mpilot153

I've been in negotiations with the wife in regard to our future plans. One of the topics that I would like to talk about more intelligently are the airline travel benefits.
1. How do the family travel benefits vary between airlines?
2. How are non-revs prioritized - Major vs Regional vs Unaccompanied vs flight attendants vs other airline employees
3. What is the reality of flying for free as an airline employee? I already understand that you can forget about traveling on Holidays, and will have a tough time in the summer - but hoping to get a sense of family trips others have made happen.
4. One of our goals is for our kids to see the world/country - what experiences have others had with regard to family travel?

ForeverFO

Just some general observations... it varies between airlines.

You will fly as a non-revenue standby, which means if there are seats available, and weight is not a factor, you'll go. Sounds great, because you're thinking there are almost always some empty seats, right?

Not always, and it can be rare when your airport is a popular gateway to other, nicer places. MIA is a gateway to the Caribbean, etc. Non-revving to Des Moines is simple; to The Turks & Caicos, not so simple.

The key is to understand the travel profile of the average tourist, and avoid it. Rather than a Sunday to Saturday week-long vacation, try a Tuesday to Monday vacation. Non-revving Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays can be tough. Avoid seasonal travel. Fly to Europe other than the Summertime. And never, ever plan on getting on the last flight to your scheduled cruise port!

Another key is to be flexible. You've got to give yourself multiple options and more than one day to make it somewhere. All it takes is ONE cancellation to cause every revenue passenger to get flowed onto later flights, making every single one of them oversold.

Priority varies between carriers. On AA, it's first-come, first served. You "check in" via computer 24 hours prior to departure, and the priority list is created based upon the time stamp. Employees, their immediate family, take priority in all cases over extended family/buddy passes; these are travel priveleges you can gift to anybody.

Overall, it's a great deal if you take these factors into account. My family has non-revved dozens of times all over the world with very few bad experiences, because we rapidly learned how the system works.

RogAir

I would put it way down the list of "benefits". Most guys I know buy tickets for their family now vs trying to non-rev. If its just you and your wife, maybe, but with kids, no way.

You, the pilot, will almost always get on because you can ride in the cockpit. How cool is your wife with you saying, "Babe, I'm outta here on the Jumpseat because I have to get home for work. But you should be good on the third flight, hopefully...maybe..."

If she is not the super patient type, you will be buying a walk-up ticket($$$$) on another carrier to get her home.

The dream of flying First Class around the world for free died in the late 90's with the implementation of the Internet.....

Hilltopper89

Though I'm new I would also list pass travel as a lower-end benefit. If used properly and with flexible plans it is great. I used it last week to send my boys to see their grandparents and it worked fine. However, you need to check the flights often and pick the ones with more availability. I would not rank travel benefits in my decision on whether to take an airline job or which carrier to work for. It wasn't even on my list when I was applying.

Lobaeux

I plan on looking at it like I look at Space-A travel. Great if it works, not something I rely on.

Kikuchiyo

Since you didn't specify that your future plans limit you to the Legacies only, consider this. At the cargo, charter, and ACMI carriers, one may do a large amount of commercialing to and from trips. These commercial flights are paid for by the company, but you keep the miles. OTOH, at a Legacy, when they need you to cover a trip elsewhere, they non-rev you on their own plane. I made Delta Platinum in 6 months at my first airline. I've earned hundreds of thousands of miles that I then use to fly my family places. And, of course, when they fly on miles, they've got a reserved seat with all the benefits of a revenue passenger, but most importantly, they have a schedule they can plan around.

But as stated previously, travel benefits should be one of the lowest priority benefits you consider.

I presume that you haven't been through TAP yet. One of the best things they briefed was evaluating your priorities in the job hunt. They talked about 4 value sets: Location, Pay, Lifestyle, and Nature of Job. (Pay obviously includes other benefits like health care, retirement plans, and intangible benefits like the travel benefits that originated this post.) For most of us, Nature of Job (Flying) is #1. But then what's #2, etc. And what are HER priorities as they relate to your job? Does she expect you home every weekend (Lifestyle)? Does she not care whether she sees you for 6 months as long as the big $$$ rolls in (Pay)? Does she intend to live near her parents if you're going to be gone 20 days a month (Location)?

During a recent furlough, I took a non-flying job. It had fantastic pay & benefits and was in my local area. But there was no travel at all; I was home every weekend; and, as stated, it was non-flying. I hated it, and I only lasted 2 months. I knew that my personal priority set is: Lifestyle, Nature of Job, Pay, and Location. I took that job based on inverted priorities and suffered as a result. I'm much happier in my current job cause it matches my priority set more closely.

So, do a thorough assessment of your (and her) priorities and values, and then do the research (as you are) on which jobs will allow you to satisfy your values.

ForeverFO

I understand when guys ar leery about it, and some of these comments are correct. But again, if you (and your family) remain patient and flexible, non-rev travel works. Agreed, it is not like the 90's, but nothing is in this industry.

We've been to Europe, Costa Rica, Cozumel (multiple times), Bonaire, Curacao, Roatan, etc. If a carrier has 3 flights a day 7 days a week, and you look at availability, you'll see oversold all the time on weekends, and for the 0930 flight... but hey, that 0530 flight is wide open. You simply have to do what the average traveler would not do.

Even when a flight looks bad, we've got on simply because there are almost always a few no-shows.

Another thing is airport flexibility. Once, when we wanted to do another Caribbean dive trip, MIA was heavily booked, but FLL wasn't. We sent two teenagers to FLL, three of us to MIA, and hooked up in Florida for the next leg.

And the number of times I've helped extended family members get somewhere in a pinch is high. So long as they understand what non-rev is all about, it works.

My biggest gripe is the huge fees AA charges for European travel. It hacks me... AA is making a profit off these "non-revenue" pax.

kme9418

Space-A travel should be footnote, not a bullet point.

All you have to do is be in an airport and watch the standby list after a weather or mx delay. I travel on a company paid revenue ticket to my flying job at a cargo carrier and feel bad for the pilots trying to get home after a several day trip flying for their airline. Realize these guys will usually have a higher priority than you if you are travelling for pleasure. I've seen guys hop a flight from the east coast to the mid west to get a connection back to the east coast because everything is full and delayed and there is no way to get home from where they stand. I recommend you find a job that matches your lifestyle and pay preferences then buy a ticket for your family when you want to travel.

todd1200

I agree that the key to pass travel is flexibility. I have retired in-laws that live in Europe and they love going back and forth in business class for less than a grand. But they have the flexibility to sit around for a few weeks wherever they are if the seats fill up. When that volcano erupted a few years ago, my father in-law stayed with us for an extra few weeks, but it was no big deal to him. However, when you add school age kids into the equation, things get a lot less flexible. My brother-in-law bought four last minute coach tickets back from Europe when flights filled up and his kids started missing school. I've taken one or two family trips to Europe each year for the past few years, and it has gone really well for us so far, but I always give myself a few days on either end of the trip for insurance.

mpilot153

Thanks for the replies! I'm mainly, just trying to understand the realities, and will rank it accordingly. A lot of it is expectation management. So far the only input the wife has had was from one of her friends that used to work for Delta (non-flying employee). She was pretty negative about the travel benefits. Where I know a lot of pilots that ***** about it, but they still seem to get from point A to point B just fine. They also seem to have some good memories of trips they went on - where as if they footed the bill up front, they wouldn't have gone on the trip.
It certainly won't factor into a career choice decision, but it is a benefit worth understanding.