Del Rio is a small town with the Air Force's largest pilot-training operation bolted onto the east side of it. That combination is what makes the money side confusing. The Laughlin AFB per diem rate is simple — Val Verde County is not a listed locality, so the standard CONUS rate applies — but who gets that rate, who gets Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) instead, and what happens when a class date slides are the parts people get wrong. If you are a student reporting for a 52-week class, start with the UPT survival guide for the year-long picture, then come back here for the Del Rio specifics.
This is written for everyone who shows up at the West Gate on orders: Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) students, instructor pilots on short TDY (temporary duty), Reserve and Guard instructors flying with the 96th Flying Training Squadron, contract maintenance and simulator teams on the T-6 and T-38 lines, and Air Education and Training Command inspectors on wing visits. Rates change every October 1, so confirm the current numbers on the live Laughlin AFB per diem page before you build a budget, and see what furnished crashpads near Laughlin AFB are available for your dates.
What does Laughlin AFB per diem actually mean for you?
Del Rio and Val Verde County are not listed as a separate per diem locality. That means the FY2026 standard CONUS rate applies year-round with no seasonal swing: $110 lodging and $68 M&IE. M&IE is Meals and Incidental Expenses — the daily food and incidentals allowance, paid at a reduced $51 on your first and last travel days. There is no high season here the way there is in Phoenix or Las Vegas, which makes planning easier than most bases.
Two things follow from that flat rate. First, the lodging cap is a ceiling, not an allowance. Whatever you actually pay up to $110 a night gets reimbursed with a receipt; you do not keep the difference. Second, the M&IE is yours regardless of what you spend on food. If you have a kitchen and cook, that portion of the Laughlin AFB per diem stays in your pocket. If you live on a mini-fridge and drive-through food for three months, it does not.
The bigger fork in the road is orders type. UPT at Laughlin runs about 52 weeks and normally comes on PCS (permanent change of station) orders — so students draw BAH, not per diem, once they are settled. TDY travelers — instructor pilots, evaluators, contractor teams, Guard and Reserve instructors — run on per diem. Look at your orders and know which system you are in before you sign anything longer than a week. The UPT pipeline page lays out how the year is structured; the FAIP pipeline page covers what happens if you are selected at drop night to stay and instruct, which usually means Pilot Instructor Training (PIT) on TDY orders followed by three years back at a training base on PCS orders.
Which rules decide the money on a Laughlin TDY?
Government lodging first
The Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) — the rulebook for military travel pay — generally require you to use available government quarters when you are TDY to a base that has them. At Laughlin that is Laughlin Manor (Air Force Inns), Building 454 at 4th Street and Arnold Boulevard, 830-298-5741. The front desk is the base's 24-hour arrival point and takes reservations up to 60 days out. A credit card guarantees the room, held until midnight following your arrival date.
If the Manor is full, they issue a non-availability number (non-A) — the confirmation that on-base lodging could not take you, which is what makes commercial or crashpad lodging reimbursable. Get it in writing, with a name and date, and put the number in your travel voucher. Do not skip this call and assume the Manor was full; that is the most common way a Laughlin lodging claim gets kicked back.
Bringing a dog? Pet-designated Temporary Lodging Facilities exist at the Manor but must be booked in advance, and there is a $150 cleaning fee if a pet turns up in a non-pet room.
Receipts and DTS
DTS is the Defense Travel System — the site where you file authorizations and vouchers. It wants an itemized lodging receipt: your name, the property address, each night's rate, taxes and fees broken out, and the total paid. A payment-app screenshot or a lump-sum "monthly rent" invoice invites questions from your Approving Official. Ask any landlord in Del Rio for a nightly itemized receipt before you commit — if they cannot produce one, that is a fight you will have at voucher time.
When orders change
Pilot training runs on weather, aircraft availability and check-ride scheduling, and none of those care about your lease. Class starts slide. Students get held for a re-fly or a medical hold. TDY end dates move. A standard 12-month Del Rio lease with an early-termination penalty does not flex with modified orders. Read the termination clause and the military clause before you sign, and keep every orders amendment for your voucher file.
