Guys/Gals that have travel benefits...

stuckingfk

stuckingfk

Well-Known Member
Lets say Airlines were going to take away free travel as a benefit to airline employees. What kind of effect would that have to you as a pilot/FA/CSA?

Basically, I am asking what are the main reasons you want to work for an airline?

The ONLY thing for me that steers my thoughts towards flying for an airline would be the travel, but that is it.
 
When I went to work for an airline it wasn't a consideration, at all. After having it for quite a while it's hard to imagine not having it. If you took it away there would be a major uprising and undoubtedly there are many who go to work for airlines to get that benefit. But many pilots? I don't think so, could be wrong though.
 
The travel benefits are cool, when you can use them.

If they took the ability to non-rev away, the jumpseat and I couldn't ride on any other airlines or commute, I'm not sure what I'd do but I'd certainly put my 'thinking cap' on and reconsider my priorities.

Just add a checkmark behind what Flyover said already I guess.
 
Another benefit are the passes that the employees get that can be used for friends or family members.
 
I won't deny that when I worked for American, travel was definetly on my mind. Well, because I was blinded by thoughts of sunny caribbean islands with my girlfriend and corona in hand, I failed to realize that as a Passenger Service Agent I would not be making enough money to take the trips I really wanted. Quite a double-edged sword there.

So what I ended up having to do was take more domestic day trips for lunch and dinner, with the occasional overnight party (no hotel) trip. On one extended overnighter my friends and I went ORD-YYZ on friday night arriving about 10:00 p.m. We partied all night and were back at the airport by 6 a.m. While everyone else went back to ORD, one other friend and myself decided to take a different segment. We took the 6:45 a.m. to MIA. When we arrived there we hit South Beach in our clothes from the night before to recover, and ate at a great cuban restaurant on Ocean Drive called Mango's. We were back in ORD by 8:00 p.m. that night.

Total Trip Itinerary/Cost
ORD-YYZ-MIA-ORD (All F-class)
$58 for all segments payroll deduct.

So all being said and done now, if I had the chance to do it again, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute.
 
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Another benefit are the passes that the employees get that can be used for friends or family members.

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The only problem is that they always want to travel during peak travel periods!

"Hey, let's go to Hawaii in June! Doug can we have some F&F passes?"
 
Well, I have to ask this also - what is the number of the most bumps in one day trying to get somewhere? I had 5 bumps in a 12 hr period trying to get from FLL to CVG - of course in the middle of summer, too!!
 
I never fly during the summer, or spring break, or xmas. It's asking to be disappointed, especially with SWA. Right now I'm listed on like four different flights to get to Vegas, and it's SEPTEMBER. There's a wide open flight BnA-PHX, but all the flights from PHX-LAS "look bad." So, it's gonna be a "show up and see what happens" thing. I always give myself one day to get there and one day to get back. Small price to pay for not paying for my ticket. It does get annoying after a while, though. Most of the trips I've taken have been middle of the week one-day getaways. MCO-BWI, then into DC for some museum hopping or MCO-MSY to check out the D-Day museum. I agree with Doug, though. The travel benefits are nice when you can use them.
 
There are a lot of people working part time just to get the

travel benefits if they take that away I think you are going to

see a big % of this people quiting their jobs. think about it.

especially for the people that work at the ramp, why would

you take a job where you have to be outside rain or shine for

$9 $10 bucks an hour without the travel benefits?
 
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especially for the people that work at the ramp, why would

you take a job where you have to be outside rain or shine for

$9 $10 bucks an hour without the travel benefits?

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Well, for me the money was better than anything else in Orlando that I could get, and the health benefits were kick @ss. The main reason I took the ramp position was to get a positive foot in the door with SWA for down the road.
 
There would certainly be an uproar if 'free' travel were taken away.So much so, that I'd be my life that it wouldn't happen. However, very few carriers actually offer truly free travel. Most service charge employees to fly. This is quite annoying having come from Southwest where all travel is free. Period. Now on AA/AE, I'd get hit with $80-100/mo in service charges just getting back and forth to work if I couldn't jumpseat for free on Skywest! (As long as there is a seat in the cabin, you can't JS but must non-rev.)

If they were to take away, or more likely in this day and age reduce flight bennies, then the F/As, CSAs, rampers ect would be the most adversely affected. Because pilots can JS, and have never been as dependant of pass priviledges as other work groups, they would be affected the least.

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why would you take a job where you have to be outside rain or shine for $9 $10 bucks an hour without the travel benefits?

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Because it's a cool job! Being a ramp rat was awesome fun and I started at a place that offered zero benefits of any kind.
The main reason I got into this business was simply to be aroud airplanes! There was no other consideration except to make some money to hang out at the airport, which I spent tons of time doing while plane watching after my paying job anyway.
 
Stupid Question:

When people talk about pilots jumpseating, does that refer exclusively to riding in the cockpit jumpseat, or does it include any ride by any pilot in any empty seat in the cabin??

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MF
 
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Stupid Question:

When people talk about pilots jumpseating, does that refer exclusively to riding in the cockpit jumpseat, or does it include any ride by any pilot in any empty seat in the cabin??

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MF

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NOT a stupid question.

It kind of means both actually.

Consider the 'jumpseat' as a pass of sorts.

If you're traveling on your own airline, you can occupy the cockpit jumpseat or any open passenger seat in the cabin.

