I envy that my aunt works for AA. TO be able to fly standby anytime is always fun. (IMH, of course!)

So she lives in TUL and her son went to RDU for camp and my goddaughter(her kid) was in PVD visiting a friend.

Last Wedsnesday, my aunt flew TUL-ORD-LGA knowing that the next day, she would have to pick up her kids in their respective places.

She logged onto my my computer ot check the availability of flights and made a plan

Then on Friday, she

successfully flew:

LGA-RDU-LGA-PVD-LGA-ORD-TUL

All in one day! One whole day!!  !! WOW!

What are some of your interesting journey in non revving?

A few LONG nonrev days for me....

1) MSY-IAH-MSY-MCI-SFO in one day (CO 752, CO 753, NJ 732, NJ M80)

2) MSY-DEN-SEA-DEN-MSY in one day (All F9 319's)

3) MSY-MSP-DTW-MSY in one day (NW DC9-30, NW 757)


I posted a trip report about all of these....should be pretty easy to find.


Steve in N.O

Great topic, Mirrodie!

I work for AS, and my buddies work for HP. Several years ago, we decided to take a trip to CUN, electing to non-rev on CO (neither of our companies served CUN at that time).

My friend Don and I flew PHX-IAH one afternoon, attempting to catch that night's last IAH-CUN nonstop. Our other friends, once they finished their shifts later that evening, were going to fly from PHX to AS / KLAS), USA - Nevada">LAS and then take a redeye AS / KLAS), USA - Nevada">LAS-IAH so they could meet us in CUN the following morning.

Well, we got bumped from the CUN flight that night and had to overnight at the Intercontinental Airport Marriott (great hotel for non-revs, by the way).

So the next morning, we head out for the first IAH-CUN flight...and lo and behold, there are our friends, who just got in on a AS / KLAS), USA - Nevada">LAS-IAH redeye and had partied like rock stars since they both got First Class on the flight.

So we're wide awake and they look like something the cat dragged in, but we head for the 9am CUN flight.

And we don't make it. It's oversold.

So we tried for the 11am. Then the 12:45pm. Both oversold, and there are about 30 CO non-revs ahead of us.

Needless to say, things are looking bleak.

So we had the bright idea of checking the loads on the 3pm and 8pm, both of which were totally booked. With 30 other nonrevs ahead of us, we had no shot of getting out.

The solution? The EWR-CUN flight, which was a 757, and had 70 open seats!

So we check the IAH-EWR flights, which are full.

"The LGA flight has open seats," a CO employee reminded us.

So, we schlep over to the IAH-LGA flight and get on, arriving there with 3 hours to make it to EWR.

A long, twisty, detouring cab ride through the middle of that Sunday afternoon's Puerto Rican Pride Parade (I swear I'm not making this up. It REALLY happened that day!) across midtown Manhattan and damn near $80.00 later, we're at EWR with boarding passes in our hands.

We finally hit CUN around 1am, and closed out the bars by 5.  

I can't tell you about the rest of the trip, as those brain cells didn't survive the trip, but the photos certainly indicate we had a good time there!

A friend and I are trying to fly FLL-LGB tomorrow on Jetblue.. not sure how it will turn out. The return on Sunday is even worse... when I booked it through their PB manager, it was wide open.. stressing WAS. Now i'm on the phone with every Pass Bureau Mgr I can find (or have cell phone #s for) to get us home. So far I'm going to have to fly Mesa from Long Beach to Phoenix, then pray I can hop on America West to Denver, then Spirit back to Ft. Lauderdale.. the key right now is getting to Denver... the Spirit flight is ;;; wide open ;;;.

My main problem is the person I'm taking with me is NOT an airline employee, and while I have a plethora of tickets on me for Mesa, Frontier, Spirit, and ATA, he does not. And he has to fly with me... ::: GRRR :::

Worst scenario is we have to find a way to get from Long Beach at 730AM to Ontario for an 1130ish flight to Denver on Frontier JetExpress.... that is booked to 47/50 no listed. ::: prays :::

anyone know of a cheap way from Long Beach to Ontario???

