Fares Allowance (FAA) authorised in advance of travel for ABSTUDY 010-02100040

ABSTUDY FAA is payable to eligible ABSTUDY students who are required to live away from their permanent home to study or are participating in an approved Away from Base activity. Generally, travel will be pre-booked for the ABSTUDY student or approved traveller through Services Australia's Travel Management Company (TMC). Travel can only be pre-booked for ABSTUDY students and approved travellers who meet the eligibility requirements for FAA.

Requests for fares to be authorised and booked in advance of the journey, need to be received by Services Australia within the specified time frames. The exception to this is where unforeseen and exceptional circumstances impacting travel apply.

This allows the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel and Away from Base Teams and the Travel Management Company (TMC) enough time to source travel providers and finalise bookings, and provide travel itineraries for all travellers.

Where possible, forward and return travel arrangements should always be booked for ABSTUDY travellers.

When authorising travel in advance, the TMC will be informed of the ages of young secondary boarding students so that appropriate travel arrangements are made. The TMC should ensure, for example, that young students travel on the most direct route and are scheduled to arrive at their destination at a reasonable hour. This is particularly important where students are from remote communities and travelling without a supervisor.

See the Process page for further information.

A Safe Travel Plan (STP) is an agreement between the school and/or boarding provider, and the student and their family and ensures that options are in place in case of a travel disruption.

Services Australia may determine a secondary school student, or any student under 18 years of age, needs mandatory supervision when assessing a pre-booked travel request.

Service Officers must strongly encourage parent/guardian(s) to nominate a supervisor for all other secondary students under 18 years of age who are travelling great distances, on multiple carriers or who may be at risk of a travel disruption.

Note: supervision may be requested after student travel has already been booked. Treat these requests as individual travel requests and not variations.

For further information on who can be a supervisor, see Non-student travellers for ABSTUDY.

In exceptional or unforeseen circumstances, prebooked travel may be booked without mandatory supervision, provided the boarding school/provider:

• understands their responsibility to manage risks, and
• implements the Safe Travel Plan

See the Process page for further information.

For secondary students

Travel Officers can approve weekend and public holiday travel requested by a school, boarding institution or for a student in private accommodation.

Travel must not be booked on weekends, public holidays or after hours, unless the student has a supervisor and a Safe Travel Plan (STP) in place. If a supervisor is unavailable due to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances, travel can be approved if the boarding school/provider:

• understands their responsibility to manage risks, and
• implements the Safe Travel Plan

Where weekend or public holiday travel for a secondary student is approved, and a disruption occurs, and the STP fails, the emergency contact is to phone the CTM after-hours telephone number located on the travel itinerary.

For tertiary students

There are minimal restrictions in place for tertiary students requesting weekend travel, after-hours or public holiday.

If weekend, after-hours or public holiday travel is requested by a tertiary student or approved traveller, the following must be taken into account:

• duration of travel
• flight availability
• departure and arrival times

Prior to booking weekend or public holiday travel, the tertiary student or approved traveller must be made aware that if travel is approved and they experience disrupted travel, they are responsible for managing the disruption including overnight accommodation. Tertiary students experiencing a disruption may contact the CTM after-hours telephone number located on the travel itinerary.

Students, parents/guardians, board providers or education providers can make travel variation or cancellation requests to Services Australia.

Approval of requests to vary pre-booked travel, or travel authorised in advance, occurs only if the variation or cancellation relates to:

• unforeseen or exceptional circumstances, or
• other allowable exceptions. See Determining the appropriate travel destination for ABSTUDY Fares Allowance (FAA)

For further information, see the Process page.

Travel cancellation requests can be made to Services Australia by students, parents/guardians, board providers or education providers.

Students and approved travellers must carefully consider their cancellation request because if the journey is cancelled, then another booking for the same journey may not be accepted. For further information, see the Process page.

The agency needs a minimum of 24 hours' notice to cancel travel arrangements on behalf of the traveller without penalty under the agency's travel contract.

If a student or approved traveller does not request to cancel travel arrangements at least 24 hours before departure, a No Show - Penalty may be applied. For further information, see No show for ABSTUDY travel.

Away from home entitlements are to be reassessed when a secondary boarding school student discontinues study before the end of term. Eligibility to the 'away from home' rate will cease from the date the student discontinues study.

If travel is arranged, or a ticket authorised for a student or approved traveller, and they do not travel as arranged, penalties may apply. For further information, see No show for ABSTUDY travel.

Excluded students who subsequently re-enrol with the same school, may have FAA authorised in advance for travel, even where the same journey was previously cancelled because of the exclusion.

The ABSTUDY Smart Centre Travel and Away from Base Teams are responsible for assessing all FAA claims, including authorising and booking travel. See Processing arrangements for ABSTUDY claims and enquiries.

Copies of all travel itineraries are attached to the student's or approved traveller's travel booking in the Travel Management Application (TMA).

For further information, see Travel Management Application (TMA).

FAA authorised in advance is usually booked between the student's or approved traveller's permanent home and their term address. However, FAA may be approved to or from an alternate location in some circumstances. For further information, see Determining the appropriate travel destination for ABSTUDY Fares Allowance (FAA).