Records obtained by the Landmine show Natural Resources Commissioner John Boyle and his special assistant, Rena Miller, flew business class to the United Arab Emirates and stayed in a luxurious five-star hotel as part of an official trip with Governor Mike Dunleavy’s (R – Alaska) in January.
Dunleavy took a delegation of a dozen state officials to the United Arab Emirates last month to attend the World Future Energy Summit and promote state investment opportunities.
The cost of both tickets was $17,583. Miller’s ticket cost $9,996. Boyle’s cost $7,586.
The tickets included first class travel from Anchorage to Seattle on Alaska Airlines, business class from Seattle to Doha, Qatar on Qatar Airways, and first class from Doha to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on Qatar Airways. The return flights were identical. They left on January 7 and returned on January 18.
Qatar Airways is consistently ranked at the top of the world’s best business class airlines.
You can view their itineraries here:
A tip that Boyle and Miller flew business class prompted the records request to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). A source in Governor Dunleavy’s office told the Landmine that aside from Dunleavy, all other members of the delegation had travelled in economy class.
The Alaska Administrative Manual prohibits first and business class travel and requires a waiver in order for such travel to be paid for or reimbursed by the state.
Emails shows that Rachel Bylsma, Governor Dunleavy’s deputy chief of staff, approved the travel for Boyle and Miller on December 13. Bylsma did not approve the first class and business class travel.
In September 2023, Bylsma sent out a memorandum setting out new travel guidelines in an attempt to curtail executive branch travel.
Check out this recent memorandum, sent to @GovDunleavy’s cabinet. They are really cracking down on travel. Sources report that some commissioners, namely Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum, have been getting really loose with their travel. Looks like the party’s over! #akleg pic.twitter.com/mYDMdaqsNd
— The Alaska Landmine (@alaskalandmine) September 27, 2023
Right after Bylsma sent her email approving the travel for Boyle and Miller, Ashley Spielman, a DNR executive secretary, sent an email to Andrew Jensen about the trip. Jensen serves as a policy advisor to Dunleavy and coordinated the trip. The emails shows that Jensen, as part of the advance team, was in the United Arab Emirates from January 4-17.
Five days later on December 18, Spielman sent two emails to Janice Mason, Governor Dunleavy’s scheduler, describing booking issues with the outbound flight. The round trip first class and business class tickets were purchased later that morning.
A January 8 memo from Spielman explains why the travel waiver was issued. Even if there were only first and business tickets available on the outbound flight – in order to arrive on time – it’s not clear why the return flight included first class and business class travel. The Alaska Airlines website allows a person to book first class and business class one way and economy the other way.
According to the memo, “The original itinerary of 1/7-1/17/2025 sold out before staff were able to finalize, and a secondary emergency itinerary including business travel was selected for 1/7-1/18/2025 to ensure their presence and support was possible due to limited availability of aligning travel options remaining. This travel is approved and allowable under AAM 60.210 with the accompaniment of this memorandum and clarification provided therein.”
Records show that Boyle and Miller stayed at the Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi and the Ritz Carlton Dubai. Both five-star hotels were listed in a December 12 email from Andrew Jensen as “where the delegation will be staying.”
The total cost for their hotel rooms was 21,564 AED (United Arab Emirates Dirham), which is roughly $5,871. That, combined with the airfare, totals $23,400 for their trip.
Watchdog has a few more questions and comments: Here are a few questions that need clarification: Why were the tickets charged to Boyle’s Alaska Airlines card? Is that a State P Card, or is he using his personal card and getting reimbursed? If it’s his personal card, he’s accruing personal miles—wouldn’t that be considered unethical? The state has an entire travel department staffed by the State Travel Office (Celeste is the go-to at 907-786-0153). Why are Executive Assistants handling travel arrangements instead of using the resources already in place? Is that why all departments are littered with extra staff in… Read more »
Miles are accrued by the passenger. Doesn’t matter who pays for the flight. It’s a valid question but truly an insignificant part of the real problem. The real problem is utilizing travel throughout State agencies when it’s not essential. Of course an operator has to run equipment in remote areas, a trooper has to fly to the village, and a nurse has to visit a patient in person. But why on Earth are we flying commissioners and support staff to Juneau every week for legislative hearings that could just as effectively be handled online? For far back as I can… Read more »
It’s understood, miles are accrued per passenger. Who’s credit card did the commissioner use to book these tickets? It’s unethical to intentionally use a personal credit card to accumulate miles for personal benefit. Ideally, the commissioner wasn’t using his own card—but who knows? The fact is, the Statewide Travel Office exists to book flights instantly and secure negotiated discounts. This isn’t a new system; it’s their expertise. Yet, the Commissioner’s office has its own administrative staff handling travel arrangements, adding yet another layer of bureaucracy. No wonder the state’s payroll is so bloated. Kudos to Landmine—this is a big one,… Read more »
hello
While I traveled for the State in a past life, I have never used my personal credit card to purchase airline tickets or lodging. The State issues a credit card for employees to use exclusively for all travel costs such as air fare and lodging. “Do as I say, not as I do” rule in effect for higher ups and not the working stiffs in the trenches. We used to have travel assistant (clerical) arrange our travel but that was many years ago and changed with the creation of the State Travel Office. Everyone was required to use exclusively for… Read more »
Yeah, this could have been a LOT cheaper if they used an actual travel agent instead of the alaskair.com website. As ONE of the few “brick & mortar” agents here in Alaska, I’ve seen huge price variations since Alaska has to manually load airlines into the system and link to the fares that *Alaska Airlines* allows on their website. Which is maybe 25% of the public fares. If they had used the eTravel system, I would be $1000 that the airfare would have been a lot less than this. Delta and its SkyTeam partners have quite a bit of good… Read more »
More to the point: the UAR Abu Dhabi is widely considered Sin City of the Mideast. I want their cell phone records as well as their receipts for their luxury travel. What sort of illicit fun did you have on the State’s dime , “off hours” Mr. Gov., Mr. Boyle, Ms. Miller, and Mr. Jensen?