My Buddy Pass exposure this blizzard weekend.

Because of the snow, I went to the Grand Central CTO earlier than I had planned, in the early afternoon on Saturday, and the office indeed had a sign in the window indicating that all airlines' satellite ticket counters would close at 3pm. (It was around 2:30 when I arrived).

I had some rather complicated ticketing to do -- 3 tickets to India this autumn -- and I was working with the agent, had a folder on the counter, registering passport numbers, signing documents, etc.

Just before 3pm, a woman comes up to the desk, literally right at my shoulder) and starts to make noises. I turn around to her, and the agent comments that she will be right with the woman. The woman does not sit down, but comes to my other shoulder and starts to fidget and mumble.

I might add that there are chairs about ten feet behind the counter, where my friend was reading a magazine, and since the CTO agent was now on the phone with the fare desk, I went to sit down. (Leaving my folder on the counter with the agent).

Immediately, this woman takes my position and starts to bark requests at the agent. The agent is in the middle of my transaction, and tells the woman to sit down. She proceeds to sit immediately next to me, out of six empty chairs, and appears to either begin a request for spare change or a b!tch session. I was still unsure if this was a deranged person or just a disheveled person. I move to another seat.

A few minutes later, the CTO agent calls me back to the desk, where we are talking about the ticketing, and the woman again proceeds to stand a few inches next to my shoulder, mumbling and fidgeting. Thankfully, another ticket agent appears from the back and takes the woman to the next computer station.

As I am finishing up (it is now 3pm, and the agents want to leave), I hear the new ticketing agent asking my agent for help: the woman has a series of complicated international buddy pass requests, and clearly has already brought the new ticketing agent to her wit's end.

Dulles to Vancouver on a buddy pass?
 

is it possible with their new rules? how much hassle will I go through (i.e. changes/layovers)?

how much hassle will I get if I try to go to say Paris with this buddy pass? or Venice?

thank you...

DL Buddy Passes now are only good for travel on bona fide Delta flights (including Delta Connection, of course). IAD to YVR (through SLC) seems like a waste of a buddy pass to me -- you'll hardly save much money (maybe $130) and first class ain't gonna happen from IAD to SLC.

I recommend buying a regular revenue ticket (-$400) or using it on an off-day to try and get a BizElite seat to somewhere cool like BOM or EZE.

PS: Connections to/from YVR are good in SLC. In terms of buddy passes, standby travel is always a "hassle", however I tend to think that the more flights servicing my destination daily, the less of a chance I have of getting stranded overnight. And NEVER try and go standby on a Sunday night. CDG has I think 5 flights daily (2 to JFK, 2 to ATL, 1 to CVG?) and YVR only has 2 SkyWest flights.

PPS: Buddy pass reissues are $25 (origin/stopover/destination change). Date changes and connection routings are of course free (sometimes you don't have a choice!)

Buddy passes are issued by DL and anyone who would fly another a/l because of a DL policy for their own employees, they should go elsewhere.

Most people cry because they think they deserve an upgrade on a non-upgradeable fare. Then DL would have to deal with people who would never buy a J ticket thinking they'd be upgraded as the last moment. Leave DL alone.

Deleted

Need advice on traveling to Europe with buddy pass this summer
 

Me and a friend are trying to go to Europe using buddy passes this summer. I know it's going to be during the high tourist seasons, that's why I want to do some research beforehand to maximzie my chance of getting there and back. Is there anyone here who is familiar with the load between JFK and Europe around 6/24-7/21? The trip is only going to be about 2-2.5 weeks long. So ideally, leaving on 6/24-25 and coming back on 7/11-14 or leaving 7/1-2 and coming back on 7/17-21 will be perfect. Is that enough flexibility?

I am aware that availibility can change at the last minute. I'll be calling TravelLine a lot as we get close to end of June. But I just want to know if anyone know about the historic pattern of summer travel to/from Europe so maybe I can narrow down my choices a little bit (calling all the flights below with a wide range of days using TravelLine will take forever). Here are the flights to Europe I am thinking about taking (in order of preference, top being more preferable)

JFK->AMS DL80
JFK->BRU DL140
JFK->FRA DL106
JFK->FCO DL148
JFK->CDG DL16 DL118
JFK->MXP DL84
JFK->VCE DL150
JFK->NCE DL82
JFK->BCN DL94

But getting back part is what I am more concerned about. If I don't get on a outgoing flight at JFK, I can just go home(NYC), if I don't get on a return flight in Europe, I am stuck there at the airport. So I am even willing to do Europe->ATL->JFK if necessary. Here are the return flights I am thinking about

FRA->JFK DL107
FRA->ATL DL27 DL15
AMS->JFK DL81
AMs->ATL DL39
BRU->JFK DL141
BRU->ATL DL125
CDG->JFK DL119 DL17
CDG->ATL DL21 DL51
MUC->ATL DL131
STR->ATL DL117
FCO->JFK DL149
FCO->ATL DL71
MXP->JFK DL85
MXP->ATL DL75
NCE->JFK DL83
VCE->JFK DL151
BCN->JFK DL95

Also, does anyone know if it's possible to fly open jaw with buddy pass (my friend at Delta isn't totally sure)? More importantly, is it at all possible to change my return location after I use the outgoing leg of my trip so if availibility at my originally booked location changed at the last minute, I can come back to US from another city?

