Temporary Work - Travel Expense Deduction

I live in San Francisco but I'm currently on temporary assignment (W-2) working for a firm in Chicago and my commitment is on 30-60 day contracts. I spend about 3 weeks a month in Chicago and the rest working from home in San Francisco. My firm pays for my air travel to Chicago and I come back to San Francisco every week. However, I've had to incur the food and housing costs on my own for the course of my assignments.

Reading Chapter 26 of Publication 17 I see that I may be able to deduct the meal expenses and housing expense while I'm traveling to the firm in Chicago. Wanted to get some more clarity on the deduction.

Am I able to deduct my food and housing travel expenses? Also, can I just use the standard meal deduction of $46/day? Would it simply be added to line 21 on Schedule A? =================== Yes, as to the deduction (or per-diem), but no as to where. It goes on Form

Then the Form 2106 total is entered on Line 21 of Schedule A.

And note that the deduction is not allowed under AMT (technically the deduction is added back on form 6251). You might be in AMT is you live in CA, are single, and make more than 200k; or married and make more than 250k, but must run the numbers to be sure.