Have you priced advance purchase airfare and asked your friend what the fees would be? Last time I priced them non-employee buddy passes are not that much cheaper than advance-purchase fares, without the benefit of a firm ticket. It does not sound like your friend knows how to check what a standard load is yet, and you are not in a position to hang out in Argentina waiting for a seat.

Oh, and as noted above, Cleveland can be an issue. A relative and I have a deal we can't close. We're going to Cleveland to look at old buildings some Friday on their passes and my hotel points, just as soon as we both have Friday off and the early plane looks good. Theoretically this could happen almost any Friday, but we're still waiting.

If this were a poll, it would be almost? unanimously recommending the OP purchase the cheapest ticket now - before the lowest priced fare code inventory get taken up.

I used to use D3's all the time. I had several friends who were AA employees at headquarters. Even though I had several friends that could look up flight loads, I only had one that really knew how to interpret the loads and tell me what to do. I never had any problems. Since you will be connecting in DFW you will be a D3 thru passenger and have priority over those D3's starting in DFW.

Thanks for all of the info, points to consider, etc. I'll be talking to my friend this week to see how confident that this would work. But as was pointed out, I certainly don't want to be stuck in Argentina trying to get home (as beautiful of a country as that may be...). I'll keep you all posted.

traveling non-rev to Buenos Aires a disaster
 

As promised, I'm back with an update. I tried it last week. Wouldn't recommend it at all. The problem wasn't CLE-DFW, but getting out of DFW. We tried for two days with no luck. We would later find out that another AA employee had tried for three days (he was on our DFW-MIA flight to try to get a connecting to EZE) and decided to give up.

This ended up being our itinerary from Oct. 15-20 ...

CLE-DFW-MIA-DFW-ORD-YUL-ORD-CLE

I guess it would be humorous if it didn't happen to me. We tried to salvage the week with an abbreviated trip to Montreal. Just wasn't the same. One of the features editors at the newspaper I work at asked me if I'd share my misery and my "dos" and "don'ts" about standby travel with our readers. If that happens, I'll let you know the publish date so you can read all of the pitiful details.

And if anyone wants to share any "dos" and "don'ts" - for domestic and international - please share.

Sorry to hear about your non-trip. Certainly not a lot of fun. I know, I have done non-revs for many years and they can really, really suck.

I am glad you posted back.. Thanks

I'm not sure I follow your question about what AA said. My friend was in constant contact with one of her coworkers by phone, and that person found out that there was massive amounts of fox hunting equipment on the plane, and they had to keep 30 seats empty to keep from going over the weight restriction. Which goes back to the point that you (or someone else) made about cargo.

I know I'm taking a risk here, but what is "fox hunting equipment?"

Fox Hunting equipment -

In Britain: Horses, saddles etc , pack of dogs .....

In Australia: Ute (light truck), Spotlight, Scoped rifle. :D

I recently traveled D3 one-way FRA-ORD-STL. I was listed for Biz and got it and also first on the connecting leg back to STL. This was on a Monday afternoon. Just for the amusement of those gathered here the charges came to $290. Not bad I suppose but without the guarantee of a seat it does seem to be a steep price to pay. I think the YQ surcharge is what kills this.

At FRA they have quite a few agents at the airport selling last-minute flights; I wonder if I could have walked up and bought a coach fare for something close to that? Note that AI sells ORD-FRA one-way for only $324. While AA through DUB is only $533 1-day advance purchase. And you can even do AA ORD-JFK, SQ JFK-FRA for only $769 1-day advance.

AA Buddy Pass Question
 

I was told by someone that the AA Buddy pass system has it that each class service is a different price. Does anyone know about that? The reason I'm asking is because I traveled on buddy pass once for United Airlines -- and the buddy pass for all classes was the same price (it was just whatever you could get on). Is this not the case for AA?

If anyone know, please do let me know! Thanks :)

Yes, each class is charged a different price.

Another cost factor is the following (I'm not sure it it applies to anyone who is granted AA buddy passes):

On some carriers, certain employees who are granted buddy passes pay income tax on the imputed value of the trip taken.

Here's an example: If the one-way Y fare from MIA-LAX is $1000, 10% of that price minus the service fee ($10 in this case) - or $90 - is the Imputed value of the trip. Therefore, $90 (or $180 for a round-trip) would be reported as income on the employee's W-2 form.

At tax time, if the employee is in the 33% tax bracket, the "out-of-pocket cost to grant the buddy pass would be $30 ($60 for a round-trip).

Cost of a buddy pass?
 

Just wondering what a buddy pass (d3) from Dallas to Brazil usually runs? Thanks in advance for shinning any light on the topic!

If you have a buddy, why not ask him? Don't trust him??

P.S. - did you mean "shining" or do you have a question about your shins?