Germany’s 630 MPs may once again book business-class tickets at the taxpayer’s expense – if the flight lasts more than two hours.
A former ban on the more expensive seating category was lifted by agreement of the German Parliament’s Presidency and Council of Elders as well as the leaders of the parties in the Bundestag, or parliament.
The decision to end the ban had been made on 11 September 11 but it was not publicly announced then and only revealed yesterday by tabloid Bild.
The ban had been introduced in April 2024 as cost-saving measure and applied to all flights lasting less than four hours.
A speaker for the Bundestag said the decision to lower the threshold to two hours was a question of economics: “An evaluation has shown that the biggest savings can be achieved with flights lasting up to two hours. These represent 73 per cent of flights and thus also 73 per cent of money saved.”
He added that for longer flights the strain of travelling in economy class outweighed the cost savings: “For flights between two and four hours, only a significantly smaller saving could be achieved, which was weighed against the reduction in work capacity.
“It should be noted that on such longer international flights, confidential documents are often reviewed.”
The new, more generous regulation has been met with criticism – especially the covert way in which it was introduced.
Independent journalist Boris Reitschuster wrote yesterday: “This silence is particularly damning. It is the unspoken proof that those involved were fully aware of how indecent their behaviour was.
“Anyone who does not dare to communicate something like this openly knows they are doing something wrong.”
The introduction of the ban in April 2024 was widely communicated in German media at the time.
Reitschuster added that MPs should welcome the opportunity to meet ordinary people while travelling in economy class.
The travel regulations for German MPs allow a reimbursement of airfare costs for business-class flights.
In “specially motivated individual cases” MPs may also travel first class if the parliament’s president greenlights the booking.
