PCS Travel Days 2026: How Many You Get and What They Pay

Travel days are the part of a PCS that members most often get wrong in the government's favor: they assume fewer days than the regulation authorizes, budget for fewer, and never find out the difference. The PCS per diem calculator runs the computation below for your own distance and household; this page is the rule itself, the situations that change it, and what each authorized day is worth.

Everything here is read from the Joint Travel Regulations, 08/01/2026 edition, Chapter 5. The paragraph numbers are given so you can check any sentence against the source.

The computation, in two lines

JTR §050205-A gives the whole rule for a move by privately owned vehicle:

• 400 official miles or fewer: 1 travel day.
• More than 400 miles: divide the official distance by 350. That whole number is your travel days — and if the remainder is 51 miles or more, you get one more.

The 400 is a threshold, not a divisor. It marks where the single-day rule stops applying, and it is never used again; past it the divisor is 350. Both of the shorthands you will see elsewhere drop something, and both drop it in the direction that costs you a day:

• "One day per 400 miles" uses the wrong divisor. On a 1,682-mile move it yields 4 days where the regulation authorizes 5.
• "One day per 350 miles" has the right divisor but loses the two rules around it — the 400-mile floor that guarantees a day on a short move (300 miles is 1 day, not none), and the 51-mile remainder. At 800 miles the regulation gives 3 days and plain division gives 2.

The regulation is also explicit about two inputs. The official distance is what counts, not your odometer and not the route your navigation app picked. And the drive from your house to a local airport, bus station or rail terminal is not part of the computation at all.

What the rule produces, by distance

Official distance	Computation	Authorized travel days
180 miles	400 or fewer	1
400 miles	400 or fewer	1
401 miles	401 ÷ 350 = 1, remainder 51	2
700 miles	700 ÷ 350 = 2, remainder 0	2
800 miles	800 ÷ 350 = 2, remainder 100	3
1,050 miles	1,050 ÷ 350 = 3, remainder 0	3
1,450 miles	1,450 ÷ 350 = 4, remainder 50	4
1,451 miles	1,451 ÷ 350 = 4, remainder 51	5
1,682 miles	1,682 ÷ 350 = 4, remainder 282	5
2,800 miles	2,800 ÷ 350 = 8, remainder 0	8

The 1,450 and 1,451 rows are the whole reason the remainder threshold is worth knowing. One mile of official distance separates them, and it is worth a full day of per diem for every person in the household.

Who actually decides the number?

Two different offices, doing two different things. Your DoD Component sets the authorized departure and arrival dates; the authorizing official (AO) computes the authorized travel time using the official distance, the mode of transportation authorized, and the mode you actually used. The maximum authorized travel time for permanent duty travel is computed as if the travel were performed in a POV even when it was not — and Table 5-2, below, then caps it by the mode actually authorized.

So the number on your orders wins over the number you compute at home. Running the computation yourself is still worth doing, because a transposed digit in the distance is invisible until you compare the two — and a day is real money.

What one travel day pays

A POV move pays what the JTR calls MALT Plus: mileage, plus a flat per diem for each authorized travel day. JTR §050301, Table 5-4 sets the per diem half at the standard CONUS per diem rate, and both halves of that phrase matter.

Standard means it is not the locality rate of anywhere you sleep. Drive through Manhattan, stop in Nebraska, and you draw the same figure for either night — for FY2026, the standard CONUS per diem: $178 per day, which is $110 lodging plus $68 M&IE.

Flat means it is not prorated. The 75% first- and last-day M&IE reduction people know from TDY is a Lodging Plus rule (§020310), and MALT Plus is not Lodging Plus. Every authorized travel day pays the full rate, first and last included. That reduction reaches a PCS only on the legs where the government moves you by air, train, ship or bus, which §050302 routes back through the Lodging Plus rules.

Table 5-4 also settles a question members often answer wrongly against themselves: staying in government quarters or eating at a dining facility en route has no impact on the MALT Plus calculation. You are paid the same whether you stay in billeting or a hotel. The allowance is not a reimbursement of what you spent.

What do dependents draw?

JTR §050303, Table 5-6 has three rows, and nearly every published summary reports only the first — which is the one that pays least.

Situation	Dependent 12 and older	Dependent under 12
Travels with the service member	75% of the member's rate	50% of the member's rate
One dependent travels separately	100%	100%
Two or more travel separately	100% for the first dependent, 75% for each of the remaining dependents traveling with the first	100% for the first dependent, 50% for each remaining dependent traveling with the first

Row 3 has one "first dependent", not one per column: whoever that is draws 100%, and every other dependent traveling with them drops to 75% or 50% by age.

