Airport Chief Will End Free-Flight Policy : Burbank: Authority president Raggio reverses position on first-class business trips for commissioners and their spouses.

The president of the board overseeing Burbank Airport said Thursday he will put an immediate end to a longstanding policy of providing free first-class air travel to airport commissioners and their spouses during business trips.

Acknowledging that he has flown first-class at the airport’s expense himself, Carl W. Raggio Jr., president of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority, said he now believes it is inappropriate for commissioners to do so.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the times,” said Raggio, who is one of three representatives of Glendale on the nine-member board. “I just don’t think bodies such as ours ought to be put in the awkward position of playing defense all the time. The end result is we’re not getting to the business of the day.

“We can’t go backwards on it. But with the measure of times now and how everyone feels towards travel, then I think we have to do what I intend to do.”

Since 1992, airport commissioners have spent $88,825 on travel that included first-class air fares for commissioners and their spouses, according to records.

Raggio flew first-class to Washington, D.C., in 1994 at the airport’s expense. But on other occasions, he has reimbursed the Airport Authority for his wife’s expenses and used his own frequent-flier miles to upgrade a coach seat to first-class.

The authority’s travel policies are being reviewed by the Los Angeles County grand jury, which is following up one or more complaints alleging misuse of public funds.

Expressing the same sentiments as Raggio this week were Airport Commissioner Philip E. Berlin of Burbank and Burbank Vice Mayor Susan Spanos, both of whom advocate greater restraints on travel by the board.

“If it’s a business trip, in my mind there’s no reason for a commissioner to travel first-class,” Berlin said.

“There’s absolutely, absolutely, absolutely no reason for the authority to be paying for a spouse,” he added. “I can understand if he or she might want a spouse to be there, but it is a personal matter.”

Raggio, who became the board’s interim president in May and is up for reelection in July, said he will ask commissioners to change the authority’s policy on travel during an upcoming retreat.

The board’s written travel policy simply states that the president may approve the travel expenses of commissioners “when it is related to the business affairs of the Airport Authority.”

Travel records obtained covering 1992 to 1995 show that commissioners have sought reimbursement for travel 36 times in that period. There were 21 claims for first-class travel and 13 for spouses.

At other public airports in Southern California, tough policies limiting travel expenses have been enacted.

Commissioners at John Wayne Airport in Orange County do not get paid for out-of-town trips and are only reimbursed for gas to drive to and from meetings.

At airports owned by the city of Los Angeles--Los Angeles International, Van Nuys, Palmdale and Ontario--officials fly coach for nearly all business-related trips and are not permitted to be accompanied by spouses at public expense.