How do airline buddy passes work

You are considered a non-rev non-revenue customer. You are flying standby. This means that at the very last moment, even if the flight looked like it had plenty of seats, you could lose your seat to another paying customer. Buddy passes are not free. The cost of a buddy pass is based on the distance of the flight, taxes of the airport, and other fees that vary from airline to airline. A Delta Buddy pass and United Buddy pass may vary in the cost of each leg, but all will cost something.

Ask your employee friend to look up the exact cost of each leg of your flight. Using the buddy pass cost calculator you can find the cost from the airport to the airport. You do pay for every leg of your flight which makes a layover more expensive for buddy pass flyers. Compare the cost of a buddy pass to the cost of buying a ticket. Sometimes a confirmed seat will be only a few dollars more.

Ask yourself if flying standby is worth the difference. Or the system may allow you to pay for the flight with your credit card at the time of booking.

Although you put your credit card information in the system and agree to the fee, your card will only be charged for the flight once you actually take the flight. To fly on a buddy pass, you will need to ask a friend or family who works for an airline if you can use a buddy pass.

Buddy Passes can involve a lot of work for your airline buddy. Flying on a buddy pass can be convenient and cheaper for you. But know that the employee who allows you to use their benefit will do a lot of work for you. First, when you book a buddy pass, the employee will need to enter all of your traveler information. They will need your name, address, credit card number, and possibly passport number. The airline employee allowing you the privilege of using their buddy pass has no control over you getting to your destination.

They will, if they are anything like us, check the flights incessantly. They will try to find a way to get you to your destination and home again in a timely manner. The employee will communicate with you which flights to try for and which flights to avoid.

This means time checking flight loads, priority lists, and route options and then communicating the alternatives with you. And finally, the employee will be praying the standby gods are good to you and you will make it to your destination. So if you find someone trying to make a buck off giving you a cheap buddy pass for sale, it is most likely a scam. This means you will need to pay your friend directly for your flight unless they are footing your flight bill.

A buddy pass is a very low priority standby pass. Business travelers, employees, retirees, and parents of airline employees all will be in line ahead of buddy pass users. So even if a flight has space available, it may be filled with higher priority standby passengers before you get a seat.

You are only granted a seat on the flight after everyone ahead of you in line is accommodated. Basically, you come last on the priority list.

Ok, I lied, employees of other airlines come after you, but still you are very low on the list. In America, you will need to have your standby ticket in hand and go through security. This ticket does not mean you have a seat assignment. Go to your gate. Most gates have a list of standby passengers. Be sure you are on the list.

Gate agents are busy and may not have time to answer all your questions or concerns. Try not to talk to you them unless you need something. Be polite, respectful and very thankful. Sit close to the gate. Listen for your name. If the flight is pretty empty you might get a seat before passengers begin boarding and can board at your assigned group number.

More likely, you will be waiting until most or all people are boarded before you are called. When if your name is called, you may be told they have a seat assignment for you, or you may be told the flight is full. You can opt to roll your name to the next flight to the same destination or be changed to another destination or layover option which may cost more.

Making reservations for hotels, tours, or other events and then not making your standby flight can be frustrating. Wait until you make the flight to reserve a hotel room. If you follow my blog you will see multiple scenarios when we have been bumped off flights last minute. You must be prepared for a variety of outcomes that may or may not include getting to your destination.

Its easy to book a hotel last minute. Find multiple hotel options here. Or find one on the map below. Read what you need to know about flying standby here. Book a last minute Rental Car here. When you fly on a buddy pass, it is beneficial if you can make a direct flight.

First of all, this will be cheaper overall. You do. A buddy pass is a non-revenue ticket -staff travel ticket- that gives flight privileges to family members or friends, on the airline the employee you are getting the pass from. They give the opportunity to pay a reduced price, to travel to the destination you are trying to go. It is a great way to get around, but there are stipulations to these passes that many are unwilling to have to follow.

They are not a guaranteed ticket. Based solely on the flight having open seats and other non-revenue passengers ahead of you, not taking all of the available seats. When you are flying on standby, it means that you are essentially waiting to get on a flight.

There is a list of non-revenue passengers, all who have different priorities, and wherever you may fall on the list, you are hoping that there are enough open seats on the flight, for you to get on. When you are on standby for a flight, you are utilizing a pass from an employee of the airline.

These passes are at a reduced fare, thus paying customers go before you. If there are five other standby ahead of you, you have to wait until they get a seat on the flight, before you can get one.

It is up to the discretion of the employee to give you a pass. They are the ones who will have to book the travel, take your payment information, give you the rules and regulations of flying on a pass, what to expect, looking into the flight loads, etc.

You cannot buy it from the airline, or from a Flight Attendant. You may have heard of other people being able to buy, said buddy passes, from Flight Attendants, but they can get fired for this. The only payment can be exclusively towards the fees you have to pay for the buddy pass, towards the airline.

Giving you a pass is at their discretion, due to you having to follow all the policies and procedures put into place. Otherwise, they can get disciplined for your behavior. They also only have a certain amount of buddy passes they can give per year. Unless they designate you as their primary pass holder, then you get all of the same benefits as the employee. Keep in mind, the busiest days of travel are weekends and holidays.

The busiest time of travel is afternoon. If you can be flexible and are willing to take a 6am or 10pm flight, then flying on a buddy pass will work well for you. Present your confirmation code to the ticket agent or enter into the kiosk for self-check-in to be issued a standby ticket.

If you have checked in early online, with airlines that offer that service, you can skip the ticket counter altogether, unless you are checking bags. Just use the ticket you printed out online to head straight to the gate. If the ticket agent has checked you in, there is no need to approach the gate agent. The computer will show all standby passengers who have checked in.

You simply wait for the flight to finish boarding and the gate agent to call standby passengers to the podium to be issued a boarding pass. If you checked in online, notify the gate agent that you are there and on the standby list, then take a seat.

Be sure to sit close to the gate and listen for your name to be called. Be prepared with other flight options should you not get on the flight. Once the gate agents are free, ask them to list you for the next flight available. You may end up needing to fly to another city to connect to your final destination, which can mean paying for that extra leg, too.

Or you may not be able to get on the flight at all and have to pay for a hotel room for the night. The buddy pass user said she and her husband used buddy passes to come home from Copenhagen on a flight that connected in New York. Bad weather at JFK delayed their flight and they missed their connection. They had to spend the night and, because bad weather had backed up lots of flights, there were no seats available to Atlanta. They checked 27 cities before finding a plane with two available seats.