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-   -   Standby travel to Europe (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/europe/1973907-standby-travel-europe.html)

Luke_b Jun 13, 2019 2:18 pm

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.

Mwenenzi Jun 13, 2019 2:22 pm

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.

Is this some sort of AA employee buddy pass?
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?

Luke_b Jun 13, 2019 3:47 pm

Yes it is a buddy pass, and I will have enough money for a flight home just in case.

Mwenenzi Jun 13, 2019 4:29 pm


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 walk up fares on any airline in a peak time can be frighteningly expensive.

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

UKtravelbear Jun 13, 2019 7:08 pm


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.

How much do you have? Seriously how much are you willing to pay.

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.

xooz Jun 13, 2019 7:19 pm

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.

TWA884 Jun 14, 2019 10:05 am


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.

Excellent advice.

I'll just add that the chances of a D3 getting on a flight to Europe in July are slim.

TheMadBrewer Jun 14, 2019 9:59 pm

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 :)

TWA884 Jun 15, 2019 12:28 am

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>

Luke_b Jun 16, 2019 3:47 am

Could you send me the link for that website?

TWA884 Jun 16, 2019 9:09 am


Originally Posted by Luke_b (Post 31207514)
Could you send me the link for that website?

It's password protected. You can ask your employee friend to show you the advisory. It's linked in the Latest News (Tips and tricks for successful summer travel) and Travel (alert at the top of the Travel Planner) sections of Jetnet.

13901 Jun 16, 2019 11:59 am

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.

TWA884 Jun 16, 2019 1:20 pm


Originally Posted by 13901 (Post 31208607)
Can you interline too? Or just AA?

Buddy pass users cannot interline.

Originally Posted by Luke_b (Post 31200335)
Yes it is a buddy pass...


13901 Jun 17, 2019 12:03 am


Originally Posted by TWA884 (Post 31208797)
Buddy pass users cannot interline.

Didn't know that, the airline I used to work for discontinued buddy passes a long time ago...


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