This coming from a crewmember, I would recommend against using them. I almost always refuse to hand out my buddy passes because of the hassle associated with them. Long story short, you pay a small fee, well under published ticket prices, in order to ride on a flight. You are flying on a standby basis and are not guaranteed a seat. There's a good chance that you may miss several flights before getting a seat. You are boared after all revenue standby's, company must-rides, and company non-revs. Any changes to your travel plans and you must go through the crewmember which can be painful if the crewmember is unreachable when you need them. You MUST MUST MUST be on your best behaviour when on a buddy pass because one slip can cost the crewmember their job. With flights running at or near capacity it is becoming more and more difficult to free-load on airlines any more.

That being said if it works out if can be an extremely cheap way to travel however you have to be EXTREMELY flexible in your travel plans and understanding that nothing is guaranteed to you because you are a non-rev on a buddy pass