Ahhhh actuals...
I love the story about when The rate at Gander switched to actuals. Command accounts saw the bills that were coming in and decided that an audit was in order, naturally involving a visit to said Canadian bright spot (!). Upon arrival (in reflections???) they ordered what was clearly the most popular dish amongst crews, at least so the receipts said, the ‘Chateaubriand’ (insert food of choice here, the story works whatever...). The waitress looked at them and said ‘You guys are RAF, right?’ the disappeared to get the food. A few minutes later she emerged with 2 pitchers of beer and a basket of fries (chips in English). Said accountants pointed out that there must have been an error as this wasn’t what they ordered whereupon the waitress said (words to the effect) ‘no no, that’s how it works, you pay for the chateaubriand, we bring you fries and beer’..
Gander returned to Rates shortly thereafter....