"Separately" is defined in the table's own footnote: dependents who use different routes or travel at different times. A second car driving in convoy with you is still traveling with you. But a spouse who stays behind for the end of the school term and drives out three weeks later is on row 2 or row 3, and the first dependent's rate goes from 75% or 50% to 100%. It is easy money to leave behind, because nothing about the move announces that the row has changed.

Two limits on the dependent side. Per diem runs for travel directly from the old permanent duty station to the new one — PCS allowances are not authorized for dependent travel to, from, or while at a TDY location en route. And a dependent's age is fixed by Table 5-7: the age on the date travel begins, if travel begins 60 or fewer days after the order's effective date, and the age on the 60th day if it begins later. The table carries further rows for travel that begins on or before the effective date, which is worth checking if yours does.

How is the mileage half paid?

MALT is a rate per official mile, and the JTR is specific about which rate: the one in effect on the date PCS travel begins, even if the rate changes while you are on the road (§050203). The current rate is $0.235 per mile, effective 1 July 2026, up from $0.205 for travel that began in the first half of the year. A move that started in June is still owed the June rate however late the voucher is filed.

The rule that costs households money is §050203-B-1: when more than one traveler on official orders uses the same POV, only one of them is paid MALT. Everyone else in that vehicle is a passenger and receives no transportation reimbursement. A family of four in one car is one mileage payment, not four.

Two vehicles are reimbursable, and each is paid on its own — including car ferry fees for each — whether the member and a dependent each drive one or the member drives none and the dependents take two (§050203-B-2, Table 5-1). More than two needs approval through the Secretarial Process, and Table 5-1 is blunt about what does not justify it: more than two licensed drivers and more than two cars in the family, offered as the only reason, gets you reimbursement for two. What the table lists as routinely approved is a household that genuinely cannot fit in two vehicles with its luggage, a dependent who needs special accommodations for a physical condition or age, and dependents traveling unaccompanied on a route the member does not use.

A worked example

A member with a spouse and two children — one 14, one 9 — drives 1,450 official miles to the new duty station in two cars, everyone traveling together.

• Travel days: 1,450 ÷ 350 = 4, remainder 50. Fifty is under the threshold, so 4 days.
• Member: $178 for each of the 4 days.
• Spouse and the 14-year-old: 75% each, $133.50 a day apiece.
• The 9-year-old: 50%, $89 a day.
• Household per day: $534 a day, so $2,136 in travel per diem.
• MALT: 1,450 miles at $0.235 per mile is $340.75 per vehicle, and both vehicles are payable, so $681.50.
• Total for getting there: $2,817.50.

Now change one number. At 1,451 official miles the remainder is 51, a fifth day is authorized, and the household draws another $534. One mile of official distance, for a family this size, is worth more than the entire mileage payment for one of the two cars.

The ten situations that change the answer

The POV computation is the default, not the whole regulation. Table 5-2 under §050205-A carries fifteen rules; these ten are the ones most members will meet.

If	Then the authorized travel time is
You are authorized travel by commercial air	1 day, in CONUS and within areas OCONUS
The government purchases your airplane, train or bus transportation	The actual time needed to travel the direct route, including necessary delays
You travel by train	Computed from the scheduled departure and arrival dates
You are authorized air, train or bus and choose a different mode	Your actual travel time, capped at the time for the authorized mode
Your elapsed time is less than the authorized travel time	The elapsed time — that is what payment is based on
You are reassigned between activities at the same duty station	No travel time at all
Your order is modified, canceled or revoked after travel has begun	Travel time between the same locations used to determine your allowances
You drive from home to a local terminal	Not counted — that leg is outside the computation
You have a TDY en route	The time allowed for the authorized mode between official locations
Your elapsed time is more than authorized, such as when you take leave	Still the time allowed for the authorized mode between official locations

The five rules not listed above cover unit moves, escorting a dependent to a designated place, POV pick-up and delivery, and moves involving afloat units. If any of those describe your move, read the table rather than assuming the POV rule.

Does taking leave get me more paid days?

No. Rows 5 and 10 of Table 5-2 are the two halves of one principle, and the preamble to JTR §0503 states it directly: en route per diem is calculated on the lesser of the authorized travel time or the actual travel time. Finish early and you are paid for the days you used; take two weeks of leave in the middle and you are paid for the days the regulation authorizes, not the days you were away. Table 5-4 says the same thing from the MALT side — with leave or a TDY en route, MALT Plus is authorized for the allowable travel time between official locations.

