DeltaSFO From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2488 posts, RR: 27 Reply 1, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1584 times:
The worst I've had was 24 hours in LAX trying to get to SFO.
I even thought about Greyhound! But I got on UA's 6am LAX-SFO flight.
Since I've started with Delta, all my international flights have been in J or C class. Never been bumped to the back. Not yet, anyway.
It's damn near impossible to get F or J on SFO-ATL or ATL-SFO, even when loads are down... but I've gotten lucky and gotten it 3 times.
DeltaSFO
It's a new day. Every moment matters. Now, more than ever.
Scutfarcus From United States of America, joined May 2000, 322 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1553 times:
Not really a 'bad experiece', I just chalked this up as an adventure. (also my first an only non-rev - on an employee friend pass)
Trying to go NRT-SFO. SFO booked, tried for hours to get on any US flight - LAX, SEA, LAS, MSP, DET, JFK...nuthin... at the last minute found the last seat of the last of 3 747s to HNL...
This would up being a fun little surprise and I spent the following day surfing at waikiki. Unfortunately, that evening, SFO was full out of HNL, so I went to SEA, then had to buy a ticket to SFO...missed a day of work, but hey, that surfing was worth it!
Shawn Patrick From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 2585 posts, RR: 24 Reply 3, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1550 times:
On the contrary, I've had good non-rev experiences.
The only non-rev trip I've made was COS-PHX-BOS / BOS-PHX-COS on America West.
I was flying with "Buddy Passes" with 4 other people. Seating wasn't ever guaranteed, however, I got on every one of my flights. Take into consideration: The COS-PHX route was on a CRJ (few seats!). PHX-BOS was only an A320 both ways (few seats). PHX-COS was only a 732 (few seats)! All flight were full.
What are the odds of that?? Getting on small, full planes with no problems??
I was never very fond of America West, but I must say thanks for making my trip effortless!-Shawn
Coboeing777 From United States of America, joined Feb 2001, 693 posts, RR: 7 Reply 4, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1538 times:
whew, glad I don't have any non rev stories like you guys have! It sure is a hassle when you get bumped off flights. I only got bumped off a flight once going from ATL-EWR the day after Game 2 of the 1999 World Series. The next direct flight back to EWR didnt look good either,so I jumped on a CLE flight and from CLE got back to EWR. It was a little annoying but much better than some of the non rev stories ive heard....
WN boy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 5, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1530 times:
I spent four days at LAX trying to catch either a QANTAS or United flight to SYD. Unfortunately, once we missed the QC flight at 1:30 in the afternoon, we had to change terminals to try to catch one of the United flights (either to SYD or MEL) at around 6:00. Flying standby, neither airline would check our bags for the flights, so we were forced to cool our jets waiting by the ticket counter for 8 hours each day for 4 days.
N312RC From United States of America, joined Aug 2000, 2676 posts, RR: 21 Reply 7, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 1528 times:
I agree Watewate. I would sit on the wing if they let me fly free (or W Class (wheel well)).
The views expressed are solely my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. -- We Love to Fly and it Shows!
MEL From Canada, joined Oct 1999, 1044 posts, RR: 15 Reply 8, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1516 times:
I haven't had a really bad experience yet, but this one wasn't quite so pleasant. I boarded a 757 on United (LAX-IAD last flight of day). I got a seat right next to door 3. They closed the door, pulled the jetway away. We sat for 5 mins, then the jetway came back, door opened, and I (and only I) was pulled off the plane so a rev pax could board.
Then 1 of 2 red-eyes LAX-IAD cancelled. I eventually went LAX-DEN two hrs later, then caught the DEN-IAD red-eye. When I got pulled off the plane, I wanted to go anywhere west (IAD/BWI/PHL/JFK/MIA/ORD/DEN... anything).
JJJM From United States of America, joined Mar 2000, 225 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1510 times:
Mel, i've always said, after the plane pushes back, YES I'M SAFE....there i go.......but now i think i'll only say that after take off.....
Yours was really bad....i've seen bad ones, but yours is the leading one.....
DL_Mech From United States of America, joined Feb 2000, 1591 posts, RR: 11 Reply 10, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 1498 times:
Delta changed their policy a few years ago regarding pulling non-revs off the plane for revenue pax....(hopefully it's still in place). Delta does not issue NR boarding passes until the ten minutes before departure, which is the cutoff time for losing a reserved seat. In order to improve on-time departures, non-revs will not be pulled of the plane for a revenue pax after that ten minute cutoff (Pulling non-revs off the plane was wasting too much time). Maybe DeltaSFO can confirm, but I have never been pulled of a flight that I have been given a boarding pass for in the last three or four years......
