Flight Bennies 101?

Finny said:
Lots of good info on here. I always work under the rule of, “if I HAVE to be there buy a ticket, if I’d LIKE to be there I nonrev.”
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It is a really cool benefit when it works, but airlines have gotten so good at filling flights that in my last few years at Surejet it was more stressful than it’s worth unless your situation is super flexible. Early in my career we’d often be like “hey, there’s 70 seats each way to Prague, lets go for the weekend.” That just doesn’t really happen anymore.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
It is a really cool benefit when it works, but airlines have gotten so good at filling flights that in my last few years at Surejet it was more stressful than it’s worth unless your situation is super flexible. Early in my career we’d often be like “hey, there’s 70 seats each way to Prague, lets go for the weekend.” That just doesn’t really happen anymore.
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Still done weekend trips to Europe a couple times, but I had to be ok with NOT going or having creative ways to get back.

My record to get my Dad home from visiting my Aunt was JAX-ATL-MSN-MSP-PHX. Can’t complain about the price!
 
I had bennies long enough to realize they sucked the majority of the year. Much prefer to build points or get paid enough to buy tickets. Airlines will be even more strategic in the next few years as far as frequency vs volume, that will make it hard to go anywhere that has tourist demand. But, it was pretty cool to get from A to B free when it did work out. Flexibility is absolutely key

My 30th birthday was meant to be in DC with friends from the Navy, it ended up being in Dallas checking out the magic bullet theory because of load issues/wx. As said before, if a need to be there situation arises, buy the ticket.
 
Finny said:
Lots of good info on here. I always work under the rule of, “if I HAVE to be there buy a ticket, if I’d LIKE to be there I nonrev.”
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I got thoroughly Envoy’d this weekend and not even a revenue ticket would have assured my timely arrival.
 
Autothrust Blue said:
I got thoroughly Envoy’d this weekend and not even a revenue ticket would have assured my timely arrival.
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Me too actually!

Was supposed to deadhead on AA from CVG-DFW-HNL. At 11pm I got an email saying my 8:19am flight was delayed until 11:30, thus stranding me in DFW. Called my travel people and they switched me to avoid AA altogether. Thanks @Dacuj!
 
mikecweb said:
One of the greatest perks flying freight is the miles we rack up. I have never subjected my spouse to standby travel. We just use miles whenever we go someplace.
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Truth. Other friends of mine at Purple have showed me how they rack up the miles and it is a hella better game than pax 121s have. I’m tremendously happy where I’m at, but if I could rewind the clock a decade or so I’d set my sights towards purple or brown town.
 
Screaming_Emu said:
Me too actually!

Was supposed to deadhead on AA from CVG-DFW-HNL. At 11pm I got an email saying my 8:19am flight was delayed until 11:30, thus stranding me in DFW. Called my travel people and they switched me to avoid AA altogether. Thanks @Dacuj!
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Fortunately, I was able to improvise an alternative plan, and was able to be present at the funeral I had to attend.

Thanks for nothing, @Dacuj
 
mwflyer said:
Do you mind explaining to me how you guys rack up miles?
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Mike can correct me, but from what I understand they have the ability to purchase all their deadheads on their own cards and will be reimbursed. And their deadheads can be significantly international, frequent, and business class or better.
 
mwflyer said:
Do you mind explaining to me how you guys rack up miles?
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MikeFavinger said:
Mike can correct me, but from what I understand they have the ability to purchase all their deadheads on their own cards and will be reimbursed. And their deadheads can be significantly international, frequent, and business class or better.
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So not sure how it's done at Brown but purple allows their pilots to "deviate" or buy a ticket within 3 days of any event. Doesn't even need to be a dh. The money to buy this ticket comes from a deviation bank. You accrue bank money from scheduled DHs that you deviate on. For example, all roads lead to and from Memphis (or wherever you are based), so any schedule DH comes from or to Memphis. Whatever that tickets costs goes into a bank. If you live someplace else you just buy a ticket from home to wherever your pairing starts. If you live in base you can take a company jump to shortcut the trip and/or increase your bank.
There's some nuiances but the best case is holding DHs to your home town. You get paid to be home for 12-30 hours and bank the ticket money for later shenanigans.

All of these tickets are positive space tickets like anyone would buy. Purple gets a discount but you still get all the miles.

Since the rules allow you to buy any ticket within 3 days of an event you could buy a ticket to Cabo San Lucas using your bank money or wherever the best Sbarro's is.

Over 5 block or 11? duty is in business/first.
I'm middle seniority in my seat and I hold DHs to my home town fairly often and accrue about 150k-200k miles a year.
 
MikeFavinger said:
Mike can correct me, but from what I understand they have the ability to purchase all their deadheads on their own cards and will be reimbursed. And their deadheads can be significantly international, frequent, and business class or better.
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And at Atlas it’s just gateway commutes and deadheads. Anything outside the US is business or better so you can get a pretty obscene amount of miles from that, at least before the end times…
 
When i was a brand new reserve DFW captain that flew yellow airplanes, the airline deadheaded me on AA so much i got Gold on AAdvantage my first year on reserve.

Although I didn’t have to stop up front to say hi, I did anyway because I would get a lot of hassle being deadheaded on AA from the AA crews thinking I was jumpseating - nope my airline bought me a paid ticket on your airline and i get miles for deadheading on AA. Thanks for the ride…
 
mikecweb said:
So not sure how it's done at Brown but purple allows their pilots to "deviate" or buy a ticket within 3 days of any event. Doesn't even need to be a dh. The money to buy this ticket comes from a deviation bank. You accrue bank money from scheduled DHs that you deviate on. For example, all roads lead to and from Memphis (or wherever you are based), so any schedule DH comes from or to Memphis. Whatever that tickets costs goes into a bank. If you live someplace else you just buy a ticket from home to wherever your pairing starts. If you live in base you can take a company jump to shortcut the trip and/or increase your bank.
There's some nuiances but the best case is holding DHs to your home town. You get paid to be home for 12-30 hours and bank the ticket money for later shenanigans.

All of these tickets are positive space tickets like anyone would buy. Purple gets a discount but you still get all the miles.

Since the rules allow you to buy any ticket within 3 days of an event you could buy a ticket to Cabo San Lucas using your bank money or wherever the best Sbarro's is.

Over 5 block or 11? duty is in business/first.
I'm middle seniority in my seat and I hold DHs to my home town fairly often and accrue about 150k-200k miles a year.
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That sounds awesome. Thanks for the explanation. I assume the bank is taxable income?
 
mwflyer said:
That sounds awesome. Thanks for the explanation. I assume the bank is taxable income?
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If you use your deviation bank to buy a ticket to your base it is subject to imputed income. Scheduled DHs to base are not included.

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
 
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