Bluetaildragger

Family members of AA/ any of the WO's can list first/business class on AA.... not sure where you got your info. Theres a fee right now ($10-20), but starting June 1st, no fees for any class cabin.

snippercr

He was referring to non-WO carries. They are not allowed to list/travel in F or J class. And yes, this summer non-rev travel for all AAG employees (AA, Envoy, PSA and PDT) will be free regardless of class of service and there is no yearly fee.

Avroman

The best travel benefits are at NetJets.... That 1 week of vacation means 3 straight weeks off, all those airline miles and hotel stays are your rewards points that get you a free "revenue passenger" not standby round trip for your family and a free week in (a lot nicer hotel than the regionals stay at) the hotel of your choice. Throw in the savings bonds for the fuel points and you have some beer money while you lounge at the pool.

fiveninerzero

AA may be the largest airline, but their international network outside of Latin America is the weakest out of the big 3 major airlines. One world is also the smallest of the big 3 airline alliances.

My question is, realistically, with load factors being as high as they are now with record profits, how hard is it to non-rev because the seats always seem to be full these days?

Bluetaildragger

Depends completely on where you want to go, and when you want to go there. In January, non-rev travel is cake. Loads from the north east to the UK are light right now on AA, as well as to florida and the caribbean. Try in 2 weeks, and it'll be a completely different story.

Non-Reving seems to be easy for me right after the holidays. I guess everyone uses their vacation time around christmas, and tends to stay home during January.

loganroberts

I agree with Bluetaildragger, I find January, February, May and October to be easy non-reving months. Never had an issue. The summer and holidays can be rough tho. In march and april it all depends are where your going. NE to Florida or the Caribbean can be hard, but transcons aren't so bad.

snippercr

It depends where you go, how smart you are, and how flexible you are. You will get people who have are none of the above and will complain non-stop how useless non-rev travel is and if they want to get anywhere, they just buy a ticket.

In 2015 alone my wife and I: went to Grenada, Jamaica, Berlin (twice), Japan, Australia, Beijing/Shanghai, and Chiangmai Thailand. And then a handful of domestic stops that I wont bother listing. This year we have south america plans but Zika might steer us more to Asia again.

The next thing people usually complain about is that airfare is only part of the cost that everything else costs too. Well, duh. My wife and I are backpackers so we have no problem staying in hostels, eating street vendor food (Thailand...dear god so much delicious food), taking trains, and finding the "Free" activities which every city we have gone to has more than enough of. Does it cost money to travel? Sure. But when you can travel literally anywhere in the world, it will incur some costs.

I've said it before: There are usually 2 camps with non-rev travel: People who love it or people who hate it. And since we are talking about pilots, they will complain to no end.

Oma4545

Seriously so true, I go all over the place with airline bennies. I get to see free i would see other wise, and the girlfriend gets to go see her family when she wouldn't be able to other wise. I don't get why people complain so much. It's free! Also I went to Hawaii four times in one year. How can you beat that

snippercr

You could give a pilot $10,000 and without fail someone would complain.

As for travel, some people just don't have the know-how, flexibility, or temperament to nonrev. Indeed, it is not for everyone. Certain personalities just dont work well with the "may not get on" mentality. Some people have gotten burned and vow to never travel again. These are the people who are clueless about non-rev and when they click "create listing" assume they are booking seats in the back. They probably made no back up plans, bought extra ZED tickets, or watched the loads on a particular market.

Every transoceanic flight I've done I've gotten first or business class. 14 hour flight to asia sitting in flagship first class on a 777 is a pretty good way to pass the time - especially when we sat on the ground at ORD for 2 hours waiting to be deiced. Why yes, I'll have another cocktail.

My brother is starting a family out in DC and my parents (sadly, just my dad now) who were both retired were going out there almost every week. ORD-DCA is a super easy non-rev for retired people like my parents. They would not be able to do that nearly as often if they didnt have these travel benefits.

Nsky

2 not-so-young pilots talking in the FBO today, we are thinking about giving airlines a try. We have children abroad, so this is a big QOL item. A few non-rev questions please:

For Endeavor, are you guys 1 step below Delta mainline in terms of priority? Can you or your family list First/Business class? No fee?

For AAG WO, are PDT, PSA, and Envoy really on the same priority as AA mainline?

If your parent airline codeshares on a foreign partner's metal, do you get to list on that flight exactly as if it were a Delta/AA flight? (for example KLM from Amsterdam, or Finnair from Helsinki)
First/Business class no problem?
or is ZED fare the only/best way to get on that metal?

As a line pilot, can you jumpseat at the end of a work trip, to go across the Atlantic for your 3 days off (just to have a couple of meals with family , if you handle rest responsibly) then js back to stateside for the start of your next work trip?
Would management give you a hard time? (If you have 121 management background, please share your take on this.)

Does your airline allow divorced children (living with his ex) as a pilot's non-rev children?

Is non-rev really that much worse at non-WO regionals? (e.g. Compass, Republic, SkyWest)
Does any non-WO allow non-rev in mainline First/Business class? How much is out of pocket cost? anything else?

Thanks in advance!