Personally I don't see why this "employee benefit" could be offensive. Buddy passes are part of the perks offered by DL to its employees and it is often understood that this is a "privilege" and not a right. Any revenue paying customer will have priority over someone flying "employee class", whether the customer is standing by or upgrading to BE. Employees and companions are the last ones to board and are always given the "leftovers". If the seat happens to be in BE, then it is great, but if you are stuck in a middle seat, well, that's life. Now, employees flying in BE displaying a boisterous behavior is another story..

For the records, I do not work for DL, but have used buddy passes before and used to work for AA and UA. Nowadays, I am Silver Elite with US and NW and I would much rather fly confirmed. It might be a bargain to fly on the passes but believe me, it is very stressful to wait until the very last minute to find out whether you will make it or not.

As a gate agent, I wish DL would do away with buddy passes entirely.

When clueless buddy pass riders show up at my gate with problems and hundreds of questions, I direct them to call the person who gave them the pass. I am weary of babysitting buddy passes. Gate agents are already a whole lot busier than most folks realize, and we just don't have the staffing to spend hours researching all of their potential options. Regular passengers come first. And buddies, please don't make a scene or argue with the agent. If we can get you on, we'll get you on, and if we can't, we will take care of you *after* the flight has departed. I also wish the company would put embargoes on their use during peak travel times. As much as I hate to say it (and I know that this is going to come out wrong and upset some folks) but most of the "buddies" that I have trouble with got their passes from a connection carrier employee. <sigh> I miss the old days when everyone understood the process.


Flying Duck: I regret that they've been abused, but lots of jobs have perks and flying is one of the few we have left, not that any of us can afford to use them anymore! Heck, I'm not sure if we're going to have health insurance or even jobs a couple of months from now. When I look back at all of the holidays I've spent at the airport, the family weddings I've missed, the only 3 Christmases I've spent at home in the past 2O years, I don't feel bad about taking a couple of flights a year. In my next life, I'm working at a university so I can get free tuition! People ***** about that perk too.

I'm surprised to learn that buddy passes were valid on codeshare partners to begin with. A buddy pass is very much like a voucher in the amount of the fare -- valid only on (fill in issuing airline name) mainline and connection metal only.

I'm also surprised to learn that buddy passes will still be around. They are a drain on revenue, although it might not be very much and it is probably hard to quantify. For example, my wife's parents use AA passes from time to time. If the AA employee providing said passes runs out of them, guess what they do -- they buy a ticket on AA! Every buddy pass AA shells out costs them upwards of $200, and I would imagine the same happens on Delta.

There is only so much more that passengers, especially us frequent flyers, can bend over. It's time for employees' friends and family and eBay participants to start sharing in the pain.

Sorry JS but your post is not correct. Buddy Passes are not free to use. The passenger must pay a mileage based "yield fare" that roughly equates to a T fare on most routes, and they pay with real money not "vouchers". As stated in previous threads Delta earns millions $$$ from Buddy passes.

OP's about Buddy Passers taking up gate agents time are quite valid... I am sure that we have all witnessed the chaos around a gate with alot more Buddy Pass standby passengers than available seats.

Past the inconvience and time expense for the gate agents, there does not seem to valid reason anywhere out there to elimnate the buddy passes (international upgrade policies notwithstanding :( ) Just my $.02.

Let me tell you, with the reduction in salary, our increased costs for health insurance, our reduced vacations, etc. employees' families are already feeling the pain. And it will be hurting us even more in the future, I'm sure.

Lets deal with facts not emotions
 

here is the deal on Buddy passes...

Let me clarify that I am not a DL fan... my handle should make that very clear.
DL is giving out 8 buddy passes per employee. Many employees throw them away because of the problems and complications they invite. That reduces the number of passes out there significantly
Buddy passes are the lowest category of passengers to board a plan. A buddy pass passenger NEVER takes away your upgrade or seat in BE.
Buddy pax are paying about $250 RT to Europe so they are not free. DL makes about $40MM a year on these tickets. You can fly for $150RT from NYC to FRA on LH confirmed, so a buddy pass is not SUCH a great deal.

How does it hurt an FF if a buddy pass pax gets on and subsidizes the airfare?

FLying_DucK... Help me understand how a buddy pass rider impacts you? Other than his sole presence next to you in BE...

Buddy passes are simply a profit center for DL and a huge perk for the employees.

I might be wrong here , but I think a first year DL FA makes about $19K. Allowing her to take her roomate to VCE seems reasonable to me.

DL employees have some pretty rough years behind them and the future is not getting any better. Let them take a buddy or grandmother to see the fatherland before its all too late... What's the harm??? :p

FOPAA and I normally do not see eye to eye, but I have to support her whole heartedly.... :)

JS ... how is a pax paying $250 to Europe in BE a drain on revenue? First of all, by definition, revenue is going up. DL just increased its revenue by $250. Profitability MAY go down, but only if you believe that the buddy pass pax is costing DL more than $250 in time, efforts, meals, drinks and boarding passes. I think that will be a hard argument to sustain....

I know DLfan. DLfan is a friend of mine. Deltahater...you're no DLfan!!

Common misconception.

Delta's pass program used to bleed money (around $65m/year) until 2001, after which they raised yield fares. It now loses significantly less money, and the S4 program is one of the few truly profitable areas.

