lower then an person's claim off the same course.
other reasons are they know how to work the system for all the extras they entitled to but you might know of the entitlement.
Longdistance calls home
late night meal when travelling
i will not list them all but that is a couple of them.
I worked in claims and pay before I got out of the res. and learned all sorts of loopholes and extras entitlements that could be claimed, i could not tell you them all because it would be a claim by claim thing.
another reason for differ amounts in claims, could also be related to the FIN CODE that was paying for the trip.
i would not max out my personal claims if the unit was paying the bill , but if another source was paying the bill i would max my personal claim, save the units travel budget , spend the other units budget.
i am no longer an expert with claims but those reasonalble means to vary one claim over another
just some thoughts here on claims