R I P 474218 / GLHCARL - Riding up to Heaven on an L-1011
NKP S2 From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 1714 posts, RR: 7 Reply 11, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1485 times:
I've been doing this for over 10 years; You've gotta' fly smart. Sounds like an oversimplification but it always works for me and I think I'll live longer for it. I just don't try for longshot flights-- and I plan my travel around the exact opposite of the normal business and leisure travel pattern: If that means getting up at dark-thirty AM, then so be it...if it means having to leave or return a day earlier, then so be it...if it means checking seat loads to establish a pattern of what's best, then that's what I do. I avoid connections as that's just another opportunity for a screw-up. I only bet on "sure winners"...Sure, I might get on an oversold flight...after much unnecessary tenseness. The hell with that..if it doesn't have at least double-digit availability I wont even show up. And NEVER, NEVER depend on the last flight out. If a flight is open, then get on it and don't dilly dally over convenience. I always have a list of alternate flights or routings just in case, so I don't have to pester the gate agents. I guess that I'm "lucky" to not have weekends off, as it's easier to non-rev on "my" weekend. It never ceases to amaze me how many people try to non-rev to hot ( as in popular ) destinations on a friday and attempt to return sunday night and be surprised how tough it was to do so. Like I said: Fly smart.
BA744 From United Kingdom, joined Mar 2000, 169 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1475 times:
My worst was trying to get back from Cairns to LHR.
Originally wanted to go via HKG with CX on the monday (had to be back at work on in LHR on the thurs). The CX flight was weight restricted and that was it for the day internationally out of CNS (it was only 2:30pm). Was told that the following day, was waaay overbooked, so tried for NRT with QF. I was told that there was only the one seat available.
I had to call into work that night to see if I could get any more holiday time in case I couldn't get back. Had to hang around up to 5 minutes before pushback before I they let me on. Was sweating loads that day I can tell you.
Just had to worry about my BA NRT-LHR flight, but fortunately the loads were minimal (or unfortunately depending on your business point of view!) and just managed to get back to LHR the evening before I had to be back at work.
ILUV767 From United States of America, joined May 2000, 3140 posts, RR: 10 Reply 13, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1479 times:
Getting stuck in SMF for 6 hours watching flight after flight leave with out me. I'll thank Delta for cancling a flight to ATL for that one. I was on United Express.
Mdsmith11 From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 194 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1474 times:
Amen to that. As a seasoned non-rev traveller from US Air, Continental and my current employer of United Air Lines, I've actually had good luck non-rev travelling. So much in fact that some of my co-wokers had gotten a bit jealous of my luck. I've even had more than my share of 1st class seats as well.
"Fly Smart" and always have a plan "B" "C" "D"....etc.
B747-437B From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 15, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 1475 times:
Don't get me started on this...
Freshman year of college - decided to non-rev from ATL to BDL to visit some friends in the area. No problems getting up there on Delta. On the way back, DL was maxed out all day. CO Express had flights going to EWR though - so I grabbed one of those and spent the evening at EWR trying to get on a flight to ATL. No luck. Fortunately there was a delayed HP flight EWR-CMH leaving at about 2am so I grabbed that and arrived in CMH around 330am. Caught the first CO Express flight CMH-CLE at around 530am and then the 9am Delta flight CLE-ATL!
Sophomore year - was visiting relatives in Chicago for Xmas, when the urge struck me to go visit friends in Madison, WI for lunch on Dec 23. Got on the 8am UA Express BAe146 out of ORD without a problem. Unfortunately, on finals to MSN we had to go-around because of sleet. Sleet turned to snow and we diverted to DSM for fuel after about an hour. Back in the air, but no luck for MSN as the airport is now closed. Divert to MKE and UA arranges buses over to MSN. Arrive in MSN around 3pm and find out that the 5pm flight back to ORD is cancelled. I spend the night at a friend's place in Tomah, WI (about an hour north of MSN) and then check flights for the next morning out of MSN. No luck, since ORD is down due to weather. So we drive over to LSE (La Crosse, WI) and I try to get on an American Eagle flight to ORD. Unfortunately, it cancels due to weather. I finally grab a Mesaba flight up to MSP and spend the afternoon there until ORD opens up, and then grab NW from MSP to ORD, arriving at 8pm on December 24.