-nate

The longest ive had was:

LGA-ORD-DFW-MIA-RSW. I love to nonrev, every trip is always different. The worst is travelling with D3's because they are the bottom of the bottom of the list. Two weeks ago we were trying to nonrev from CMH-LGA. Normally a 1 1/2 hour flight, but it took us 12 hours and we had to go through ORD. Hey at least its free!

AA 777
Matt

TYS-PIT-LGA-DCA-GSO (USX328, FL717, US320, USXDH8) A very roundabout
to get from TYS to GSO!

And then there are the days when you have two segments and you cant even get a seat. Right now I am trying to get my mom to fly from LGA-PHL-GND, I can't get her on any flight from LGA or EWR tommorow morning in time to catch the US395 to GND. Sad days of a non rev.

But hey, for free? Bump me as much as you want  

Hey 717-200...Wouldn't your trip have been a whole lot easier to just take I-40 eastbound?  

Nate...I'd call SuperShuttle to see how much the van ride would be. Should be about 40 mins ride, since the drivers are usually pretty good in that area.

AA777:

What is a D3?

JFK-ZRH-JFK...total time in ZRH, 55 minutes or so.

It's a pass priority code for AA

A D3 is employee families on American. D2 is employees, D1 is a higher priority... each employee gets a couple of them a year to use. Also at AA, non-revs making a connection get higher priority than others in their classification.

Non-revving is enjoyable sometimes, a nightmare other times. There is nothing like 30E on a MD-80 for a 4.5 hour flight (I did that last night). Rolling from flight to flight is always fun.... I spent 8 hours one night trying to get to St. Louis before I gave up (as a D2.... all flights were oversold, plus all of the replacement F/As trying to get to work in STL).

It was very nice the other night flying on a revenue ticket.... checked in online, walked into the airport 40 minutes before departure, cleared security, bought dinner, and walked right onto the airplane.

Is there a website dedicated to carrying documents and therefore travelling for less?

Back when I was in school in Tallahassee, I was working for Piedmont on the ramp. My folks still lived in Northern Virginia. For some reason, going north wasn't a problem, going south was always an issue. One long Sunday, I had to fly from IAD-GSO (BE1), GSO-CLT (100), CLT-MSY (734), MSY-PNS-TLH (BE1). That was back in the Commutair and Air Midwest Florida Panhandle days.

JP

My most legs in one day were as followed:

ATL-MCO 777-200
MCO-JFK 777-200 (same a/c I flew ATL-MCO on)
JFK-ATL 767-300ER (I barely made this flight, it was the last JFK-ATL flight of the day, and I got the very last seat onboard, thankfully it was in business.)

Now in terms of flight time, the three times I did ATL-PDX-ATL on an MD-11 averaged about 8.5 hours in the air total.

Some I've done on NJ before:

MCI-DAL-MCI-DEN-five hour stay-MCI

MCI-MDW-BUF-stay a day-MDW-MCI

Several MCI-DEN-MCI

MCI-DAL-MCI-MSP-MCI-MDW-MCI

With WN

Several MCI-LAS-MCI

MCI-LAX-LAS-SLC-MCI

With Both

MCI-FLL NJ
ORL-STL-MCI WN

My worst experience was when I was flying for Eagle out of Miami and commuting from Boston. A snow storm had hit he Northeast and my flight was cancelled as we taxied onto the runway. This was a Friday afternoon and they had already cancelled the last flights that night and the first one on Saturday morning. I knew I was screwed as Saturday is cruise day and at the best of times the flights are full. A kindly agent helped me out and suggested I go MIA-LHR-BOS as those were the best options at the time. All flights to DFW/ORD/RDU/BNA and LAX were full and since I worked for Eagle I didn't have cabin jumpseat privilidges. I looked at her like she was nuts but she said that was the best option. I normally wouldn't have cared if I got home or not but it was my nieces Christening and I was the Godfather, I knew my brother would kick my ass if I didn't get home in time.

