Staying off base on TDY
What the rules actually require, what they do not, and how to keep your lodging reimbursable.
Reviewed 30 July 2026 against the JTR (rev. 1 June 2026), DoD FMR Volume 9 Chapter 5 (January 2026) and DAFMAN 34-135 (23 July 2024, Change 1 13 February 2025).
The short version
If you are TDY to a US installation you are required to check whether government quarters are available. If adequate quarters are available and you stay somewhere else anyway, your lodging reimbursement is capped at what the government quarters would have cost. If quarters are not available, you get a non-availability number and commercial lodging becomes reimbursable, subject to your Authorizing Official approving it.
That cap is the whole reason our crashpad rates are set against the government lodging rate: at or below that number, the cap cannot cost you anything.
What changed since we first published on this
We put this page up in 2018 arguing that members could not be required to stay on base. That framing has not aged well and we have retired it. Three things moved:
- The Integrated Lodging Program became permanent, and its use is mandatory at ILP sites. Holloman AFB and Altus AFB are both ILP sites. Government quarters sit at the top of a required priority order at each.
- The DoD Financial Management Regulation no longer contains the phrase "and the member is directed to use them." The current wording is that members should use adequate available government quarters, and reimbursement is limited to quarters cost if they do not.
- AFI 34-135 no longer exists. It became AFMAN 34-135 in 2019 and is now DAFMAN 34-135.
Altus AFB students: read this first
A 97 AMW memorandum dated 1 December 2025 requires FTU students TDY to Altus to use on-base lodging at the Red River Inn. If the inn is full, you obtain the CNA from the inn directly — the memo states CNAs are not to be obtained through DTS. Staying off base requires prior written approval from 97 OG/CC, requested through 97 TRS before you arrive.
Do not treat anything on this page as permission to depart from your reporting instructions. Confirm the current version with 97 TRS.
The procedure that actually works
- Check government quarters first. DTS does this automatically at most locations.
- If quarters are full, capture the non-availability number. A written certificate is not required — a confirmation or non-availability number, or the name and phone number of the person you spoke to, is what the regulation asks for. At Altus, get it from the Red River Inn.
- Get your AO to authorise commercial lodging.
- Keep a proper receipt. This is where most claims die. See filing your voucher.
One thing worth knowing: pets are never a valid basis for a CNA. DAFMAN 34-135 says so explicitly. We are pet friendly; that is not the same as it getting you off base.
The documents
Between 2015 and 2018 we obtained the following through Freedom of Information Act requests. They are historical correspondence, not current authority, and the policies they discuss may since have changed. We keep them published because they are primary sources and because they show how these decisions get made.
- Wing Commander on-base lodging policy
- Squadron Commander enforcement memo
- JAG opinion on lawful orders
- Target audience and enforcement
- Internal note on vague guidance
- Commander's rationale
- Altus commander perspective
- Lodging revenue discussion
- Air Force cost comparison
Read the regulations yourself
- Joint Travel Regulations — see paragraph 020303 on lodging and government quarters. This link always serves the current edition; the year in the URL is not the revision date.
- DTMO — Integrated Lodging Program
- DoD FMR Volume 9, Chapter 5
- DAFMAN 34-135, Lodging Program
TDY Place is a lodging provider, not a finance office. This page is general information, reviewed against published regulations on the date shown. Your orders, your reporting instructions and your Authorizing Official govern your travel. When they conflict with anything here, follow them and ask your finance office.