What if the drive genuinely takes longer?

There is a provision for it, and it is separate from leave. Under §050205-D you may request additional travel time for reasons beyond your control. The commanding officer may authorize or approve the actual time used, or a shorter period than you asked for, and may require documentation supporting the circumstances. Per diem is payable for any day of additional travel time that is authorized — so this is not merely permission to arrive late, it is paid time when it is granted.

The practical implication is about evidence and timing. A blizzard, a breakdown or a medical event that adds two days is a request to make with whatever documentation you can gather at the time, not an argument to have after the voucher is rejected.

How does this work on an overseas move?

Transoceanic legs are not computed by distance at all. Under §050205-C the actual time required for transoceanic travel by aircraft or ship over a usually traveled direct route is authorized, and the embarkation or debarkation day spent at the terminal or port awaiting transportation counts regardless of the arrival or departure time.

A move that mixes driving with a flight or a sailing follows Table 5-3, which is four steps. Take the official distance of the separate driving legs and apply the same 400-mile and 350-mile arithmetic to it. Then compare it against the miles the POV actually covered, leave detours included: if you drove at least the official distance, step one's answer stands, and if you drove less, the day count is recomputed on the miles you actually drove. Allow one day for the airplane, train or bus leg, and add the two together. Time spent at leave locations, at the old or new duty station, or at a TDY location is excluded, and travel through a port outside the local area of a duty station is treated as separate legs. Our OCONUS PCS move guide covers the rest of what changes on an overseas move.

Does a short-distance move pay travel per diem?

Not always. The §0503 preamble carves it out: when relocating your residence is unnecessary because the PCS is a short-distance move, no MALT Plus is authorized unless you are ordered to perform a TDY en route. It is a separate rule from Table 5-2's sixth row, which allows no travel time for a reassignment between activities at the same duty station, but the two share a premise — a move that does not actually move you home does not pay you to travel.

What to check before you file

1. Read the travel days off your orders and compute them yourself. If the two disagree, the difference is almost always the distance figure, and it is easier to fix before you travel than after.
2. Check which Table 5-6 row your dependents are on. If anyone is traveling at a different time or by a different route, they are not on the 75%/50% row, and the voucher will not work that out for you.
3. Count vehicles, not people. Two POVs each draw mileage; four people in one POV draw it once.
4. Note the date travel began. The MALT rate attaches to that date, not to the date you file.
5. Keep documentation for any delay outside your control, in case you need the §050205-D request.

Sources

The travel-time computation, Table 5-2, the mixed-mode steps in Table 5-3, transoceanic travel time and the additional-travel-time provision are JTR §050205, read from the 08/01/2026 edition. The flat standard CONUS rate and the government-quarters rule are §050301, Table 5-4; the per diem ceiling on actual versus authorized time and the short-distance carve-out are the §0503 preamble; the dependent percentages are §050303, Tables 5-6 and 5-7; and the mileage, single-payment and two-POV rules are §050203 and Table 5-1.

The mileage rate of $0.235 per mile for a work-related move, effective 1 July 2026, was read from GSA's privately owned vehicle mileage reimbursement page on 3 September 2026. The IRS states the same split independently on its standard mileage rates page, read the same day: the military moving rate is 23.5 cents from 1 July to 31 December 2026 (IR-2026-29), and was 20.5 cents from 1 January to 30 June (IR-2025-128). The standard CONUS lodging and meals figures come from GSA's FY2026 Per Diem Master Rates File, downloaded from GSA and checked byte for byte against the copy this site computes with on the same date.

Two dates are worth knowing when you read this. The per diem figures run through 30 September 2026, and GSA published the FY2027 replacement on 1 September 2026 — so the rate above is the one for travel beginning on or before 30 September, and a move that starts in October draws the new one. The rates page linked below carries whichever applies today, with its source and the date it took effect. And the JTR changes monthly; the edition quoted here is 08/01/2026, so on any point that matters to your voucher, check the paragraph against the edition in force on the day your travel begins.

Related: 2026 PCS reimbursements: per diem, MALT, DLA and TLE rates puts travel per diem beside the other allowances a move pays, the 2026 rates page carries every current figure with its source, and the line-by-line guide to PCS orders covers where the authorized travel days and the effective date appear on the document itself.