To sanity-check trip totals for your actual arrival and departure dates, run them through the TDY per diem calculator. For gates, visitor passes, clinic hours and the rest of the base picture, the full Laughlin AFB guide has it in one place.
Where should you live in Del Rio, and what does it cost?
Laughlin sits east of town. From most of Del Rio it is a 10–15 minute drive east on US-90 to State Loop 79 and the West (main) Gate; the North Gate is directly off US-90. Commutes here are short by military standards, so the decision is about the house, not the drive.
| Area | What it is | Commute |
|---|---|---|
| Laughlin Family Housing (on base) | About 450 two-, three- and four-bedroom homes in five gated neighborhoods, privatized under Hunt Military Communities, with a community center, fitness room, dog park and playgrounds | ~5 min |
| Ceniza Hills / Buena Vista | Northwest Del Rio's newer subdivisions off Veterans Boulevard and US-90 West; quiet cul-de-sacs | ~15 min |
| North Del Rio / Bedell–Veterans corridor | Older ranch homes and apartments near the hospital, H-E-B and the shopping strip | ~12 min |
| Lake Amistad area (US-90 W / US-277 N) | Lake-view houses and ranchettes 10–20 miles out toward the dam and marinas | ~25–35 min |
| Brackettville / Fort Clark Springs | A historic cavalry post turned gated community 30 miles east on US-90 with a spring-fed pool | ~35 min |
On-base housing is the default answer for families arriving on PCS orders. There is no deposit, and you are minutes from the flightline and the Child Development Center. The Hunt leasing office is at 8550 Edwards Street, 830-468-5854. Waiting lists move with class flow, so call as soon as your orders drop.
What BAH looks like here
Laughlin is Military Housing Area TX278 (Laughlin AFB/Del Rio), one of the lowest BAH localities in Texas. Published 2026 tables show approximately $1,470 with dependents / $1,209 without for an E-5, and $2,121 with / $1,686 without for an O-3 — down about 1.4% from 2025. Confirm your grade and dependency status with the BAH calculator or the DTMO BAH lookup before you count on a number.
Low BAH is not automatically bad news. Del Rio rents are low too, so the same allowance goes further here than in San Antonio. The trap is signing a lease at the top of your BAH for a house you will occupy for eleven months and then owe rent on after you graduate. Match the lease to the class, not to the allowance.
PCS travelers should also ask finance about Temporary Lodging Expense (TLE), which covers a limited number of days of temporary lodging around a CONUS move. The day count lives in the JTR and changes — get the current answer from your finance office, not from a classmate two flights ahead of you.
What's the step-by-step plan?
- Read your orders and identify the pay system. TDY means per diem and a voucher. PCS means BAH, a housing allowance start date, and possibly TLE. Everything downstream depends on this.
- Call Laughlin Manor the day your orders drop. 830-298-5741. The 60-day reservation window opens before most people think about lodging, and class starts fill the Manor and Del Rio's hotels at the same time.
- If the Manor is full, get the non-A number in writing. Name, date, confirmation number. That document is what makes off-base lodging reimbursable.
- Price your options against $110 a night. Hotels in Del Rio will happily price at the cap. So will a furnished house with a kitchen, laundry and a real bed. Same voucher line, very different three months. Here is what a military crashpad actually is if the term is new to you.
- Confirm itemized receipts before you pay anything. Nightly rate, taxes, fees, address, your name.
- Check Visitor Control Center hours if you don't have a DoD ID. The VCC is Building 7002 in front of the West Gate, open Monday–Friday 7 a.m.–4 p.m., 830-298-5349. Bring a REAL ID license, registration and insurance. Contractors and Guard instructors driving in over a weekend get stuck here.
