mgcsinc

^^^ What a strange attitude this has brought out. People just keep saying "your primary contact is the employee" or "all of these questions could be answered by the employee." Literally every single thread here could be dismissed in the same non-productive way.

MSPeconomist

The second link isn't working for me.

The first (DL) document is fairly well known at FT. It doesn't seem to contain any confidential or proprietary information.

I've never understood why some people go crazy as soon as buddy passes or non rev travel in general are mentioned on FT. Anyone who travels knows it happens. As long as proprietary information like specific flight loads (beyond the numbers of tickets in various fare classes that a carrier is willing to sell, like Y9, that one can generally get from the carrier's own website as well as various other sources) isn't posted or otherwise divulged, I don't see a problem.

LilAbner

I don't see people going crazy nor did planemechanic make a hostile statement. People should be able to post their opinions on here without psychological interpretations and insults.

Nearly every time a thread gets started and w/i the first 3 pages people become agitated because someone is flying for less than they are or are getting a better seat, or trumped their upgrade chances.

If the OP doesn't know how these passes work he really needs to ask his sponsor.

I'm not too crazy today, but I am rather hostile because my Easter ham is still frozen and dinner is going to be much later than planned.

BelmontRef

Perhaps it's due to the amount of misinformation about non-rev travel that comes up here.

LilAbner

Bingo! ^

mgcsinc

Why?

How is this any different from telling people that to find out how an RPU works, they should ask UA?

FriendlyTravelor

was a non-rev on united decades ago and i can sympathize somewhat on the buddy pass experience for the op. Naturally, you don't want to bug the employee, making them travel agent for you.

So I'd probably try to get the basic instructions from them, but then check the flights myself.

In the past, hubs were helpful for both frequent flights and multiple ways of getting somewhere. Non stops where possible were better because there was less of a chance of being stranded. Have in the back of your mind a back up of where you could also go, and take a train or a cheap connecting flight. Be flexible (and have cash) to wait out where one plane is full but another is ok 8 hours later. If flight is so full, ua is no longer selling tickets etc, you're not getting on. Make sure your desired flights are not full of employees for some reason (you'll need your employee friend for that info).

Good luck. Hope you get on your flights!

(one more note: unfortunately, things can change dramatically at the last minute. ie we NEVER made hotel reservations, but had a list of potentials after getting there.)

DENviaLAX

Which seems odd to me, because aren't a fair number of the elites on this board business travelers who get their airfare paid for by their company anyway? Basically the same thing, except those people have guaranteed seats, get to earn miles, get upgrades and other perks, don't have to stress about whether or not they'll actually get on the plane/be stuck in a random city, don't have to worry about getting stuck in a middle E- seat more often than not, etc.

Flying non-rev is the furthest thing from glamorous, and anyone who has done it even once knows that. So I don't really see why anyone would be annoyed, because I kind of doubt many here when buying a ticket and presented the option to "save x amount of money to downgrade to E- middle seat in the back on a 12 hr flight and standby not knowing until 30 min before the flight leaves whether you'll be stranded in this foreign country until who knows when," would actually go for it. If someone is choosing to fly non-rev, I see no reason to throw any negativity in their direction. I'm sure if OP had the extra money lying around to pay for an international ticket to avoid the stress and uncertainty, he probably would.

LilAbner

I've changed my mind on this subject.

Let's see what others have to say!

pkowalski

Thanks for the suggestion of trying Newark as hub. I thought that chicago was the best option out of lax.
I didnt realize also that I could fly to stutgart and hamburg. Thats exactly the kind of help I was hoping for.

Also to make clear that Im not trying to score business or first.

PropWasher

Get yourself a subscription with www.asu.com then click on tripcheck.

Right now one LAX-ORD-FRA itinerery looks open on the 18th with a tight cnx at ORD

Do your homework.

username

On the subject of Nonrevs saying things to upset passengers...once I was on a paid HP flight, the guy sat down next to me, he was non-rev. Next I knew he took out his multi-level marketing cuecards and tried to sell me things ....

FriendlyTravelor

Just happened to catch this on a previous entry here, not really plausible for employee to take a day off, fyi. Just be in contact.

International is a great use of buddy pass in my view (although the closer it is to summer the busier you will find it). You never know, you may get upgraded where a seat wasn't bought or earned by someone.

I'm old school, so I would enjoy the heck out of it but: dress well, be prepared to get taken out of a seat (even off of the plane) for a passenger, voluntarily and quickly switch seats and give up meals, treat other passengers with utmost respect (they've given miles or money or their company invests significantly in UA for their business), listen politely to the FA explain how to do a seat belt and even ads for UA during the safety briefing!

The fact that you are asking questions and studying the best ways suggest you are the non-rev I want to sit next to.

pkowalski

Just joined tripcheck, looks awesome thanks!

JoesRevenge

Try to go out of IAH. There will also be an IAH-MUC flight starting this Friday I believe which gives you another shot at getting to Germany. While EWR has more options to get to Europe, they tend to be fuller than out of IAH in my experiences at least. Coming back is the bigger pain usually.

I have multiple relatives that work for the airline and have flown non-rev my entire life. To those that are upset that non-revenue tickets exist: there are times where I wish I would have just paid for a ticket. I have been stuck in airports all day and/or overnight many times. I have been taken off the plane after boarding (once due to being over MTOW and the other due to a GA being nice to a late arriving paid ticket holder). It is not the wonderful perk that many of you may think it is. I actually buy half my tickets now just to avoid the hassle. Sure I saved money, but I am not sure it was worth all the stress and lost time.

Having said all that, I typically do not let people know that I am flying standby. I was always told not to mention it. In this situation it appears that OP was not familiar with the etiquette. My recommendation is to just look at the seat maps on United's website for various days out of various airports. The employee can give you the boarding totals using employeeres, but remember that everything changes as the flight gets closer, and its usually not in your favor.