Fly America Act

The Fly America Act was enacted to mandate the use of U.S. flag air carriers for federally funded international travel.  The Federal Travel Regulations require international flights to be on U.S. flag air carriers whenever possible, which is accomplished when code sharing is present.  Code sharing occurs when two or more airlines “code” the same flight as if it was their own.  In other words, the international flight may be on a foreign air carrier’s plane, but is considered the same as the one operated by an U.S. flag air carrier.  Compliance with the Fly America Act is satisfied when the U.S. flag air carrier’s designator code is present in the area next to the flight numbers on the airline ticket, boarding pass, or on the documentation for an electronic ticket (passenger receipt).

A detailed list of U.S. flag carriers is below:

• AirTran Airways (FL)
• Alaska Airlines (AS)
• America West Airlines (HP)
• American Airlines (AA)
• AirTran Trans Air (TZ)
• Continental Airlines (CO)
• Delta Airlines (DL)
• Frontier Airlines (F9)
• Hawaiian Airlines (HA)
• Jet Blue (B6)
• Midwest Express (YX)
• Northwest Airlines (NW)
• Southwest Airlines (WN)
• Spirit Airlines (NK)
• United Airlines (UA)
• US Airways (US)
• Virgin America (VX)

Each airline has a two letter alpha code (designator code.) For example, United Airlines has a code of “UA”. On your ticket, in the area next to the flight number, you would see a UA.