MatthewLAX

LarryJ

You list for the highest cabin in which you want to fly. If that cabin is not available they will give you a lower cabin. If you list for the lower cabin they will not give you a higher cabin.

You can pay at the time of listing (credit card) or have it payroll deducted from the employee's paycheck. If pre-paid, you have to apply for the refund if the rider travels in a lower cabin. If payroll deducted they deduct the amount for the cabin in which the rider travelled.

Back to the cost... The only time I've had a friend use a buddy pass it was between BNA and IAH (657 miles) and it cost more than the OP's $38 one-way in coach. She rode with my wife, which gave her a higher accompanied boarding priority, yet they were still bumped off a flight each way.

Personal record for being bumped was in 1993. My wife and I flew to Hawaii on AA (I worked for an AmEagle regional back then). Coming home we were bumped off 16 flights over three days and I ended up riding in the cockpit jumpseat to get out of HNL.

LondonElite

I may have it wrong, but I read that the buddy pass is $3,685, against the regular fare of $5,400 (hence the mention of $2,000 saving in the OP).

As others have said, the chance of flying in F is very low, and the chance of significant disruption to your travel is high. With a bit of effort you'll find the story here of a guy stuck in Italy two summers ago I think because he could not get his family back home. He was on a buddy pass and all flights back to the US were full. He was running out of money to pay for hotels...I think they ended up sleeping in the airport. It sounded pretty desperate. Just sayin...

Often1

The key here is for OP to carefully consider the opportunity and then make a decision which is correct for OP's personal situation. Buddy passes are not to be confused with employee's deadheading to operate a flight or employee travel. Rules also change. All that matters is today's situation, not the past.

In addition to the ORD-HNL segment, OP also should consider the HNL-MAJ. That is a lifeline flight for many and there are also many people on that route who qualify for or choose to pay for J because the island hopping loses its charm with the passage of time. The prospect of sitting for 3-4 days at MAJ or purchasing positive space via GUM can be daunting and wind up saving OP very little.

If the buddy pass is not workable, just thank the friend politely and move on.

mr8

Wayside

Baze

The OP said that but they were corrected by the employee that it was $36.85.

1KHI

You need to make the right cost savings analysis. As said above, your chances of flying in business are zero. As a 1K, I have difficulty clearing upgrades on either of the routes. An economy ticket from Chicago to MAJ is around $2300, not $5K. These are your maximal savings.

If you’re flexible, go for it. HNL-MAJ flight is three times a week, so just be ready to extend as needed. These flights go full most of the time, I recommend Wednesday and definitely not Friday, worst case your vacation will mostly be in HNL instead of MAJ, not the end of the world.

cruisr

Where is OP. The suspense is killing me. What is the actual price and what has he decided to do.

CALMSP

clearly the OP is not a family member, so they wouldn't even be able to sit up front unless accompanied.

if we look at tomorrows flight HNL-MAJ, there are 11 open seats, which the OP is only eligible for 5 of them. As a buddy pass, they are standby #16 or #20 . Clearly they don't truly understand how it goes down!

Allan38103

Well, it looks like flying Space A is not in the cards for the typical Entitled Elite FlyerTalker whose expectations are a bit higher.

jacobac00

I think that is expected since the OP hasn't used a buddy pass before. That is why airlines give repeated reminders to employees to instruct their buddy pass riders how the process works. Since it was the spouse of an employee giving away the pass, they probably don't know to provide the useful instructions.

OP, if you are still watching the thread, just make sure you get a refundable hotel and car. That is the one thing I quickly learned with NRSA travel, fully-refundable hotel is required.

freshairborne

I'm in agreement with you on this. I fly a lot, as a UA pilot, but also as a passenger, either deadheading or as a passenger. I see all kinds of behavior, good, bad, and indifferent. But it's mostly good. I think there might be a little sour grapes on FT occasionally about non-revs acting up, from people that think that we fly for free and act entitled.

We don't fly for free. If we did not have the ability to non-rev, then we would all get paid more. It's as simple as that. Some employees do it more than others, and if they manage to get on flights consistently, they're the ones that are taking full advantage of it. Personally, I rarely non-rev because when I need to go somewhere, it's not worth the risk, and that as a 31 year employee that is not using a buddy pass, so my boarding priority is higher than any buddy pass rider.

The only time I non-rev is when I'm alone without my wife, and I know I've got time flexibility AND there are backups. Last week, I took my monthly trip to visit my parents, and rode a Southwest jumpsuit out and a Frontier jumpsuit back. UA was stuffed with...paying passengers and not much else.

On the rare occasion that I'm riding in the cabin, for whatever reason, I don't ask for anything, I don't talk to anyone much, and I sure don't tell anyone I'm an employee. Sometimes, there will be a flight attendant that I know and I will chat a little with them, but that's about it.

Once in a while, a BOB is offered, but I always pay. It's not worth the few bucks I'd save by accepting it.

And the last time I rode in anything other than coach was three years ago, when I used MP miles to get my wife and me on an airplane from Sydney to LAX. A FTer gave me a PM tip about a supersaver that was available, and had I not bought the seats, we would not have gotten on the flight.

Non-rev is a shadow of it's former self.

FAB

One of the advantages, if only in policy, is that if there is an E+ seat available, the pass-riding employee can be put in that seat. I don't know what the policy is for buddy pass riders, but I suspect it's similar. As the paying passenger on the vast majority of flights I go on with my wife, we are also subject to the policy that we will get E+ if we pay the extra $ for it. I don't. That said, I just booked a flight on UA, paid using my MP Explorer card (not sure if it makes a difference) that had nothing in E- and it automatically put us in E+ seats. This, I'm almost positive, has zero to do with my being an employee.

When I'm sitting in my E- seat and I see someone self-upgrade to E+, it really torques me because I would never in a million years do that. I believe that FTers call it "seat poaching". If, as a captain of a flight, I got notice of someone doing this and giving the FAs backtalk about it, I would absolutely remove them from the flight. I have no tolerance for thievery on the airplane, and not a lot for a lot of other things, including mouthing off to my crew.

That said, I hope to see you on one of my flights sometime. Just look for an Airbus captain with Argyle socks and a highly-clashing Swatch.

FAB

wpcoe

This is *so* true. But, I guess I view it as an old geezer who remembers the Good Old Days. For someone like the OP who is new to the experience, maybe it is not considered so negatively.

mr8

Clearly OP ended up actually fainting.