I flew in first to LHR, cleared customs, went to the checkin area and asked to be put on the list as a D2 through, the agent looked at ME like I was nuts, and said there isn't any connections in LHR, I told her I had just come in from Miami and was going to BOS. She thought that was hysterical and gave me a coach boarding pass. When I was onboard the aircraft I heard my name followed by the dreaded "And, please bring all your belongings with you." I get my stuff, head to the front and there are still plenty of seats so I can't figure what is going on. The door is shut and the purser tells me to take any empty seat in first! The checkin agent had called the gate agent and the gate agent had told the purser of my trials and tribulations.

A few years later I was hired by AA and started flying international and she was the Purser on my first trip on International to London. I told her how much I appreciated what she had done for me, of course she didn't have a clue what I was talking about. As for the agent in MIA I carried around a box of candy for her for 2 weeks until I finally saw her. The wrapup to this story is she was right, I checked Sabre and the first flight I would have made it out on to BOS wasn't until the PM Airbus on Monday night.

I stopped nonreving once I started to fly international, I was going to great places while I was working and the last thing I wanted to do on my days off was head to an airport and get on a plane. The 2 times I have traveled this year I bought tickets, it seems the flights are full and with kids the last thing you want to do is be stuck in an airport away from home.

Mike-BOS

December 1996 I was up in Chicago for Christmas and decided to head out to Madison, WI to have lunch with some friends on the 23rd and fly back that same afternoon. Loads were wide open so I bought my ID90s on UA. We left ORD without a hassle but on approach into MSN it started hailing. Circled for a while and diverted to Des Moines for fuel. Back in the air but MSN is now closed, so we divert to MKE and UA ships us over to MSN by road. Arrive around 3pm, but now my flight back is cancelled 'cos the airport is still shut. Nothing going anywhere. Stay the night at the friend's place in Tomah, WI (about an hour north). Next day the weather still sucks, so we drive out to La Crosse (LSE). I try to get an ID90 for the American Eagle flight down to ORD, but they cancel the inbound due to weather in Chicago now. Finally get an ID90 on Northwest up to MSP where I spend another 6 hours before grabbing an 8pm flight back down to ORD. Got back to my hotel in downtown Chicago just before midnight on the 24th December evening. Whew.

Coming back home from a trip to Finland last April (2002):

Start: 0930 Saturday morning
LH HEL-FRA-LHR (overnight clubbing)
UA LHR-ORD-SEA (overnight in hotel)
UA SEA-PDX-SFO
End: 1335 Monday afternoon

Note to self: Stupid, stupid, stupid... never try and fly domestically on Sunday night 

Kai

Some of my longer non-rev trips. These were more than 20 years ago.

ICT-DFW-JFK-Manchester, England-London-Niarobi
took 3 days on Braniff to JFK, British from JFK to Niarobi
BN 727, BN 727, BA VC-10, BA 747

VIE-ZRH-Toronto-ORD-ICT
Swiss MD-80, Swiss 733, AA 722, AA 722
All in one day

ICT-DFW-JFK-ANC(fuel stop)-Tokyo
BN 727, BN 727, JA DC-8

One of my most memorable non rev trips was going to Hong Kong.