Cutting outbound S4 payments to codeshare partners should be sufficient (based on 2002 numbers) for the entire pass-travel program to move into the black - something only AA and NW have able to achieve among the North American big-7.

right.. and no attempt to misconstrue
 

Hey Cholula... you are completely right.. as 99.9% of the time... I am no DLfan, nor am I DLfan...


But in this case... I need to side with DL....

Ps... do you sell your marvelous brew in TX?

Deltahater...you got it but for those who don't remember the infamous Lloyd Benson/Dan Quayle VP debate:

There is a dicotomy in the arguments presented by those in favor of buddy passes: on one hand we are told that they are "not such a good deal" because you can travel confirmed for less on i.e LH, on the other hand, because of the low salary a new FA makes, it is a nice perk, it is nice to send your grandmother to the old country etc. - I suspect at the end of the day: it is a perk that cost money for Delta

If Delta (and other airlines) operate their buddy system in the black, may I make the logical suggestion to sell all tickets at buddy pass prices as that may then be the way out of the current red?

I have always been under the impression that filling an empty seat is not just a matter of the cost of food and processing, but also a matter of fuel comsumption. Doesn't airlines sometimes take luggage and paxes off planes for fuel reasons? wouldn't there be room for more cargo?

And finally, what I have against a buddy pass in BE is that there has to be a coach pax who have paid thousand of dollars for the honor of sitting in coach. Upgrading that coach pax to BE IMHO would be a better investment for DL than to put a buddy in the empty BE seat as that pax will have a smile on his/her face, a story to tell colleagues, and family and be a walking advertizement for Delta in addition to be more prone to buy the next ticket on Delta.

With Delta's current predicament, it is not about giving perks to staff, it is about surviving!!

From personal experience, ANYTHING be it a person or cargo that produces revenue goes before a buddy pass. Buddy passes are really the last to get on the plane. If there are fuel constraints - and we're probably talking more connection flights than mainline - non-revenue passengers, including buddy passes, are denied boarding or offloaded before any paying passengers, cargo, or luggage are "denied" boarding.

I was twice offloaded from connection flights on buddy travel for just that reason.

Additionally, as has been mentioned in other posts on this topic, these are empty seats. It's kind of like selling five day old bread at the bakery. If I don't sell it now it's going to get mold and have to be thrown away. So, I try to sell it at a price that covers my variable costs for making the loaf in the first place.

The yield fare that everyone pays for the pass is supposed to be calculated to cover the cost of variable costs related to carrying the extra passenger - fuel probably being the biggest component.

As far as the dichotomy - standing by wondering if there is room for you until after everyone has boarded is not a great way to travel. The benefit for the customer is that you can decide to travel at the last minute and can have more flexibility without incurring fees. The benefit for Delta (in addition to spoilage) is that they might have gotten someone to fly and give them money who might not have traveled otherwise. I might also argue that without the buddy passes (domestically) some of these people might have flown a discount carrier instead.

I do understand that nobody wants to give up their perks, trust me, I feel the pain as I have had to give up plenty of mine over time, however, I view it as a mark of our times.

All that aside, I still do not understand how it is going to help Delta's bottom line to put a "Buddy" in a BE seat at risk for impending collapse from lack of use rather tham put the most deserving/highest paying coach pax in that seat and the buddy in the coach seat.

For most flyers, getting to travel in International BC is an experience of a life time, and they will talk about this for years to come if upgraded and be a walking bill-board for Delta for years. I certainly know people who still talks about when they were upgraded to FC 20 years ago and it was the only time they flew FC - and they all remember the name of the airline and like buying a lotto ticket buy tickets on that airline for the chance it would happen again!!.

That is what I am talking about: thinking outside the box to keep Delta flying, even if it means cutting into entitlements and perks. I came to terms with the cut of my perks by realizing that if I didn't accept them, I would likely have to find another job one way or the other because the company could not afford these perks anymore.

good Point
 

Flying Duck has a good point, although it is not really related to the OP issue...

The idea of upgrading high-yield coach pax makes sense to me and it is something DL (and other airlines) should consider as a marketing tool, but it has nothing to do with current buddy pass discussion.

At this point in time, any buddy pass rider subsidizes revenue pax. DL is making about $40MM on buddy passes in 2004. It is not a lot, but it certainly helps and shows that buddy passes are a profit center for the airline.

The additional 250pds and one meal that DL is carrying across the pond cost less than the yield fare they charge.

Your thought does not seem logical to me where you suggest to sell all tickets at buddy pass prices. The missing element is desire vs. need. All buddy pass travel is purely for pleasure. Therefore, no buddy pax has to go. Business pax have to go and DL is charging more for that need.

A buddy pax will not buy a BE ticket instead. The only cannabalization could occur from low-fare economy tickets, but most buddy pass tickets are purely incremental. These are trips people wouldn't have taken otherwise and is just gravy for DL.

I do agree with you suggestion that DL thinks outside the box to get out of the mess. Great idea. That needs to happen... more of the same will not do it. Following the industry is not a strategy

But taking away one of the few perks left without it being part of a larger business model adjustment to attract more customers will not do anything.

If you cancelled buddy passes tomorrow, all you will accomplish is eliminating a DL profit center and DL is one week closer to Chapter 11

That is way too simplistic a view. The planes wouldn't be in the air without the revenue pax.

I don't object to some sort of buddy pass system because I look on it as a form of employee discount which is found in many industries. I do however object to yield fare bodies in BE when there are high Y fare purchasers in coach!