Nonrev on Delta
 

I would like any advice on nonrev travel on Delta. Any experiences or tips on getting the most out of nonrev travel would be great. Any tips on using Travelnet.

Well, what do you need to know? TravelNet pretty much walks you through every step.

What is your experience with seat availability? Travelnet lists seats available and seats authorized. Are there only so many seats available for nonrev travel or will they give you a seat as long as the flight is not full?

It lists the seats available on the airplane. If you click the logo at the right of the column it lists the non revs in order of seniority (aka meal list), so subtract that number from the original 'seats available' number to give you an idea how full the flight is.

The first number is available seats (number of seats on aircraft - number of seats sold). The second number is authorized seats (number of tickets to be sold on flight - number already sold). 2nd number doesn't mean too much really. When looking at your chances to get on a flight, compare the number available to the number of standbys listed.
At flight time, at the gate, they will continue filling the aircraft until it is either full or overweight, whichever occurs first. Just because a flight might be oversold (negative seats available) doesn't mean you won't get on. There are misconnects, no shows, cancellations, etc. I've seen a flight at -25 depart with open seats.

What are your experiences with nonrev? Do you usually get a seat or do you find yourself seating around the airport?

That really depends. The nice thing about travelnet is it lists many different ways to get to where you want to be, and the availability at that time. However, those seats can fill up quick sometimes, especially if there is some kind of cancellation or something like that. It can almost be as much of a crapshoot as jumpseating on another carrier that you don't know the loads. So far I've had pretty good luck but it requires a lot of flexibility and patience and sometimes going through some cities completely out of the way.

Yes, you do have to get creative at times, especially during the busy travel periods. I once found myself in MCO trying to get to CVG, had to do MCO-BTR-ATL-LEX-CVG.
If you're a pilot commuting, then you'll get to know many options. If you're trying to go on vacation, then you'll just have to be flexible with where you're going and how you'll get there.

Another thing to mention is that on the list on travelnet they are not listed as in order of priority. A person senior to me might only be an S3C whereas I am an S3. You wont know that until they check in and you look under the removal list. In a year and a half of commuting and a few pleasure flights I have never not gotten on an airplane. *knock on wood*

Also the seat available is not really accurate either. Click on the little icon on the right, it lists all the nonrevs, then click the active standby list. It lists all the standby folks who have checked in but is says seats actually remaining, and it always way more than orginally posted. I really don't know why. Maybe someone here knows why...

But as far as nonreving, its really a game. Always have a backup plan too. Or just don't go.