I know folks aren't going to read every post in a 13.5-year-old, 37-page thread, so I'll bump this link for those looking for quick, general information on buddy passes...it's a publicly-accessible site:

http://travelinfo.delta.com/dlnonrev/TravelGuide.htm

Of course, the employee 'sponsor' is always recommended as the primary point of contact, especially because I often see incorrect information posted in the DL forum related to NRSA travel by folks who I'm sure have never traveled as a nonrev. But I see how folks looking for quick answers on buddy passes might seek them out on a frequent-flyer forum.

bwanadave, a friendly reminder that information such as flight loads isn't supposed to be made public...you may want to edit your earlier posts accordingly. :)

This forum is about Delta and SkyMiles. The person in question was asking about a DL topic, specifically about using DL Buddy Passes on DL flights, in a longstanding thread in this forum.

If the use of Buddy Pass equivalents and other nonrev instruments/privileges exbihits sufficiently common experiences and uniform rules across different carriers, that could be an argument for a dedicated forum. However, people are likely to ask whether such a forum on FT would get enough traffic to be justified.

The thread is 13.5 years old. When started the name of the forum was Delta Skymiles. If adding a | to make it Delta | Skymiles now makes any topic allowed then so be it. ^

Not any topic, but FT has evolved so that the airline program fora have become about the carriers and their FF programs. The forum named were changed recently to reflect that reality and avoid confusion by those new to FT about where to post questions about flying some airline that aren't specifically about the associated FF program.

To PRWeezer - My source for the seat availability is the seating chart for the flights I am looking at for my itinerary. The simple 'View Seats' link available for all flights. 100% public information. I fly Delta enough to be Gold Medallion, so that's a feature I use regularly. As for this being a forum on SkyMiles, the URL this thread on is apparently a subset for SkyMiles specifically for: buddy-passes-definitive-thread.

Seat maps can be way off from actual loads. Even tools like ExpertFlyer can paint an inaccurate picture of loads.

Thanks for clarifying. On this and other threads people sometimes ask for and/or post flight loads from DL's internal system, which is considered a no-no. Good luck on your trip!

Aren't buddies embargoed for several days this time of year?

Usually just a few days sprinkled around most major holidays each year. OP's proposed travel date is later in Jan.

new person-help-buddy passes
 

New here-please help-old handicapped Army Vet-I have been blessed with a buddy pass for wife-me to go visit my Army son based in Belgium.Leaving Atl.Ga on a Tues pm--looks like (as best as I can tell) there are 14 business seats--and 22 econ seats--from all the great people here --does that look like we make this flight? Sorry for the dumb questions,but we have never done this before. I don't get out the house much--hope this works for us--thank you for your answers

this is not the place to ask about buddy passes. You need to talk to the employee that is giving them to you. Discussing them here is against Delta policy, and can lead to disciplinary actions toward the employee.

Whether you make the flight or not will depend on the number of seats available and the number of people on the standby list.

You should ask the employee who gave you the passes to check the nonrev reservation system (TravelNet) on this for you.

Please note that the standby lists are subject to change, sometimes at the last minute, and that staying on top of what's available is essential. I've had to reroute myself at the last minute more times than I can count because of this.

That said, for a Tuesday night, those numbers sound pretty good, but there's no way of telling for sure. One thing about flying standby is that there are seldom any guarantees.

thank you very much for your answers--sorry if I broke the rules--thanks again for your help--

Discussing the specific numbers (such as DL Travel Net showing 2J/20Y or whatever for a given flight) would be against DL policy, but discussing the generalities of buddy passes isn't against DL policy. Not sure where OP got the numbers - the numbers could be from counting seats on the online seat map, which certainly wouldn't be against policy to discuss, because anyone can go to DL.com and look at the seatmap. That said, if that is the case (OP was counting seats on the seat map by pulling up the flight on DL.com), that's not the best indication of how many seats will actually be available to standby passengers, as passengers may be holding tickets but not have selected seats, and those passengers will have priority for seat assignments.

OP, best way to answer your question is keep in contact with the friend who gave you the buddy pass. They can login into DL Travel Net and look at how many spots are available and also how many people are already ahead of you on the standby list. Also bear in mind that things could change, specifically IROPs (Irregular Operations - ie. flight delays, cancellations, etc.), which can move you even further down the standby list.

This isn't very helpful to the OP and there is no blanket ban about talking about nonrev travel in general terms; my post above hardly constitutes giving away any internal secrets and the advice therein would apply to NRSA travel on any carrier. What is explicitly banned is posting internal information from TravelNet (loads on specific flights, etc.).

Where we do agree is that the primary source of information should be the employee providing the passes. This is always a point I make, but I also have no problem with providing general advice to those seeking assistance. This board, in comparison with the others, seems to have quite a few nonrev pass holders on it. Some of us are spouses, others are retirees or dependents of employees. NRSA travel can be confusing to people who are new to it and most of us are more than willing to help people navigate that maze.