Left Phoenix to Los Angeles on UA exrpess. Flew on UA 124, A mid night flight to ORD. I was seated in 12A on the upper deck. After landing in ORD at 5AM, we spent the day in down town Chicago before going on UA 895 to Hong Kong, in seat 17H upper deck. We stayed in Hong Kong for 3 days before going home. We flew on ANA 912 to NRT. The flight was alot of fun for 20 year olds to be drinking it up. In NRT we then flew to SFO. once again in seat 17H on the upper deck. We got into SFO to find that all the SFO-PHX flights were packed. after missing 3 flights we got desperate. we flew down to LAX. However all LAX-PHX flights were jam packed. Before leaving SFO my friend called his girlfriend in PHX and told her to start driving to Los Angeles!! What a girlfriend eh? an hour later we are on the ground in LAX. We figured for the hell of it we should try for the oversold PHX flight. The gate agent told us that the plane had two seats that had not been checked into yet. 10 minutes left they began paging the missing passengers. 5 minutes before depature the gate agent is looking down the hall way to see if anyone was running to the gate. With a big smile on her face, she said "alright guys... your going home!" Sadly my friends girlfriend was already 2.5 hours into the drive and nearing the california border. That trip still stands as a great memory in all my standby travels!

Just a note, Bryan and I made all of our flights ok. the 7AM FLL-LGB flight ended up going out full, stuck in middles (3E/4E) but workable...

We got to Long Beach to find that SuperShuttle does not have a dispatcher there, so 3 drivers fought over our business... and all 3 tried to overcharge me... one guy wanted $33 a head, another wanted $65 total, etc. Thank God I'm familiar w/ them.

Anyway, flying back was good.. we made it out (and sat together) on the 7AM (SUNDAY mind you) Long Beach - JFK flight, landed at 318PM, ran to gate 7 for a 340PM flight to FLL, and again we got to sit together (woohoo)... 27D & 27 E...

last row is a biatch, but at least we made it home... I think the hardest part of flying on Sunday was the 4 hour drive down the Keys  

-n

One night in PHL I was trying to non-rev on US Airways to PIT, but everything was full. Rather than get a hotel room, I non-revved from PHL-LGW-PIT. I was in England less than an hour, slept in the middle section of coach and got four meals out of it. I would do it again, and almost had to do it tonight!

I love the honor of being a lowly D3.

Heck, if you choose the right flights, you can cruise around the states in first classes as my fiancee and I have done on AA.  


Great anecdotes guys! keep it rocking!

Before 9-11 it was always great to non rev on AC....YYZ to YHZ. It would always come down to one seat left and of course there would be other couples there, but they didn't want to be split up. I would take it because I would sit in the jumpseat up front and my wife would be able to get the first class seat. Happened at least 4 times!! Non rev travel can be fun, but at the same time stressful..thank god for ID-90 with all the other airlines. That has bailed us out too.

The best and funnest one I ever did was ORD-IAD(777-200),IAD-LAX(747-400)
LAX-SNA(EMB-120) overnighted in Orange County then flew SNA-ORD on the competition AA (757-200)

LAX-MSP-DAY for 35 minutes then DAY-MSP-SNA then drove back to LAX cause LAX flt. got cancelled. All in one day. about 4,000 miles

If traveling on a VUSA voucher counts:

Delta Airlines: BUF - SYR - BOS - ACK - BOS - ALB - CVG - SLC

The omelet at Nantucket around noon was great  

Peter

I've actually non-revved twice, and I'm not even an airline employee!!! (I'm in airport management).

Years ago (mid 80's), the trade association that I belong to, the American Association of Airport Executives, had an arrangement with CO. Every year, each paid member would get a space-available freebie voucher to fly anywhere CO flew in the US.

In 1985, I used mine to go from LAX to IAD for AAAE's annual conference, which was in Baltimore. I remember flying a DC-10 from LAX to DEN-Stapleton, then an MD-80 to IAD, and taking the shuttle up to the Hyatt Regency on the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.

Here's where the trip gets wierd. The week that we were in Baltimore, UA's pilots went on strike. Remember, in those days, both CO and UA had hubs at DEN. So, on the day I was to go back to LAX, I got to CO's IAD ticket counter, asked what the chances were of making it home, the agent said, "no way if you go through Denver". So I took the first flight to IAH no problem. Then I tried to get on something like 4 LAX nonstops (all were full). I figured I wasn't going to make it straight home on CO, so I thought "desperate times call for desperate measures". I asked the agent to get me as close to LAX as she could (PHX or LAS). So I got on the next PHX flight (a DC-9 I think). So now I'm at PHX, it's hotter than blazes, and I'm inside WN's cramped T-1 at PHX. I ended buying a cheap ($29 or $39) ticket to LAX, and geeting home to Glendale late that night. I think I was enroute something like 17 hours that day. What a trip!!!

