I hope my buddy Adam doesn’t read this post or doesn’t mind a post inspired by his dispair…
A few weeks ago Adam asked “why wouldn’t someone who is so bent on traveling just work at an airline?” Maybe he doesn’t know how this works but perhaps I can explain it a little better…
People who work at the airlines work 40 hours a week and after months of work they take a nearly free trip on standby. They still pay for the hotel. And probably don’t get lounge access.
OR you could apply for a good credit card and read one “best use” blog post on the frequent flyer program and probably get the same trip. Ya know, except not on standby.
Maybe Adam has never seen how long the credit card applications are. They aren’t that long. Not 40 hours a week for months long.
Well not to kick a man while he’s down but Adam took a week off for vacation and he and his wife were going to meet in Mexico. His parents work for the airline and got him a good deal on standby tickets. A storm came and flights were delayed and long story short, they couldn’t get a seat and stayed state-side.
I’ve got a parallel story. Caroline and I were going to fly down to Santiago, Chile to meet a friend there. Well, first the three of us went to New York and then he flew down first and we flew out the morning after. That night it stormed like the dickens. And he was on a ticket I got him using miles? What happened to his seat because of the storm?
Nothing. His Business Class seat was secured using miles and he was having steak and wine on the way down after the rather long delay.
So Adam conceded the other day, “Yeah, standby sucks”. True, but that is just one reason why frequent flyer mile collecting is far superior to airline (and hotel) employee discounts. Employees sometimes only have to pay 10% of a flight, sometimes better sometimes worse. This pay sound like a good idea but it’s not the best idea for someone who is travel hungry.
Here are 7 reasons why I say miles are superior to employee travel discounts:
7) I like to travel for more than a day. One time we were flying Cathay Pacific (First Class) and honestly spent the entire time chatting with the flight attendants. All two of em. And we were the only two first-class passengers. Anyways, the one flight attendant had been working there for years and in her off time had gotten to visit 20 countries. Pretty impressive. However, it turns out that she rarely had more than a day or two. It’s all too common that the people working for the airline don’t actually get the time off to travel. I guess they lose the travel perks if they work part time?
6) See more with less. Have you read the post in the “stopovers” category? The tickets you can route are incredible. Seeing multiple countries on one ticket it as easy as calling for some airlines. Who would want to risk getting from place to place on standby?
5) Lounge access. If you fly a lot the airport can be a miserable place or quite delightful if you have access to a nice lounge. This is a very minor point but a valid one none the less. Same in hotels too. Having status (even if only from promos or a credit card) might mean that I have access to the lounge, with free meals and an upgraded room.
4) Hotels. Room and board is a part of travel too. People in this hobby can and generally do earn both miles and hotel points. Even if the airline employee can get to the destination the same, they’ll be paying a lot more if they stay in similar hotels.
3) Time. If the goal is free/cheaper travel, there is no comparing the two. The benefits of free travel for airline employees come after slaving away on the tarmac for 40+ hours a week. The other comes from responsible spending and watching for deals. Even if you just signed up and read our twice a month newsletter, you could earn a similar amount of free travel as working for the airline. I’m sure of it.
2) Money. From what I’ve read, the airlines that give the best travel benefits, have worse pay. You’re not saving money on travel, your getting paid less with the “benefit” of free travel. It makes sense for the airline but not much for the employee. Taking better pay elsewhere and spending your time learning the frequent flyer mile system could result in more money and more travel.
1) Ease of mind vs. Standby. Standby means that if seats are unsold, the employee can then board the plane. If the flight is full, or if there are people ahead of you on the standby list, you wait and hope for the next flight to be empty. Sometimes in a situation like a family emergency, you may be given a pass that makes you a higher priority standby… but it’s still standby. All paying customers have to clear. Passengers paying with miles are guaranteed a seat. It’s plain and simple.
I could go on and on about how stressful standby can be. I’ve known people who were waiting at the airport for days trying to get tickets to Europe. If you’ve done this once, and you know there’s another way… why keep doing it? Cut your losses and invest in traveling better in the future.
I could have made the list 1 point.
“The 1 reason to not work for the airline:
Standby”…
Seriously. I’m the most flexible person I know, but I also like getting to where I want to go.
I’d be curious if anyone has worked for an airline or had an experience with standby or on buddy passes to prove me wrong or confirm my assumptions.
