I was talking about patterns that begin with deadheads on company planes from CVG. They consider the cost of getting you to Asia in that case as what it costs to get you to CVG. They'll only get you something direct from where you live if there are cheaper flights than what it costs them to get you to CVG, so probably not. ANC locals would also be riding on company planes when going direct from ANC so no extra costs for them to do that.

If you have a pattern that starts with a commercial deadhead from your base to an operating location then yes, they will get you a ticket from where you live to the operating location instead. These patterns often go somewhat senior though.

Hell no. You'll be riding on a company plane eating tuna on wheat for 14 hours.

Depends. If Asia, then Whiplash is correct. But if traveling to Europe, then you'll stand a good chance of skipping CVG and going commercial out of DEN. I live in Denver and have flown directly to Europe several times. Same thing coming home. Sometimes I get sent to Luxembourg to ride the freighter back to HSV and then commercial to DEN and other times I fly directly to DEN on a commercial biz class ticket.

You get wheat?! And tuna?! I always see a tray full of ham on white, with the occasional turkey on a roll. It's a little different out of ANC...a couple half wraps and one small PBJ!

I live in DEN and I usually get them to put me on a freighter from LAX or ANC and commercial there to meet it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, it just depends on the schedule.

I once found a coach ticket direct to Asia that was the same price as the gateway flight and a hotel. I convinced them to buy it for me (it was from an alternate location) and that saved me a day at home. 10 hours to NRT in coach will work wonders....

Yeah, lucky us. The tuna at Atlas looks a lot like this:

https://i.imgur.com/VVXdgJT.gif

Hell, so does 90% of the catering we are given.

Except that it undercuts the whole biz or better requirement for international DHs. Coming home from Asia, you can waive whatever you want to get home early. But be careful about making special arrangements going to work. At the least, run stuff like that past the Travel Committee first.

Thanks for the input. I never accept anything less than business for international DH's. I have called them on that many times.

First you said you found a coach ticket to NRT cheaper than gateway(which is domestic), and had them buy it for you....now you say never anything less than Biz for international DH. Which is it?

DH is not gateway travel.

In any case, listen to the travel committee. It appears I was wrong, and that isn't an acceptable practice.