Thanks in advance for all the help.

You can buy a confirmed ticket for only about 25% more than a buddy pass. Do that instead.

But if you insist on traveling during the peak season to Europe on a buddy pass then I would avoid the following destinations: London, Paris, Dublin, Munich, Rome, Venice, Nice, Milan, Athens, Istanbul, and Barcelona. Amsterdam is a maybe, but there's a reason why it usually goes up to a 777 in the summer. Delta doesn't waste a 777 on a route unless they know they can fill it up.

That leaves Manchester (not much of an option), Frankfurt, Brussels, and maybe Stuttgart (but I've never seen STR very open at any time of the year). I'd recommend Brussels and take a train to where you really want to go.

Be aware you are going during the absolute peak of the peak season. It is not unusual to have HUNDREDS of buddy passes stuck in London during this time of year.

So I'd highly recommend you return the buddy passes and go to hotwire.com or something to get a confirmed seat.

Advice
 

Dont Do It

Well, my first recommendation is to travel on either Tuesday's or Wednesday's. You can book an open jaw w/ a buddy pass. Also, you can change your departure city w/in Europe. JFKAMS shouldn't be a problem during the middle of the week. For kicks you may want to take the train from AMS to BRU and return from BRU. I tend to believe that the JFK flights have lighter loads than the ATL flights. If you need to city hop w/in EU check out either Ryanair or Easy Jet - they are fairly inexpensive. Be as nimble as possible. For example, if you see that thunderstorms are planned for JFK on a particular Tuesday try to leave on that Tuesday - the misconnects will increase your chances. If AMS is backlogged w/ numerous buddy passes and several people are left at the gate - leave AMS that day on EasyJet and fly to another city w/ more flights. BRU, AMS, FRA are not bad choices. BRU has 2 departures, AMS has 3 and FRA has 3, sometimes 4 depending on the season. Stay the hell away from CDG - a nightmare in the summer while non revving. Besides, the agents there are quite nasty. Good Luck - and remember the buddy pass is only worth it if you get business class. I was able to price ATL-LON for $350 this afternoon for a Spring trip.

The last time I used a buddy pass to Europe they made me ticket the round trip, and I was able to change it when I was returning (and wasn't able to get out of my original city).

All I can say is good luck - I concur with El Perro. It doesn't matter what kind of seniority your "donor" has - ticket prices to Europe are high during the summer because the demand is high from consumers, leaving very few seats for nonrevs.

My recommendation - give yourself plenty of time to get back, and have a back-up plan if you can't (buy a fully refundable ticket on ANOTHER airline in advance) for the latest possible day you can return. Also have a plan about hotel, transportation, etc. for the days that you might be waiting.

My last piece of advice is try to enjoy the days that you are trying to get back - once you find out you're not getting on the flight, try to view that day as an extra day of vacation. I've wasted many days stressed in a hotel room worrying about how I was going to get back when I should have been out sightseeing or doing something more enjoyable in the city.

Do they even all the use of a buddy pass to Europe durring the summer?

Last year when ticketing an award reservation at the local CTO (not open any longer :( ) I saw a notice that I thought mentioned that buddy passes were not good to Europe over the summer peak travel periods. Maybe I read it wrong.

Hope you can make it work out for you.

Delta did embargo buddy passes to Paris and London IIRC.

I haven't exchanged the buddy pass for the trip yet. I am waiting till the beginning of June to do that, just in case some miracle airfare deal shows up. But from what I've seen (I've been searching with sidestep, kayak, itasoftware, etc for the last month), a confirmed ticket during the summer peak season ($800) will cost more than 125% of the buddy pass price ($300ish) . So that's why I think buddy pass is definitely worth a try. And the one great thing about buddy pass is that if I don't end up going this summer, I can always go on a later date within the year.

What I listed in the original post are the only daily flights I can take. The other DL flights are codeshare flights which can't be use with a buddy pass anymore (since 1/1/05) according to TravelLine. I remember hearing TravelLine mentioning something about restricted summer Europe travel last year, but I haven't heard anything this year.

The watching out for misconnection opportunities and getting a fully refundable backup flight ideas are great. I totally didn't think of those. And we'll have Eurail pass so getting around shouldn't be a huge problem

Just today, I ticketed two passes for some friends to go DFW to London this June. Peak time and all, I still think it is worth it as long as you got some give and take in you.

There was an embargo to CDG last summer but nothing is up for this year.

I exchanged these tickets at the "new" CTO inside Fort Delta on Virginia Avenue. While they are closing them down around the city, they open one up inside the Kingdom where only employees can go :confused: :confused: I had to get a friend to get me in as a visitor to even go there myself. The lady at the ticket counter did ask me "you know this is London in the summer, right?" and I said yes. She simply said good luck. With 3 flights out of ATL daily and they're starting on a Tuesday (good advice from above...always try to go Tues or Wed on BP's), I think they'll be fine really. $391.05 r/t. We'll see....

Does american express cover you for travel delay (if you buy that coverage on your credit card) when you are on buddy pass? Common sense tells me NO, but just wanted to make sure.