tions covering their accumulated or current accrued leave, or to elect to have such leave remain to their credit until their return from active military or naval service. [Italics supplied.] That statute (particularly the italicized portion thereof) grants a right which may not be denied. As the act of December 17, 1942, increasing the amount of accumulated leave is retroactively effective, it follows that an employee who entered the active military or naval service subsequent to May 1, 1940, now has a right to be paid for the additional amount of accumulated leave to which he has become entitled by reason of the act of December 17, 1942. Question 3 is answered in the affirmative. It has been held that the increased compensation on an "overtime” basis authorized by joint resolution of December 22, 1942, is a statutory increase in compensation. See decision of January 21, 1943, B-31789, 22 Comp. Gen. 683, to the Secretary of Labor. That increase is authorized during periods of authorized annual leave the same as though the employee were on active duty. See section 4 of the President's Regulations, Executive Order No. 9289, dated December 26, 1942; also 20 Comp. Gen. 555; 21 id. 853, 855 and decisions therein cited. Accordingly, question 4 is answered in the affirmative. With regard to the payment of claims for increased compensation under the joint resolution of December 22, 1942, to employees who have transferred to other agencies or whose services have been terminated, there may be applied the same rule as was authorized under the automatic promotion law of August 1, 1941, 55 Stat. 613, stated in decision of March 14, 1942, 21 Comp. Gen. 871, as follows (quoting from the syllabus): Amounts representing within-grade salary advancements under the act of August 1, 1941, due employees who transferred to other Government agencies, or who were separated from the service, before actual payment of the increases to which they became eligible on October 1, 1941, should be certified for payment by the administrative office in which the employee was employed prior to his transfer or separation, and such amounts may be paid by the disbursing officer except in cases where payment cannot be accomplished within 3 months after the close of the fiscal year, in which event the matter should be forwarded to this office for settlement. If question 5 is directed to employees who now are in the service, the effective date of a proposed termination or the beginning of leave of absence without pay should be changed in order to grant the employees the additional accumulated annual leave to which they are entitled by reason of the act of December 17, 1942, provided the proposed termination or leave of absence without pay is not for causethe granting of leave in such cases being a matter of administrative discretion. See section 8 of the Annual Leave Regulations, Executive Order No. 8384, dated March 29, 1940. If the employees are no longer in the service (except those who have entered the active military or naval service) no change in the termination date is authorized. See answer to question 2. (B-31823) TRAVELING EXPENSES-AIR AND RAIL TRAVEL OF NAVY OFFICERSRAIL AND AIR COMPARATIVE COSTS; TAXICAB FARES A Navy officer who performed travel via commercial aircraft under orders authorizing repeated travel between certain designated places and authorizing the use of either commercial or Government aircraft may be reimbursed under section 12 of the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942 for authorized items of travel without regard to comparative cost of rail travel. A Navy officer performing travel by rail and commercial aircraft under repeated travel orders is entitled under section 12 of the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942 to reimbursement of items for taxi fares properly incurred in connection with travel by rail, in addition to the per diem allowance authorized "in lieu of subsistence"; but such items incurred incident to travel by commercial aircraft are included in the per diem allowance authorized "in lieu of mileage or other travel allowance" for travel by air, and reimbursement therefor is not authorized under said section 12. Assistant Comptroller General Elliott to Capt. D. G. McRitchie, U. S. Navy, February 17, 1943: There has been received your letter of January 15, 1943, as follows: It is respectfully requested that this office be given your advanced decision on two pertinent points for proper audit of the enclosed Travel Claim. The specific information requested is as follows: (1) When travel has been performed via commercial air under authority of Repeated Travel Orders which incorporate a clause as follows: "Travel via commercial or Government Aircraft is hereby authorized," and there is no evidence of advantage to the Government either in savings of time or economy in cost, is it not required of the Disbursing Officer to suspend the excess cost to the Government over cost of Commercial Transportation for a showing of a satisfactory reason for using this more expensive mode of travel when it is not in fact shown to be advantageous to the Government? (2) When there are taxi fares at en-route stops from the station, airport, or wharf to hotel and return for the traveler's comfort and convenience, is this expense appropriately identified as "Transportation Expense-relative to travel", or a "Subsistence Expense"? Would it be included or excluded in the subsistence allowance? The original orders of subject claim are being returned to the Officer concerned for use in presenting subsequent claims. The travel claim submitted is covered by reimbursement voucher, Standard Form No. 1012, stated in favor of Ensign James J. O'Connell, O-V (S), USNR, in the amount of $128.70, for expenses incurred for travel performed between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee; Memphis, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, pursuant to orders dated September 29, 1942, as follows: From: The Chief of Naval Personnel. To: Ensign James J. O'Connell, Jr., O-V (S), U. S. N. R., Office of the Resident Inspector of Naval Material, U. S. Rubber Company, Charlotte, N. C. Via: Inspector of Naval Material, Atlanta District, Atlanta, Ga. Subject: Repeated travel. Reference: SecNav. Letter No. P16-4 (410430) KHa, September 15, 1941. 