Who killed non-rev shoulder season?

[Sculprit]

Yes, honestly a lot of this thread strikes me as stereotypical legacy pilot "my gold bars are too heavy" complaining.

I hear you, and I don’t disagree. We are extremely privileged individuals and I am very thankful for that.

However, from the first day at any airline; in any position from below wing to high in the skies. The companies tout how awesome having flight “benefits” are. Well sure it’s a great benefit when it works and getting it to workout has become harder.

TLDR:
-Lucky to make the money we do.
-Maybe not so much of a benefit anymore and shouldn’t be classified as such.
-Thankful airlines are filling seats and making revenue.

 

[ChasenSFO]

Can’t tell if I’ve just gotten tired or snobby of standby but my favorite benefit is the confirmed for less. I don’t even bother non rev domestic anymore I just buy tickets. lol I don’t even care. It makes my trips way less stressful and with a wife who has a normal work schedule I don’t have to wake up at 3am to catch a 5am departure or have 7 back up flights all oversold. Oh and 2 leg it home when I could just go direct? Nah, I’m good. Feel like you need a nomad kinda planning go with the flow vacationer to non rev these days.

I'm the same way now, if I have any doubt i'm gonna get on, I buy a myUAdiscount unless the price is still crazy. This is where me being able to do super cheap one way car rentals comes in handy. I'll fly somewhere then just drive 1-3 hours rather than worry about full flights in and out of a hub. If I do need to go to a hub like ORD or DEN and it's full, and a one way drive to MRY or SMF won't get me on an open flight, then I find a route where the same plane goes on to DEN/ORD everyday like doing SFO-CLD-DEN last month. There's almost always a way, as long as you don't check luggage.

That being said, i wonder if some of you in this friend are checking LAX/SFO/SEA to Asia and Europe because what i'm seeing with my own eyes when I look at loads and what I am reading here? Do not match. I think you guys just need to backtrack to California lol, I mean SFO-MUC for one is open all the damn time. FCO too. 160 open to MNL when I go in 3 weeks. HKG was wide open, too.

 

[JordanD]

I'm the same way now, if I have any doubt i'm gonna get on, I buy a myUAdiscount unless the price is still crazy. This is where me being able to do super cheap one way car rentals comes in handy. I'll fly somewhere then just drive 1-3 hours rather than worry about full flights in and out of a hub. If I do need to go to a hub like ORD or DEN and it's full, and a one way drive to MRY or SMF won't get me on an open flight, then I find a route where the same plane goes on to DEN/ORD everyday like doing SFO-CLD-DEN last month. There's almost always a way, as long as you don't check luggage.

That being said, i wonder if some of you in this friend are checking LAX/SFO/SEA to Asia and Europe because what i'm seeing with my own eyes when I look at loads and what I am reading here? Do not match. I think you guys just need to backtrack to California lol, I mean SFO-MUC for one is open all the damn time. FCO too. 160 open to MNL when I go in 3 weeks. HKG was wide open, too.

Some airlines definitely seem better at filling planes than others. A lot of my United friends seem to have no problem getting Polaris, getting the equivalent on my airline is such a rarity I always figure if you’re going to end up in row 47, you might as well buy a ticket and know you’re getting there.

 

[Sculprit]

I mean SFO-MUC for one is open all the damn time. FCO too. 160 open to MNL when I go in 3 weeks. HKG was wide open, too.

I dont know how/what/when you’re looking, but every time I search intl especially out of SFO, things are pretty full.

When I do see a fair amount of premium seats about, I’ll click in boarding totals and the Premier Upgrades are typically more then the amount of open premium seats. Genuinely glad it’s working out for you though.

 

[BobDDuck]

Some airlines definitely seem better at filling planes than others. A lot of my United friends seem to have no problem getting Polaris, getting the equivalent on my airline is such a rarity I always figure if you’re going to end up in row 47, you might as well buy a ticket and know you’re getting there.

Alaska decided the way they were going to make Atmos popular was give Titanium members free upgrades on international flights. There is no such thing as non rev in business class on international anymore, and there wasn't any non rev domestically in business class in their system to begin with because of the limited premium seats and the fact that they upgrade every status member.

It's kind of sad going from the system I was under (pretty easy to score international business class standby) to this one, but it's just the way it is with airlines monetizing absolutely everything.

 

[Sculprit]

Alaska decided the way they were going to make Atmos popular was give Titanium members free upgrades on international flights. There is no such thing as non rev in business class on international anymore, and there wasn't any non rev domestically in business class in their system to begin with because of the limited premium seats and the fact that they upgrade every status member.

It's kind of sad going from the system I was under (pretty easy to score international business class standby) to this one, but it's just the way it is with airlines monetizing absolutely everything.

The ol’ bait and switch? The drug dealer that gives you some free powder to get you hooked knowing you’ll come back and spend money?

The next iteration of the Atmos program probably gets devalued. By that point folks have their loyalty/golden hand cuffs and if they want to fly premium, cough up the cash.

 

[Karnage]

Alaska decided the way they were going to make Atmos popular was give Titanium members free upgrades on international flights. There is no such thing as non rev in business class on international anymore, and there wasn't any non rev domestically in business class in their system to begin with because of the limited premium seats and the fact that they upgrade every status member.

It's kind of sad going from the system I was under (pretty easy to score international business class standby) to this one, but it's just the way it is with airlines monetizing absolutely everything.

When I worked at AS first class as a non-rev was $50 per 1000 miles. Or was it 500 miles, even as a gate agent it came up so rarely I had to look it up each time.

I think in 5 years I was given the opportunity twice, I declined both times.