ZED agreements
 

I am curious which airlines Spirit has agreements with. I travel to Europe fairly regularly to visit family so I’m curious about which airlines I’d be able to use.

No Delta/American/United. We do have Lufthansa which will get you to Europe.

I’ve used Air France, Austrian, virgin atlantic, Alitalia, Swiss. And had no problems. Europe is pretty easy. Many people have used Lufthansa thru Frankfurt as well. I’ve jump seated twice on American, and didn’t have too many issues. Some agents for American struggle to figure out the listing but it’s certainly not bad

Are those airlines part of a ZED agreement? Do the benefits extend to family? Does spirit have an agreement with British airways?


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Thank you for the good info. How about KLM or SAS?

Frequent
 

We travel frequently via/to Europe.

LH (Lufthansa) - very good for families. They go beyond to seat family together. Last month we did Singapore to FRA on a 95% full flight, and all 4 of us sat in 4 center seats.
SAS - gate agent goes beyond, if talk to
KLM - easy and many destinations, but agents not that flexible
AF - great experince
AC (Air Canada) - one of best in my opinion. Select your seats 24h prior. We did Asia in March from DCA-YYZ-HND. Last year Beijing from YVR-PEK. Always able to select seats yourself.
EK (Emirates) - great airline, great movies. Seat families together. Could check-in 24h prior at kiosk. Looking at smiley faces more than 72h ahead of dep is no indication, since thats when even their own employees can check loads.
Finnair - will upgrade to Business.
AZ - (Alitalia) - good experience on flight from JNB-FMC
OS (Austrian) - Great experience
Iceland Air - things can get hectik in KEF on busy/delayed day (due to bad weather. But gate agents are workable.
VS (Virgin Atlantic) - best phone support for checking loads prior. Btw, BA was the worst phone experience (when we used to have them, not anymore)
LX (Swiss) = Swiss quality

We haven't flown on LOT, Iberia, AirItaly yet.

LATAM is great for South America.
SAA great for South Africa (have to email pass bureau 2 weeks in advance.
Kenya Airways great for Africa
Etihad good back-up out of UAE should EK plans not work out. Can rent Hertz in Dubai to get to AbuDhabi without getting charged one-way fee.
There are at least 40 more (some obscure) airlines on our ZED.

Remember: beyond US border they call it Staff Travel, not Non-Rev.

Planing to do Quantas in Feb 2020. Anyone with non-rev experience?

Travel while you can. Life is shorter than you think.

I’ve heard you get some kind of discount on buying tickets on Spirit? Do these tickets include luggage?

Yes. One carry on and one checked bag. I’ve never tried an oversized to see what they might do.

I’m glad someone is taking advantage. How tall are you? I told my wife when I started at Spirit that we were mostly done flying over oceans bc I just cannot sit in coach for those kinds of distances. I’m not an animal.

6'

Traveling on long flights is all perception. Depending on your objective, it becomes an opportunity rather than a hurdle. Nothing wrong with staying home and watching TV (maybe watch the Travel Channel while you are at it . . . ).

Its a choice.

QANTAS (there is no U....it's an acronym not a word) is good!

JETSTAR....... only if you have no other choice.

Lastly, since you travel a lot, recommend doing Hawaii for a couple of days and then to Australia/NZ as the time zones are the same and you will hit the ground running down under. Australia is nice, but NZ is AWESOME!

Thanks for the Hawaii tip! Definitely including NZ.

PS* So use to put u after q! Guess what? qwerty doesn't either . . . :D

Wow that is pretty awesome! I never knew you could pick your seats during stand-by/ZED travel. Am I correct to assume you could do that using their app or does it have to be at the airport on a kiosk? (assuming they have an app I have no idea)

So, about to start in July with NK.

Question, how do the flight benefits work for family members with Spirit and for other carriers?
How long after hire before they start.

I know, I should have asked HR for an explanation of benefits after the interview

Not traveling over oceans doesn’t mean not traveling. It could be argued that the good ole US of A has some of the best things to see in the world.

Why anyone wants to jump on another airplane on a day off is beyond me. There are plenty of ways to travel without the masses all over North America.

If I’m not mistaken for Spirit travel, family is eligible as soon as their documents are in the system. Other airlines is a 6 month wait.

I wasn’t trying to hate as I do miss sitting in first class when traveling international. But the loss of that benefit has gotten me to explore more our own amazing country

When I started it was 6 months but that may have changed

Thanks for the response.

