NDP MP Pat Martin says he and his wife Barbara pay their own travel costs when they fly to a hobby farm the couple owns on Saltspring Island, B.C.

Except for one thing.

The Winnipeg MP admits he uses frequent flyer points -- earned from taxpayer-funded trips -- to subsidize those personal expenses.

And apparently he's not the only MP to do so.

According to Martin, the House of Commons allows all MPs to use their frequent flyer points for personal use, even though the points rightfully belong to the people who paid for the flights in the first place -- taxpayers.

The full story can be read here:

MPs keeping frequent flyer points just plain wrong

It’s good to see common sense prevailing here (in bold), just imagine the issues which would brought up if governments and organizations required its employees to use frequent flyer points earned on work trips only for future work trips.

I have been in one or two companies where this is written policy but, it was never enforced, the way I see it you are working away from family, flying (many cases not sleeping) during personal time, then when you get to your destination putting in additional hours above and beyond what you would do in a normal day then finally you return home to a bigger workload because no helped with any of your work while you were away. Those points are yours!

If you have something to say about this issue you can leave a comment below or participate in the Business Travel Guru forums