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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (April 2, 2019) – Sailors travel hundreds of thousands of miles every year for deployment, changing duty stations, and transiting to and from work. Traveling for work is a necessity in the military, but when it comes to personal travel, Sailors often travel by themselves without any help from the Navy. Most airlines offer discounts for military members, but American Forces Travel, a new travel site sponsored by Priceline and the Department of Defense, offers deals for all aspects of travel specifically for military service members and civilian Department of Defense employees.
“American Forces Travel was developed for a simple reason. The people who support the United States of America through military service have earned access to the world’s most exclusive travel deals,” said Brett Keller, Priceline’s chief executive officer. “We were thrilled to be selected by the Department of Defense, and have worked closely with them over the past year to bring the site to life.”
American Forces Travel provides access to a wide selection of discounted rates on hotels, airfare, rental cars, vacation packages, and cruises.
“American Forces Travel was developed to ensure that when authorized members book personal travel, they will have ready access to the best deals that the global travel industry has to offer,” said an American Forces Travel representative during a press release for the site’s launch on Jan. 22, 2019.
“Having access to discounts to travel places that I want to go outside of the Navy is very beneficial,” said Electronics Technician 3rd Class Kade Gibbs from Hazel Green, Alabama, a Sailor assigned to the combat systems department aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73).
Most airlines provide free checked bags for military, and organizations are set up for military members to use when they need to travel for orders or emergency leave.
“Navy Marine Corps Relief Society provides assistance for travel by air or car for serious illness, injury, or death of immediate family,” said Kathy Nelson, the director of Navy Marine Corps Relief Society in Norfolk.
While travel expenses for emergency leave are necessary, American Forces Travel provides discounts and deals on recreational and leisure travel not normaly available to Sailors through funds set aside for military and emergency travel.
"Until now, leisure travel was typically handled by travel agents on military bases,” said an American Forces Travel representative in a press release. "The Department of Defense chose to create a new online platform that was modern, fast and widely accessible, and to populate the site with the broadest and deepest collection of travel deals as a way to thank the military community for their service."
According to the American Forces Travel website, the Department of Defense’s 1.3 million employees will have exclusive access and deals to hotels, flights, car rentals, and cruise brands, and will offer privately negotiated deals that will be available only to the military community totaling almost one million hotel deals in 71,000 destinations around the world.
For more information and to access the discounts listed above, visit www.americanforcestravel.com.
Join the conversation with GW online at www.facebook.com/USSGW and www.twitter.com/GW_CVN73. For more news from USS George Washington, visit www. Navy.mil/local/cvn73/.
| Date Taken: | 04.02.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 04.10.2019 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 317363 |
| Location: | NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, American Forces Travel: A Discounted Way to Travel, by PO2 Tatyana Freeman, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