Tom at MSY

I worked for Delta at GSP, and i loved Non rev so much. I flew

GSP to ATL MD-88 DL
ATL to MCO 777-200 DL

MCO to TPA 737-200 DLX
TPA to JFK 737-200 DLX
JFK to ATL MD-11 DL
ATL to GSP 737-800 DL

Left MCO on a Monday morning at 5 AM. Got back to GSP at 3 PM

Some one day trips I took

1. GSP to ATL to SFO DL. Walked around the terminal there and went to
Mickey D's. I ate lunch and hopped a flight back to GSP via ATL
2. GSP to ATL to DCA. Toured the sights of Washington DC in a day by
myself. Came back later that night
3. GSP to ATL to BOS Same thing as above.

If you ever have a chance to work for the airlines, I highly recommend it. It is totally worth it all.

My wife and I tried to non-rev for a trip to Hawaii last year in August from DFW. We missed the 3 non-stops to HNL and OGG on AA. The gate agents told us that we should have flown out of STL as those flights were wide open. I couldn't change my tickets as they were ZED fares and issued on the airline I work for, Korean Air. At that time, our ticket counter is closed at DFW airport and wouldn't open up till Monday or Tuesday. So, my wife and I also had back-up tickets on CO. I decide that we will be better off trying to get to Hawaii from LAX instead of DFW. We flew on CO from DFW to LAX via IAH on CO. When we get to LAX, I had to go to the KE ticket counter and get my tickets exchanged for LAX to HNL. By then it is about 9.00 p.m. or so. Sunday morning comes around and we miss all the flights the entire day to Hawaii on AA. They were down to 1 seat on the flight to Kona I believe but we wouldn't split up. Also, AA had just started service to Kauai out of LAX, but it was black-listed and we couldn't get on it, either.

So I call my friend from HA and she tells us to meet her at SFO Airport the next day. On that Sunday night, we flew from LAX to SJC on WN, I had a pass, my wife had to buy a ticket. We then caught a bus over to a hotel nearby SFO Airport. The next day I meet my HA friend and she gives us two passes to HNL on HA. We "barely" make the flight on the 767.

After two days in HNL, it is now time to non-rev between HNL and OGG. We miss 4 flights and end up missing our Luau in Maui that night. We were able to reschedule that though.

On the return trip, we fly from OGG to SEA on HA 767 and it gets in about 11.30 p.m. CO has a flight from SEA to IAH at 12.30 am. We miss that flight due to CO cancelling their flights out of ANC due to a mechanical I believe and all these cruise passengers are now funnelling through SEA instead. So, Monday morning rolls around and we miss all the flights that day on CO. We make friends with some other non-revs while hanging out at the President's Club and we all decide to go into downtown SEA since the next flight doesn't depart till 12.30 am, again.......at 12.30 am, I am the ONLY one of our group of 4 who gets on. I was on a business pass   !! My wife and the other couple have to spend another night in SEA and they "finally" get home the next day.

We I arrive back into DFW, I hurry back home to change clothes and luggage as I am supposed to be in IAH on sales calls. I go back out to the airport and try and catch the 12.30 pm departure out of DFW to IAH. It is a ERJ instead of a big plane and I get bumped !! So I catch the 1.45 pm flight. Well due to weather in IAH, we wait on the taxiiway at DFW till about 3.20 pm and then we finally fly to IAH. I get into IAH about 4.30 p.m.

Dead tired..........

We are going to Hawaii again in 2004. Do you think we will go non-rev

HELL NO !! We are buying tickets !!


Jay