Standby travel to Europe
Me and my best friend are planning a trip to Europe around the beginning of July and we'll be flying standby on American Airlines. What are the best airports to fly in and out of over there? We're ultimately trying to go to either Italy, Spain, or Greece and we'd be fine with taking a train or getting a rental car to get to our destination. We mostly just need to know the best airports for flying standby in Europe. |
Luke_b Welcome to FT
Originally Posted by Luke_b
(Post 31200025)
Me and my best friend are planning a trip to Europe around the beginning of July and we'll be flying standby on American Airlines. What are the best airports to fly in and out of over there? We're ultimately trying to go to either Italy, Spain, or Greece and we'd be fine with taking a train or getting a rental car to get to our destination. We mostly just need to know the best airports for flying standby in Europe. People on buddy passes can wait days/weeks for flights. Make sure your credit card can pay for flights. AA to Europe---> Where exactly does AA fly to Europe? Which routes have good business seats? |
Yes it is a buddy pass, and I will have enough money for a flight home just in case. |
Originally Posted by Luke_b
(Post 31200335)
Yes it is a buddy pass, and I will have enough money for a flight home just in case. Ask your AA sponsor for advice AA forum link---> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...solidated.html How it all goes bad:--> https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amer...ly-2018-a.html Edit https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/info...uddy-pass.html https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delt...eturn-u-s.html |
Originally Posted by Luke_b
(Post 31200335)
Yes it is a buddy pass, and I will have enough money for a flight home just in case. One way flights ex Europe aren't cheap. Actually look at the cost of your full trip based on cash only ignoring the buddy pass it might be cheaper and you'll be more or less guaranteed to be on particular flights. |
In my experience, the buddy passers who travel in peak times are successful when their sponsor is assisting each step of the way: Checking flight loads, assisting in reroutes, contacting you with updates. If your buddy pass provider is not such a friend, you may have future contributions to make to the above mentioned threads.
A good, pro-active buddy pass provider who helps throughout the trip is more important than money to buy a ticket back... well, almost. |
Originally Posted by xooz
(Post 31200876)
In my experience, the buddy passers who travel in peak times are successful when their sponsor is assisting each step of the way: Checking flight loads, assisting in reroutes, contacting you with updates. If your buddy pass provider is not such a friend, you may have future contributions to make to the above mentioned threads.
A good, pro-active buddy pass provider who helps throughout the trip is more important than money to buy a ticket back... well, almost. I'll just add that the chances of a D3 getting on a flight to Europe in July are slim. |
Back in the summer of 2000 I was basically unemployed and needed a mental break but had little money. There was a group called "AirHitch" which sold ridiculously cheap round trip standby tickets to Europe on discount airlines. To/From LA it was MartinAir (to AMS), LTU (to DUS) and some French one (to CDG). That was great for me because DUS and AMS were two of the cities on my list (along with BRU) I think all three airlines only flew 3 times a week but on mostly different days. Going over was not problem, got my preferred flight to DUS on my preferred day.
When it was time to come home it was a nightmare. There was a US number you could call to get probabilities of getting on various flights (A=no problem, E=no chance) and a very primitive website with the same -- if you could find an internet cafe. Every flight back to LAX was a D -- I could see myself shuttling between DUS and AMS trying to get back home before my money ran out. A week or so out was a Condor(?) flight from FRA-LAS that rated C and other a few days later from CDG to SFO (I think, could have been PDX) that was also a C. Then another week of D's and E's. I lucked out -- the first flight back I tried was LTU DUS-LAX and I was literally the last person on and they closed the door behind me. Needless to say it was a middle seat in the middle section of a 767 -- my first and only TATL middle seat. In all fairness, I was not really the intended customer -- it was for students spending the summer in Europe, with a RailPass and staying hostels. And if it took two extra weeks to get home, no big deal. Since then I've been offered the use buddy passes from time to time and I always (politely) decline. Friends don't let friends fly standby :) |
From the American Airlines non-rev travel site:
Non-rev travel: Heartburn routes No matter your destination, spring and summer travel may become a little more difficult for you and your guest travelers. Many of our domestic and international routes are likely to see more travelers so it’s important to be mindful of loads as you plan trips. Although all routes could experience high load factors, to help you and your guests with non-rev planning, we’ve put together a list of international routes that historically have extremely high load factors during the summer season and may cause you and your non-rev guest travelers some heartburn. Cities are listed in order of most heartburn to least heartburn. International Routes <snip> Europe: CDG ATH FCO VCE BCN BUD FRA ZRH MAD AMS DUB PRG MUC EDI LHR <snip> |
Could you send me the link for that website? |
Originally Posted by Luke_b
(Post 31207514)
Could you send me the link for that website? |
Can you interline too? Or just AA?
If I had to choose I'd go for London as the entry point. Plenty of frequency, lots of flights. Most of the rest of Europe has one or two AA flights per day per destination and they're bound to be very busy in July. London to JFK always stands a better chance of having empty seats. Having said that I just left the industry and I'm glad not to have staff travel anymore. It's just not worth the hassle. |
Originally Posted by 13901
(Post 31208607)
Can you interline too? Or just AA?
Originally Posted by Luke_b
(Post 31200335)
Yes it is a buddy pass... |
Originally Posted by TWA884
(Post 31208797)
Buddy pass users cannot interline.
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