So how many family members are covered? I suppose is only immediately 1st blood family like wife and kids or is there any more?

I agree. I flew all over Europe and to SE Asia and China in first class at my old regional. We wouldn’t even go if it weren’t wide open up front. Kinda spoils you and I agree it’s hard to imagine sitting back in economy for 15 hours once you’ve seen how life is up front. We’ve tried to hit more of the USA and South America on us since I’ve been here. May try Iceland for a couple days then continue onto Europe to break up the flight. Or Hawaii then Asia.


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ZED agreements
 

It’s your immediate family (spouse and all your kids) then two parents. They can be your spouse’s parents if yours aren’t around or won’t use the benefits or a combination of the two (one from each side). Plus a dozen buddy passes I think.


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Spouse's parents won't get zeds on most other airlines where as if they are your parents they will. Spouses parents really are only good for Spirit benefits.

Why anyone thinks this way is beyond me. I didn’t get into being an airline pilot Because I hate getting on planes. Air travel is not glamorous, but flying to Barcelona for $100 or taking a little weekend trip to st Croix is completely worth it. If I hated travel and wanted to be home nightly I woulda been a lawyer. My first trip to Spain cost me $53 on delta and got first class both ways. Stay at home and spend $53 at outback is fine. But not for everyone .

I’m all for you doing you. The sad thing is as a pilot $100pp x 4 in coach is not a deal for pilots. It’s supposed to be free in first. If that was my goal Spirit wouldn’t have been my stopping point bc zeds are supposed to be contingency plans when you cannot get out on your own carrier. I had to ask myself if living in base was more important than first class international travel on school holidays. I chose living in base.

You should get hired at a legacy and watch the world open up to you. I mean that genuinely. This second rate paid to play globe trotting is trash compared to first class on your own airline.

Now where did I put those coex vacation passes again...

I just don't get how y'all have time to travel on 4 days off.

Is it the standard %20 off or is it more?

This is becoming a sticking point for me as I want to travel more. I had a bunch of days off (I'm still at a regional but interviewing with you next month) and I was craving Paris, so I just went for a couple days. Found a decent hotel at a decent price on booking.com. Just got back today, had a blast, UA premium economy both directions.

But I also use work itself to travel. We get downtown hotels at my regional so I take advantage of that. I've especially had fun in Canada and Mexico.

I don't know what the new Spirit PBS will allow, but at my regional I can use swapping to get 5 or more days off in a row pretty easily. I'm finishing a block of 10 days off right now, no vacation used.

Big question, can the buddy passes be used toward ZED fares or similar not-operated-by-Spirit travel?

If your picking your career airline off of who has the best travel benefits, your doing it wrong. Once you upgrade here or anywhere you’ll probably just buy your tickets anywhere you want to go.

I don't get what you're trying to say. You can't trade buddy passes or use them for anything other them giving them to your buddies. You can't give buddy passes for travel on other airlines either if that's what you're getting at. Know that the travel benefits at Spirit are sub par. Don't come here thinking you're going to travel the world in first class while using your benefits. At best you'll be sitting in coach on a ZED fare on some foreign carrier if you're trying to cross an ocean.

There is no “employee discount” when you book as an employee the only thing you “get” is that you don’t have to pay for your carry on and checked bag.


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ZED agreements
 

Don’t come here for the travel benefits they are subpar. As for swapping days with pbs you can only do that if the days are green and you can’t swap reserve days at all. Honestly if you want to travel and see the world and have schedule flexibility (esp on pbs reserve) this isn’t the place.


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I don't begrudge anyone for doing such, I just don't understand the why.

Speaking from experience, you don’t want to become a lawyer, I promise...

You could start a website for lawyers to beef like pilots do here.
Suggested title: “Objection!!” :D

At Spirit on reserve, can you guys pick up opentime on days off for pay over guarantee?

Only when called off of the voluntary premium pay list in a specified order. You may not pick up straight pay out of open time and you also may not pick up company designated premium pay out of open time which is premium pay more than two days out (only used twice since date of signing). Inside of two days they use the phone list which you are eligible if you put yourself on it.

Nope


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Benefits for life?
 

The Legacy airlines offer travel benefits for life after retirement.
What is Spirit take on that? Do they offer travel benefits with Spirit and Zed fares with all the airlines after you retire? Spouse/children?

yes after 10year minimum