Buddy Passes, Worthless??

SpiceWeasel

Tre Kronor
Hello.... just thought I'd pose this question to the group. Are buddy pass benefits essentially worthless in this day and age, or is it my carrier that is the problem?

A little BG.... a have a friend who asked me if I could help them find a "deal" ie buddy pass between two cities. Well, handcuffed slightly by lack of NWA flights and no buddy passes on Delta, my proposed roundtrip fare using buddy pass (and ending up being all flights on my carrier, no less!), was $224. The same route on the website, because of the special nature of the "multi-city trip" is $1200. However, this isn't worth anything to the buddy, who can go on a roundtrip nonstop flight between the origin and destination for $240. I'm a bit miffed, in a way, that I was asked to help and then told "that's not worth it to me" but on the other hand, I completely agree that with Orbitz type sites, airline travel benefits aren't as good as just being a cheap-skate and finding "the lowest fare" which gives you a guaranteed seat, something a buddy pass can't do.

Is it just my airline that sucks? What do others out there have? For giggles, the city pair that I'm attempting is ATL-IAD, and the only way I could make it work with my benefits was ATL-MEM-IAD.
 
USAIR sucks too, I was stuck in Vegas for three nights not being able to get out and that was flying nonrev, I would never fly Buddy passes since they upped the price, It was worth it when a round trip was only 60-70 but now, due to the increase in load factors, its not worth it at all.
 
Hello.... just thought I'd pose this question to the group. Are buddy pass benefits essentially worthless in this day and age, or is it my carrier that is the problem?

A little BG.... a have a friend who asked me if I could help them find a "deal" ie buddy pass between two cities. Well, handcuffed slightly by lack of NWA flights and no buddy passes on Delta, my proposed roundtrip fare using buddy pass (and ending up being all flights on my carrier, no less!), was $224. The same route on the website, because of the special nature of the "multi-city trip" is $1200. However, this isn't worth anything to the buddy, who can go on a roundtrip nonstop flight between the origin and destination for $240. I'm a bit miffed, in a way, that I was asked to help and then told "that's not worth it to me" but on the other hand, I completely agree that with Orbitz type sites, airline travel benefits aren't as good as just being a cheap-skate and finding "the lowest fare" which gives you a guaranteed seat, something a buddy pass can't do.

Is it just my airline that sucks? What do others out there have? For giggles, the city pair that I'm attempting is ATL-IAD, and the only way I could make it work with my benefits was ATL-MEM-IAD.
Not really! Buddy passes pretty much suck where ever you go. Especially now that airlines are reducing capacity. Really the only times I've seen buddy passes actually worth it was for international travel, but with the current economy fares to overseas destinations have been pretty cheap. My brother just got back from a trip to England. Total fare p/p was $400 round trip on American!
 
A buddy pass gives you a boarding priority lower than whale droppings. My wife and I both have them ( with 35 & 40 year hire dates) and the joke is that we only give them to people we hate.
 
Well, from my limited experience, I've had zero problems with buddy passes. Even was able to hook up one of our own members here on JC.

That said: I've given, literally, less than a handful out, so I'm assuming my buddies have been VERY fortunate.
 
I only give buddy passes to people I don't like :) Ha! They are pretty much worthless these days, with the price increases, fuel surcharges, merger fees (ok, I made that one up!)

If someone asks me for a buddy pass, I point them to Southwest.com ;)
 
I honestly can not remember the last buddy pass either Bill or I gave out. When DL used to send out the paper passes on his anniversary, he would shred them. "Friends don't let friends ride on a buddy pass."

I think he was the last person to use my passes, and I was the last to use his! He was my "Registered Companion" at AA/Eagle before we were married and I used a couple of his DL buddy passes before we were married and I commuted a LOT with his passes when I based in LGA. (Thought at that time I was on a spouse card and not a buddy pass.)

Boarding priority is so low, and flights are so full that it's not really even a matter of fees/prices so much as getting on the plane at all! Spend the money, buy a real ticket, and get where you want to go.
 
I haven't given out a buddy pass in three years. Tight loads, high costs, hell, it's worthwhile just to have your friend buy a ticket.
 
Yep, worthless, not to mention we get charged $65 each way for them. Regular tickets on Priceline are usually about the same price. Sometimes they are OK for int'l since they cost $200 each way, which is still a lot cheaper than most tickets.
 
Yep, worthless, not to mention we get charged $65 each way for them. Regular tickets on Priceline are usually about the same price. Sometimes they are OK for int'l since they cost $200 each way, which is still a lot cheaper than most tickets.

$65? Cheap.

On Continental we're charged $102/leg domestic......$200/leg international. (Buddy passes)

There are plenty, PLENTY of tickets in the northeast corridor (BOS/NYC/PHL/DC) that are $75 one way....
 
$65? Cheap.

On Continental we're charged $102/leg domestic......$200/leg international. (Buddy passes)

There are plenty, PLENTY of tickets in the northeast corridor (BOS/NYC/PHL/DC) that are $75 one way....

Well I work at the same place as you do, so I guess that shows how long it's been since I used a buddy pass!
 
Back in the day, they were inexpensive and handy. Then "one of the airlines" started to discover that it's another revenue stream and how much money they were making annually. Then we got more. Then the costs went up... and up...
 
Back in the day, they were inexpensive and handy. Then "one of the airlines" started to discover that it's another revenue stream and how much money they were making annually. Then we got more. Then the costs went up... and up...

Psssh...I found out how we can make money off empty seats!:D
 
Yes, they are useless. Especially in today's environment of 51% of Domestic feed being flown on aircraft with less than 76 seats.
 
Flights are booked, buddy passes are by no means free, priority is lowest of the low, and to get anywhere at all you typically have to do about 50 legs on the connection carriers, thus making the ticket $ comparable to a real live, direct flight.

So yeah, they're useless.
 
Hmm...so far this year I've used two to send a couple to Sao Paulo and back, no prob...I used one for SGF for my wife's grandmother, no prob...and my brother's wife used one to go visit him in Arizona from EWN, again no problem. In every case the tickets were much cheaper and there was no charge for the first or second bag. Oh, I work at a Southern Jets feeder and I just missed furlough so my buddies get lower priority than pigeons in ATL.

Passes aren't exactly worthless but they do take more effort than they used to.
 
You're a lucky man! The problem we're having now is that we'll load cargo before non-rev's in a lot of the system so unless you've got a decent priority, better have a plan B.

Personally, I'd love to be able to "sell" the buddy passes back to the company and just keep me and the wife's travel benefits.
 
Depends on the carrier. At SWA, we had what they called "pink" passes, but they were essentially standy by passes you could give to anyone, and you didn't have to fly with them. Best part: they were totally free. No per leg fee or anything. With buddy passes at the other airlines I've worked, it's almost cheaper to buy a ticket on Orbitz.
 
I've used a handful of SWA's buddy passes without too much hassle in the past few months but I work odd hours so can fly during off peak times.
 
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