Sorry for the ramble that follows.

TL;DR version is my in-laws want to use Buddy Passes for travel ATL-FRA, from where they'll have to figure out other arrangements to get to VIE by a certain date/time in order to embark on a nonrefundable ground tour. I want to talk them out of that, and convince them to just purchase ordinary revenue tickets (either ATL>>VIE or ATL>European Gateway>Train>VIE, whatever is cheaper/more preferable).

I have no direct experience with Buddy Passes (has always seemed more worthwhile to me to just book confirmed tickets) and don't expect the DL employee providing them to help out at all (he gave them his login and told them to have fun booking themselves), so am looking to FT for additional insight/details I can use to help my in-laws make a better decision.

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Full background is that Mrs. Lee's parents are mostly retired, approaching 70 years old, and starting to travel more. We help plan one big trip for them each year, which we don't mind and actually enjoy doing with them to some extent. They are NOT adventurers - everything must be precisely planned, minute-by-minute, to the point that Mrs. Lee prints out all their reservations, researches how to get from their flight to baggage claim to the taxi stand to the hotel, etc. and puts it in a small binder for them to take with them. Some of their favorite trips are things like the Globus and Trafalgar tours where everything is planned and organized.

They have one such tour they will be taking in summer 2017. Tour starts and ends in Vienna. We've been keeping an eye on flights to get there, but hadn't booked anything yet.

Now, one of their friends has offered them DL Buddy Passes for their trip, and regaled them with tales of "basically free" flights, and how "first class" cabins almost always have seats, etc. They want to use these passes to get to Europe. They did some research on their own and found that DL doesn't fly to VIE, but they're convinced they can get the nonstop ATL-FRA and then take a train from FRA to VIE.

I already told them my understanding of Buddy Passes is that they are bottom-rung standby travel, they aren't guaranteed to fly at all, etc. We're recommending that IF they do this, they should start trying to get on a flight 3-5 days before they actually need to arrive, and even then all it takes is one bad summer storm, or an AF strike, or whatever for all the flights that week to suddenly fill up. They seem convinced that because their friend started working for DL in the 1970s, they will get a seat on the ATL-FRA flight of their choice, perhaps a day before they are due in VIE, and are asking us to look up hotels in FRA/VIE, train schedules, etc. to provide them with instructions on where to go once they land in FRA and which train to book. We're continuing to reinforce that none of that should really be booked in advance - they need to actually be on the plane rolling down the runway before they start purchasing train tickets, etc. They are also heavy packers and will likely check at least one 36" suitcase each for this trip - I'm trying to tell them that with standby travel there's a high risk of their bags not flying with them, and having to track them down later.

Do any of y'all have other intel I could use to help make my case? I'm even thinking if someone knows the approximate cost of a Buddy Pass for ATL-FRA if they're even successful, so I can take that, add in the cost of hotels/train tickets/travel insurance, and compare it to just buying a ticket straight in to VIE.

This isn't a let-them-learn-a-lesson thing - if/when things go upside down, I'm going to be the person they call to fix it all, and more importantly they're going to have a really bad time of it and potentially miss their fully-prepaid tour. I have never used Buddy Passes myself, but have a few friends who use them occasionally and always work out details with the DL employee who provides them. These friends also know that they need a great deal of flexibility - waiting a day or two for an available flight, few if any definite plans at their destination, etc. They make a game our of touring airport bars while waiting to clear a flight, so playing standby is part of the fun for them. This is basically the complete opposite of how my in-laws like to travel - they get itchy when their flight to SEA hasn't started boarding announcements by the time printed on the BP.

In case it matters, I also pretty much lack any confidence in the guy providing the passes in helping out if things go sideways. They let on that he has basically just given them his login information (I assume for DLNet or whatever) so they could look up and book what they wanted. The closest I've come to an internal DL system is looking over a friendly GA's shoulder, so there's no way I'm going to even attempt to touch whatever system the employee would normally use to arrange Buddy Passes for people.

So...any other tips or information to help me talk them out of this idea? Or, am I completely off base and people think they'll be just fine? If it's non-public information that will help, please feel free to PM me. My two main interests are making sure they have an enjoyable trip, and making sure I don't end up having to deal with the fallout from a poor decision when late June rolls around.