1998 - Flying CO from FCO-EWR connecting to ATL. Travelling with my mom on a pair of interline ID00S2 (my dad had some good contacts to swing those!). First flight of the day goes out with zero seats left. Get rolled over to the later flight. Sit patiently at the gate waiting for the list to clear. Finally we get called - they have 3 seats going - 2 middle seats together in the last row of coach on the DC-10 and 1 in BizFirst. Do we want to split up? I say YES, but mom wants to sit together. So we endure 11 hrs in a non-reclining middle seat while some other lucky sod on an S3 enjoys the BF service. To add insult to injury, the last EWR-ATL flight goes out full and we have to overnight in NJ. We did get First Class on the flight down the next morning though, so that was something.
Twotterwrench From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1453 times:
Anytime I have had the misfortune to fly non-rev on Alaska. Because of their practice of cancelling flights for load factor, you can typically walk up to the counter and hear "Oh, it doesn't look good. There are 43 revenue standbys ahead of you. You should probably try again next week." Then you play the roll over and race to the gate game for about 15 or 16 flights until you finally get to one where they DIDN'T cancel for load factor and they whittle down the stand-bys. You might get on this one, or they may cancel a few more low load flights and you back up even farther on the standby list. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have the privileige of having non-rev passes. But I guarantee that if ever I pay for a ticket, I will go 1000 miles out of my way to never fly Alaska Airlines. Delta on the other hand, my hats off to you. Never had anything but top notch service, non-rev or not!
EIPremier From United States of America, joined Sep 2000, 1526 posts, RR: 2 Reply 17, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 1443 times:
Twotterwrench: What evidence do you have that Alaska cancels flights based on low load factors? I guarantee you they will never cancel a flight due to low loads alone, unless they are short on aircraft and are trying to avoid cancelling a more fully-booked flight. And yes, Alaska does schedule operational-spares each day.
Alaska had some problems with schedule completion last year, but things have improved. The most recent March schedule completion stats I saw were 98.7% system-wide, which compares very favorably to other airlines right now, especially Delta (although it really isn't fair to pick on a carrier experiencing labor-related delays).
DeltaSFO From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 2488 posts, RR: 27 Reply 18, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1439 times:
DL_Mech is right...
That is official Delta policy. However, in the real world, it becomes a judgement call of the gate agent.
If a flight has 100 open seats, most agents go ahead and page all standbys to check the service desk.
If it's oversold or pretty close, you bet I'll wait until I can release the seats. I don't want to take a delay because I'm pulling nonrevs off the flight. Besides, I wouldn't want to be subjected to that kind of embarrasment if I was traveling, why should I risk having to do it to someone else.
Generally, if you look at the standby removal list (A*LR for those Deltoids out there), it would show that on an average day, they clear all S4s (buddy passes and OAL employees) to coach according to seniority of the passes, then the S3s that aren't in the running for first class. Those that still have a chance I hold until the releasing of the seats to see if I can get them up front.
On a full day where First just ain't gonna happen for any nonrevs, you see just the opposite. The A*LR list shows removals according exactly to seniority.
DeltaSFO
It's a new day. Every moment matters. Now, more than ever.
JohnFKelly From United States of America, joined Mar 2001, 73 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1435 times:
Yeah...you tell em EI!
Oh, and I'd like to add that its pure coincidence that each time we've had perfect schedule completion this year has been a Sunday with 80% plus load factors. Pure coincidence.
---Johnny "For the Same Price You Just Get Sore" Kelly
Twotterwrench From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 20, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1404 times:
Wanna see em cancel for load factor? Watch the SEA-ANC-SEA flights. Now they aren't going to tell you that's why they cancelled, cuz that would be illegal wouldn't it. But there's a block of these flights that experience "mechanicals" just a little too often for it to be coincidence I think. And it isn't once in awhile, it's every week. And how exactly does a 10th grader guarantee me that it isn't due to load factor? You have inside information?
Viflyer From US Virgin Islands, joined May 1999, 491 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1400 times:
I've never had a problem really, I just make sure I have tons of back up options. My only experience andit didn't involve me was I was a regualr rev pax on HP going EWR-CMH-PHX. Well we get out of EWR on time and all, just when we arrive at CMH to pick up more pax a couple of non-revs got on and when more revs showed up, instead of bowing out with honor, they acted like they suddenly forgot the english laungue and ened up delaying the flight because the FA's and Gate Agents had to come 1 step shy of dragging them off the plane.