- Plan for the heat and the water. July averages a 97°F high and August about 98°F, with 100°F days routine June through September. Rainfall is only 18–20 inches a year, but it arrives in storms — low-water crossings on US-90 and Loop 79 close in heavy rain. Never drive through water over the road.
- Know where the ER is. The 47th Medical Group is an outpatient clinic with no emergency room. Emergencies go to Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, a 93-bed hospital with a 24/7 Level IV trauma ER about 10 miles from the gate.
- File the voucher within your unit's window. Keep the non-A number, itemized receipts and every orders amendment in one folder from day one.
Travel note: Del Rio International (DRT) is about 20 minutes out but has limited service. San Antonio (SAT) is 2.5 to 3 hours east on US-90 and is how most people actually arrive and depart.
How does a crashpad fit at Laughlin?
Laughlin trains roughly 400 pilots a year and has put more than 15,000 through the T-6A Texan II and T-38C Talon since 1972, with the T-7A Red Hawk inbound. That volume means instructors, evaluators, contractor teams and students arriving on top of each other in a town with a finite number of rooms. When the Manor fills, the honest options are a Del Rio hotel at the cap or a furnished house at or below it.
Base Crashpads exists for that second option. You post your base and dates, vetted local hosts bid, we pick the top three, and you choose — that is the whole process, laid out on how it works. Every stay comes with itemized, DTS-ready receipts, and lease terms flex with orders because the company was founded and is run by an active-duty Air Force pilot who has had class dates move too. We are expanding at Laughlin: send your class start or TDY dates and we will match you with a furnished crashpad in Del Rio priced inside the $110 rate.
If a crashpad is not the right answer — you are moving a family into on-base housing, or your TDY is four nights long — use the Manor. The point of this guide is that you should know the rate, know the non-A rule, and know what a kitchen is worth over a 52-week course before you decide.
Find a crashpad near your base — Laughlin, Columbus, Vance, Sheppard and dozens more, with furnished homes serving bases in twelve states.
Frequently asked questions
Can I stay in a crashpad on TDY to Laughlin AFB and get reimbursed?
Yes. Contact Laughlin Manor at 830-298-5741 first. If it is full you receive a non-availability number and may lodge commercially at the FY2026 standard CONUS rate for Del Rio — $110 lodging plus $68 M&IE. Crashpads price inside that rate and issue an itemized, DTS-ready receipt for your voucher.
Do UPT students at Laughlin get per diem or BAH?
Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin runs about 52 weeks and normally comes on PCS orders, which means BAH rather than long-term per diem. Read your orders carefully — instructor pilots in PIT follow-on training, Guard and Reserve instructors, contractors and staff visitors are often on TDY orders and do draw per diem.
What is the per diem rate for Del Rio, Texas?
Val Verde County is not a listed locality, so the standard CONUS rate applies: $110 lodging and $68 M&IE for FY2026, with no seasonal change, and $51 M&IE on first and last travel days. The standard rate resets every October 1, so re-check gsa.gov before you file.
Which gate should I use, and what do I need at the Visitor Control Center?
Use the West Gate on State Loop 79 — it is the main gate, and the Visitor Control Center is Building 7002 right in front of it, open Monday–Friday 7 a.m.–4 p.m. (830-298-5349). Bring a REAL ID-compliant license, vehicle registration and insurance. If you do not have a DoD ID, plan your arrival during VCC hours.
Will BAH cover rent in Del Rio?
Laughlin is MHA TX278, one of the lowest BAH localities in Texas — roughly $1,470 with dependents for an E-5 and $2,121 with dependents for an O-3 in the 2026 tables. Local rents are correspondingly low, so it generally works. Confirm your own figure with the DTMO BAH calculator and avoid signing a 12-month lease for an 11-month course.
Is there a hospital on Laughlin AFB?
No. The 47th Medical Group is an outpatient clinic with no emergency room. Emergencies go to Val Verde Regional Medical Center in Del Rio, a 93-bed hospital with a 24/7 Level IV trauma ER about 10 miles from the gate; serious cases are transferred to San Antonio.