I agree with you stand by sucks, but it’s still a discounted flight and usually in business/first because they tend not to sell out as fast as coach. I don’t work for the airlines, but my girlfriends step father works for delta. He works part time, so he has more time to travel. The way I travel is to use the buddy pass on Delta since its points aren’t worth that much and focus on collecting AA, UA and BA miles. That way I cover all Alliance groups. Not sure how much other airlines pay, but my girlfriend’s mom pays less than $100 to go from HNL to NRT. Getting a flight also depends on your home airport. My advice would be, if you are going to work for an airline, do it part time granted your home airport has good availability. Focus on hotel programs instead of splitting spending on hotel and airlines. Also have a back up plan just in case things to don’t work out on standby, like rerouting.
My best friend worked for air Canada. We were very excited in the beginning because she can bring up to 4 people to fly with her anywhere in the world for free. So we were discussing some remote place with expensive tickets. Only after a while she realize about the standby issue-all the people who are more senior than her will be on the waiting list before her. She scheduled a few trips with time off all end up not going anywhere-almost everytime but once she ended up visiting NYC. So standby sucks and miles are better!
I work for an airline. Granted at this moment, I used to work for a better airline in terms of employee travel, but when we even out the kinks I think it will be back to what it used to be.
1. I very, very rarely get stuck and I have nominal seniority compared to most of the company. I have the ability to see boarding totals and available seats – I don’t just wing it.
2. I can change my plans at the drop of a dime, no hassel, no fees, no questions. This of course not only comes in handy when I want to extend that vacation a few days, but also to prevent getting stuck in economy. London first class full? I can go to Manchester, or maybe Frankfurt and hop on a european carrier at 10% of their regular fare. Because I never fly out of the states without being in first class.
3. I get 4-6 weeks vacation just like everyone else. And I am somewhere else in the world on all of those vacations.
4. My hours/days are very, very easily traded so when I want to impress a new girlfriend/boyfriend, I simply say, grab an overnight bag….we are ditching the east coast and having dinner in San Diego tonight!
5. I get extremely good discounts on hotels/theme parks/rental cars/etc. and I generally cannot beat any of those prices with my hotel club points/perks ( I belong to all of them) nor my travel rewards card.
6. I have a credit card endorsed by my company which affords me club passes, and miles for my purchases (not my flights obviously) but I had enough banked up to help me out of a destination my carrier doesnt fly to, on a carrier we have alliance with, but no employee travel agreement (weird)
I would say I agree with you the pay is not the best, but its not the worst either. Ease of mind is not something that comes lightly, but stand-by is far from difficult to master. I frankly wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I’m curious as to which airline you work for, as if this is something a reader is thinking bout I do believe the airline makes a difference in how good the benefits actually are. Or rather how usable they are.
It does sounds like you also have access/know the system better than most.
4-6 weeks is very good.
I am award of the airline discounts for hotels and would not be interested in it. Even if it were 50% off (which it isn’t), I would rather pay points and stay at nicer hotels.
The author of this article does not know one thing about the airline industry and never should have written this article. To answer your question, employees of United, Delta and American can sit in first class whenever they please. Its next to impossible to get domestically, but internationally its a breeze. You actually get bummed out when you get bumped back to business.
Points are not ever a FRACTION as good as flight benefits. I love points like the next person, but again, the author simply doesn’t get it. I took my mom, dad and brother down to Australia and back. That would have been close to 250,000 points x4 = 1 million points. The next month, we spent a long weekend in Hong Kong. Of course, that would have been another million frequent flyer points since we chose to sit in First Class.
If you never travel, then the benefits are not worth it, but if you frequently travel, points can’t touch airline benefits. Just those 8 tickets in first would have cost between $150K and $200K dollars if we were buying the tickets, and I was only into month two of the year. (at that time Australia was $26,500 per seat in F).
Once you learn and understand the system, its a walk in the park and you never get bumped. Those that do simply don’t understand the system.
Stand by is complicated fun and frustrating. I’ve had good and awful experiences altogether . Unhappiest travel is on Alitalia. Giving them credit I’ve had really good people that have helped me out but the end experience has been excruciating. Love Lufthansa, British, JetBlue, Virgin . Stand by surely can be a hassle and unpredictable but the end price has worked out quite well. I have been able to go home from USA twice/year since working for the airlines and before that was once in three/four years. I am grateful for that but I have had some bad bad experiences and all of it has been on Alitalia whether a full fair ticket or standby. Having a purchased ticket is best obviously if you have the money for it.
Gonna have to strongly disagree with almost your entire post based on the following reasons:
1. I’ve never had to cancel plans because I couldn’t get on standby, just takes some planning and alternate routes if one falls through.