MEL From Canada, joined Oct 1999, 1044 posts, RR: 15 Reply 22, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1400 times:
I have had to pull non-revs of planes myself, so never did I feel mad at the agent. I agree. I thought I was home free when a) the door on a 757 closed, and b) they pulled the jetway away... but nope, you're never safe. We hadn't pushbacked from the gate in that instance.
Another horror story was the longest trip of my life. IAD-SYD via ORD and SFO. IAD-ORD we boarded the 777 at roughly 4:45pm and didn't pushback until 9:55pm. We sat at the C-concourse at Dulles for 5 hours with the door closed at jetway pulled (because of t-storms). I was positive I was gonna miss the ORD-SFO connection, but low and behold, when I get off the 777 at ORD, I made the 5 min connection from B16 to C26. That was one hell of a run. I was hypervenilating so much when I boarded the ORD-SFO A319, I was almost thrown off by the f/a who thought I should consult a doctor. SFO-SYD took place the day later.
OO-AOG From Switzerland, joined Dec 2000, 1426 posts, RR: 5 Reply 23, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1390 times:
Bad experiences, I had a lot of them. All on intercontinental flights.
My worst must have been a Sabena 747 JNB-BRU overbooked. Everything back to Europe was overbooked as well. Finally I managed to find a first class seat to LHR on SAA. I was in LHR in the early morning on the next day, trying to find a seat on a Virgin 737 back to BRU...the day when a fire occured in the Channel's tunnel! I finally had a jump seat 15 hours later.
A return from Macau wasn't bad as well. The only day when this usually empty TAP A340 was full was the day I had decided to go back to Europe! This was the only intercontinental flight from Macau, and the next one was 3 days later...completly broken, I found a couple of coins for a boat to HKG, and slept in Kai-Tak's terminals for 2 days before finding a coach middle seat on a SR MD11 to ZRH. In ZRH, I had no ticket to fly back to BRU
and spent another 6 hours before I could buy an ID90.
Good memories anyway...
Aussiestu From Australia, joined Mar 2001, 778 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (11 years 1 month 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1381 times:
Flying non rev used to be fun and full of adventure. Nowadays its a nightmare with full flights and I would rather pay and avoid the hassle. Worst times have been trying to get LAX-SYD with United. They allow their planes to leave LAX with FC seats still available. And non rev pax trying to get away. Maybe thats their policy but it does stink. Anyway after too many of those I avoid UA like the plague. Nowadays its fullfare JC ANZ all the way!!!!!!
25 Ned Kelly: Back in July 1980 I was going LHR-PMI (BA), at the check in desk I was told "no chance, come back in September"! So I asked could I go LHR-MAD-PMI, LH
26 F27: Stuck in DRW for 17 hours in those days only 2 flights a day. But the Worst one was From HKG-SYD on an AN flight. The way the Counter staff treat Airl
27 Thud: a) Stuck in Orlando for a day at the airport with a 6 yr old trying to get to Chicago for BA flight back to London. No cash as the ATM decided to chew
28 TAA_Airbus: Geez fellas, for the amount you pay, I wouldnt be bloody complaining TAA_Airbus
29 Aaer 777: Have been pretty lucky so far... but then again I love flying and taking the long way around does not scare me, the more flights the better... AA23 BH
30 Wolfpacker: I went to HNL with some D3s on AA, on the way over instead of getting the nonstop ORDHNL had to fly ORDDFW, DFWHNL and almost got bumped on DFWHNL. Ha
31 Go Around: A little airline humor: What does it mean for a non-rev to fly stand-bye? You STAND and wave GOOD BYE to your airplane. Bahd a bing
32 N757tw: I have spent many a day (and night, and next day) at STL waiting and hoping that TWA in their wisdom would stop canceling flights. As you know you can
33 L-188: I got bumped a total of 14 times in a row trying to get from SEA to GEG
34 DC-9CAPT: For those of us who served, flying non-rev is not too different from flying SPACE-A with MAC/AMC. You never knew what you were going to get, and you h
35 EIPremier: Actually, I can tell you what the cause for the majority of those cancellations was----insufficient staffing. Since the fall of 1999, Alaska has been
36 Aaer 777: Have you ever noticed that it's ALWAYS a lot easier to get out of your station than getting back home to be at work on time? It always mesmerizes me..
37 Jrlander: We were trying to fly to Atlanta from Pensacola in January of 2000. The last two flights out were wide open. So we opted to try for the later flight s
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