If you're traveling on an airline you're not employed by, it's a free ride from point-a to point-b but there's got to be an open passenger seat in the cabin because the FAA/TSA/Whoever will not allow you to occupy the cockpit jumpseat of another airline -- referred to as an 'offline jumpseater'. But you're usually better off purchasing an ID90 pass because as an "offline" jumpseater, you're almost dead last on the boarding priority list.

Funny thing is that if Kristie purchases an America West ID90 pass, she'll be a higher boarding priority than I would be as an offline jumpseater!
 
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There would certainly be an uproar if 'free' travel were taken away.So much so, that I'd be my life that it wouldn't happen. However, very few carriers actually offer truly free travel. Most service charge employees to fly. This is quite annoying having come from Southwest where all travel is free. Period. Now on AA/AE, I'd get hit with $80-100/mo in service charges just getting back and forth to work if I couldn't jumpseat for free on Skywest! (As long as there is a seat in the cabin, you can't JS but must non-rev.)


.

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Thats just b/c AA benifits suck.
 
well im only making 10.50/hr over here at jetblue if they took away my travel bennies id probably be pretty upset i only used them once so far to go to vegas right after graduation my family has made good use of it though.. the health benefits arent too bad here though. all in all it was pretty attractive when i applied and got hired but it is so hard to get a few days off to use them ... as it was said above i had dreams of white beaches in the caribbean with a corona in hand . but who can afford at this stage in the game
 
When airlines charge the employee to "non-rev" it can take the fun out of it. America West doesn't charge for employees, and US Airways has the option of a $60 fee for the year to travel as much as you want.

Keep in mind, though, that when you live out of a suitcase 3-6 days per week, sleep in hotels 3-8 days per week (yes 8 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif), and eat out all the time, you may not want to travel that much. The flight may be free, but the rental car, hotel, and food when you get there still cost money.
 
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Keep in mind, though, that when you live out of a suitcase 3-6 days per week, sleep in hotels 3-8 days per week (yes 8 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif), and eat out all the time, you may not want to travel that much. The flight may be free, but the rental car, hotel, and food when you get there still cost money.

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*DING DING DING DING!!*

I hate hotels, no matter how nice they are.

I get no thrill from eating in a restaraunt or even eating out any more.

Believe it or not, I don't even like flying as a passenger and I absolutely HATE airports! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

When I get home, she wants to go fly someplace and eat out because she's been in the house all week. But man, it's like pulling teeth getting me to go to the airport on my off days or voluntarily stay in a hotel.

I guess it's weird to say, but I enjoy tourism and travel but don't like flying as a passenger and being an airline pilot and tourism/travel are on two seperate pages in the encyclopedia.

Some of my neighbors might ask "Hey, where'd ya fly to yesterday?" and the truthful answer is "Well, I flew all over and laid over for 10 hours at a Holiday Inn in ummm... shoot...lemme think...I think it was ummm... oh yeah, the airport Holiday Inn in Columbus"

"How was Columbus?"

"I don't know! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif"
 
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When airlines charge the employee to "non-rev" it can take the fun out of it. America West doesn't charge for employees, and US Airways has the option of a $60 fee for the year to travel as much as you want.


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Just curious, but does anyone have any idea what non-revving. costs a company in terms of fuel and so forth? I mean, do these miniscule travel charges that some companies impose actually offset anything? I ask because if they don't, then why charge anything at all? If they do, then maybe these "financially strapped" airlines that do not charge should consider imposing fees for travel.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bandit.gif Tijuana guy
 
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Just curious, but does anyone have any idea what non-revving. costs a company in terms of fuel and so forth?

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Almost nothing. Employee passes generally are only for empty seats . . . so it's either go empty or fill the seat with a nonrev. The extra weight is negligible.

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I mean, do these miniscule travel charges that some companies impose actually offset anything? I ask because if they don't, then why charge anything at all?

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Because the airlines are evil.

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If they do, then maybe these "financially strapped" airlines that do not charge should consider imposing fees for travel.

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OK, but it's an employee benefit. It costs the airline little but returns a lot in terms of getting away with paying crap wages.

And I LOVE your avatar.

MF
 
It doesn't cost the airlines much to fly you in an otherwise empty seat on a flight. The cost they try to offset is the "administration" of a travel program ... maintaining an automated 800 number to check loads and list and the extra time CSAs take to clear standbys, etc. Fees vary from airline to airline, from none at all to quite a bit.

I'm really lucky in that I have non-rev benefits on three of the "Big Six" airlines (United, Delta, and US Airways). 90% of what I use that travel for is commuting ... I have used all three carriers (and others, via the jumpseat) to get to/from work. I can compare and contrast the travel programs of the three pretty well. Overall, I'd say Delta is the best (the only one that doesn't charge me for first class) but United is easier to jumpseat on (their CSAs are the most helpful with jumpseaters and have never given me that 'ugh ... stupid jumpseating pilot' look that I've gotten at other carriers). US Airways is great because intl travel is free and unlimited (except for Envoy upgrades and taxes) and my gf is on my travel plan. In reality ... all these travel benefits are mostly a great way to get to and from work. Because between my first-year pay being low and all my time being taken up by work and commuting, I have neither the time nor the money to travel on my own. I will say my mom loves her US benefits, though ... she's been to London twice in the last two months.
 
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