To help you more out with the buddy pass question... we get 10 domestic buddy passes and 6 international buddy passes every year. The International ones must be accomapnied by the employee but the domestic ones you can give to anyone. They can be a bargin... mainly for domestic. Don't really use my International ones. If I am to use a buddy pass, it is usually to take a friend along with me so that they wouldnt have to pay full fare and they would move up to my pass classification.
The cost of a buddy pass is the service charge plus the taxes bases off the full Y fare. The service charge is $50 r/t domestic, and $200 r/t international. However they just raised the price to $100 domestic and $300. Kind of a bummer but good if you wanna take a friend with on a vacation. Hope it helps.
-Shane