1. The Secretary of the Navy having determined that the following places Pare in the same vicinity, you are hereby authorized to perform such travel time to time, as may be necessary for the purpose indicated below. tl. in addition to your present duties: Between Charlotte, N. C., an within the Atlanta District as may be necessary to visit in duties. Travel via commercial or government aircraft is This authority for repeated travel will terminate February 1, 1945. 2. Should a renewal of this authority be considered necessary you will, at least 1 month prior to the expiration thereof, notify the Bureau of Naval Personnel to that effect, giving your reasons why a renewal should be granted. 3. (a) When a trip necessitates an absence of more than twenty-four hours. you will be entitled to reimbursement at the rate of $6.00 per diem, in lieu of subsistence. See U. S. Navy Travel Instructions, Article 2511. (b) When a trip necessitates an absence from your station of less than twentyfour hours, if in a travel status and entitled to subsistence, you will be entitled to reimbursement for actual expenses, other than the actual cost of travel incurred in the execution of these orders, at a rate not exceeding $6.00 per day. 4. You will submit on the last day of each quarter a written report giving the information called for by Form N. Nav. 97, (BNP 330). The character of expenditures are itemized as follows: Taxi fare airport to hotel.. Left Memphis, Tenn. 12:45 Subsistence allowance... Note 1.-Train arrived in Atlanta, Ga. 3 hours late thus causing traveler to miss train connection at 2:00 PM. No transportation was available, either by rail or air, until 1:30 AM of the following day. Note 2.-This en route stop was caused by the cancellation of my reservation on the 3:00 AM flight to Nashville, Tennessee due to priority regulations. The next available flight out of Atlanta, Ga. on November 26th left at 4:15 PM. Appropriation: 1730802.17. Pay, Subsistence & Transportation, Navy, 1943. $6.00 $1.00 Section 12 of the Pay Readjustment Act of 1942, 56 Stat. 364, 365, in part, is as follows: SEC. 12. Officers of any of the services mentioned in the title of this Act, including Reserve components thereof and the National Guard, while on active duty in the Federal service, when traveling under competent orders without troops shall receive a mileage allowance at the rate of 8 cents per mile * but in cases when orders are given for travel to be performed repeatedly between two or more places in the same vicinity, as determined by the head of the executive department concerned, he may, in his discretion, direct that actual and necessary expenses only be allowed. Unless otherwise expressly provided by law, no officer of the services mentioned in the title of this Act shall be allowed or paid any sum in excess of expenses actually incurred for subsistence while traveling on duty away from his designated post of duty, nor any sum for such expenses actually incurred in excess of $7 per day. The heads of the executive departments concerned are authorized to prescribe per diem rates of allowance, not exceeding $6 of subsistence to officers traveling on official business and away designated posts of duty: Provided, That for travel by air un orders on duty without troops, under regulations to be prescribed respectively by the heads of the departments concerned, members (including officers, warrant officers, contract surgeons, enlisted men, aviation cadets, and members of the Nurse Corps) of the services mentioned in the title of this Act, and of the legally constituted Reserves of said services while on active duty * * shall, * in lieu of mileage or other travel allowances, be allowed and paid their actual and necessary traveling expenses not to exceed $8 per day, or, in lieu thereof, per diem allowances at rates not to exceed $6 per day. Travel by personnel of the services mentioned in the title of this Act, including the Reserve components thereof * on commercial aircraft, domestic or foreign, including travel between airports and centers of population or posts of duty when incidental to travel on commercial aircraft, shall be allowed at public expense when authorized or approved by competent authority, and transportation requests for such travel may be issued upon such authorizations. Such expense shall be allowed without regard to comparative costs of transportation by aircraft with other modes of transportation. The provisions of section 204 (c) of the act of June 23, 1938, 52 Stat. 983, which covered travel by commercial aircraft of all personnel of the United States Government, are in substance included in the third paragraph of section 12, supra, and basically the authority contained in the said section 12 is the same as that provided in the former law. It was held under the act of June 23, 1938, that any clear authorization in competent orders for use of commercial aircraft would be treated as sufficient to authorize payment of the cost thereof, and make applicable to such travel the travel expenses prescribed exclusively for air travel. See 18 Comp. Gen. 256 and 450. The same rule is for application under the third paragraph of section 12 of the act of June 16, 1942, supra. The orders to Ensign O'Connell authorized the optional utilization of commercial or Government aircraft as the mode of transportation, and you are advised that reimbursement of authorized items of travel may be made to him for travel by commercial aircraft, without regard to comparative cost of rail travel. Your first question is answered accordingly. The travel performed by Ensign O'Connell involved two modes of travel; namely, by rail and by commercial aircraft. The orders issued to him authorized repeated travel between Charlotte, North Carolina, and places within the Atlanta District, entitling him to reimbursement of actual and necessary expenses, under the provisions of section 12 of the above cited act of June 16, 1942. Reimbursement of expenses actually incurred not exceeding $7 per day, or a per diem allowance, not exceeding $6, "in lieu of subsistence," is authorized for travel by rail, while actual and necessary travel expenses not to exceed $8 per day, or per diem allowance at rates not to exceed $6 per day, are authorized "in lieu of mileage or other travel allowances," for travel by air. While the maximum rates of the per diem are the same for both modes of travel, the limitation for reimbursement of actual expenses is greater for air travel. In this connection it may be observed that the provision for reimbursement for travel by air includes, in substance, the provisions of the act of July 11, 1919, 41 Stat. 109, and the act of |