Re: [ga] Why is ICANN's travel agency invoicing for 3.7x what other agents charge?

[Karl Auerbach <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roberto Gaetano wrote:
> May I add a bit of information.
> I use the ICANN travel agent
As did I when I was on the board.

I don't believe that any board member ever abused ICANN's travel 
policies.  Yes, some board members flew first class but it was, and 
still is, my belief that they covered the extra cost (or used 
accumulated "miles").
(By-the-way, I firmly support the "business class" policy for the board 
- it's a tough job and we internet users want board members to be able 
to maximize the value of their time. Some board members have to travel 
more than 24 hours each way to meetings - and don't forget, board 
members are contributing their time and effort.  The extra dollars are, 
to my mind, worth it and ICANN ought not to be criticized on that front.)
I do believe, on the other hand, that ICANN's travel largess may have 
been abused by a few staff members of that era (a very few - I'm 
painting with a very narrow brush here).  One staffer, for example, made 
the equivalent of several around the world trips.  And they all seemed 
to be to nice places at nice times of the year.
And when I inspected the books I found that ICANN's law firm was 
charging premium rates for an awful lot of travel from DC and Cleveland 
(where the firm's head office is located) plus some pretty ritzy hotel 
charges.
(ICANN shifted to summary billing from their law firm at about the same 
time I asked to look at the records - thus those "interesting" details 
about what the law firm was charging became have become invisible to the 
current era of the board.)
                --karl--