That's the SHAREHOLDER's dollar, not the taxpayers.
Besides, in the private sector, there is some accountability (no matter, how little).

911, WMD in Iraq, the continuing trainwreck FBI, Homeland "insecurity", the above story on the DNI..and on and on...

I'd put these worthless government pencilneck timeservers in the baggage hold.

An exacerbating factor is that travel booking is no longer done by government employees: it's all contracted out. Contract travel agents don't always have a firm grasp on what the regulations say, further complicated by the fact that not all regional bureaus follow the regulations in the same way.

The South Asia Bureau, for example, did not generally authorize Business Class travel for travel exceeding 14 hours, although the regs permitted it. The regs don't say "must fly Business," only "may". So if you were flying, non-stop, DC-to-New Delhi (a 20+ hour trip, including layovers), you had to fly Coach. The Bureau thought the savings more important than the officers comfort or ability to get to work on arrival.

Regs permit Ambassadors to fly First Class only on their first arrival and last departure from the country to which they are assigned. Otherwise, it's Coach. Most ADMIN offices have sufficiently good contacts with the airlines, though, to get the Ambassadors comped to First. That, however, is not what the inspection was about.