2. I don’t pay for hotels…AT ALL. I’ve stayed in The Gritti Palace and The Danieli in Venice, Luxury resorts all over the world, Westins, St. Regis, Le Meridien’s and more….all for free. Part of an incentive program available based on performance through my position with the airline allows me to earn free hotel stays, and I excel at it purposely for this reason. Some of these hotel suites, like the ones in Italy this year, were upgraded that would have costs thousands of dollars a night in some cases. As often as I travel and stay in hotels I’ve earned elite status that gets me great upgrades in some of the nicest hotels….for free.
3. Getting time of from work, not including my paid vacation, has never been easier than with my airline job. Everyone wants to trade, you can always find someone who wants to trade and it makes it very easy to pick up some shifts, work some weeks with one or no days off to get two weeks off whenever I want to go somewhere, all without giving up any pay because I traded the shifts and not gave them away or sacrificed them.
4. Flying first class domestically is rare, flying business class internationally is close to guaranteed, even with my my young seniority, It just requires some planning.
I think if someone is getting an airline job strictly for the travel benefits, it pays for them to choose strategically. Additionally once I got my foot in the door, I explored and examined all the perks and benefits available, and exploited them to my advantage. I work with many people who constantly ask me how I can afford to travel as much as I do. I tell them, they know how to do it, I give them advice….but they don’t put in the work required to maximize their perks. When my company offers incentives, prizes, contests or anything that can get me free hotels, car rentals, gift cards, or anything I can use while traveling to reduce or nullify my expenses….I’m on it and I’m busting my balls to get it.
Take advantage of the perks and benefits, find discount programs, contests and promotions, learn the strategies of standby and ALWAYS have backup plans and alternate routes, and you can travel the world for next to nothing to your heart’s content.
I realize this is a very old post, but I just stumbled across it as I am doing some research on getting an airline job. I am a 21 year old Senior in college studying graphic design, while working two jobs total ~45 hours per week. I am based in Boston so it would probably be Logan Airport that I would be able to work at. I am super interested in what you had to say, and if you have any tips for someone looking into entering the business, as well as what airline you work(ed) for. If you don’t want to post that here I can drop you an email address.
I know you posted this reply a year ago and I’m not the original person you replied to, but I would highly suggest American due to the flight benefits are first come, first serve – meaning your seniority doesn’t matter when you fly. If you can’t get on with American, Envoy is 100% owned by American and they pay is horrible (warning you ahead of time) but you get the exact same flight benefits as an American or former US Air employee does.
I grew up and plan to be part of the airlines again. The author of this article and “buddies” (S4) have no clue what they’re doing or how it works. Ironically, despite being above 18, I can have my benefits till’ I am 26 :D. Here’s How Standby Really Works:
The standby list is listed by priority and usually everyone on it gets on the flight or is gnawing their nails waiting to be cleared. For Delta the priorities are listed as follows in order of priority to be cleared:
Rev. – Paying passengers (They’re already confirmed and once checked in are off the list; If they don’t show up seats are open) Often, I don’t see this on the list but more listings.
More-over, the non-revs (me), are listed below:
HK- Miss-connects, Rollover Passengers
UP [1,2,3,4…] – The upgraders, come on guys you are the ones taking my place in first class 😛
S1A – Emergency Travel
S1B Priority Exec. Travel (I believe)
S2 – Vacation Pass/Priority Pass
S3 – Normal [Active] employee
S3B – Retiree, Easy Out (Me)
S3C – Non mainline Delta Carriers (ex. Skywest)
S3CR- Independant (alone) minors (15+)
S4 – Buddy Pass (Not free about 25-50% off) You guys will have trouble getting on flights as your on the bottom of the list.
Now, almost always, there is space on the plane, time after time, my father and I would take the last two seats in First Class 😀 from Minneapolis to Orlando. Because, who pays for it? Flying intercontinental or international, practically guarantee me first class and often would moan because I wasn’t in 1st class and in a way still do; However, Delta recently did a complete over haul of their international/intercontinental jets, the economy/economy comfort seats are sooo much better and very impressive.
-Booking and Interlining-
To book travel net is slick and shows in depth listings and I can re-book on to another flight w/ about 2 or so clicks.
The funny thing is that I take some trips where I fly in in the morning and by the end of the day leave. When-ever, I am craving something, I can just hit the airport, get there in style, and have something awesome! Also, when it comes to tourism, we have discounts to everything, when it comes to a priority line/checkpoint at security, or up to 40% off select hotels. <- very select often about 10-20% off. Oh, by the way if you pay for clear we have a higher priority then you in the line, and don't pay, but get paid for it. If your not a gate agent or flight attendant, there's nothing much to complain about, other than not the best wages. So you buddies can complain, but for us non-revs who have done the drill it's not that hard.
Thank you, your time and loyalty is highly appreciated from the entire delta family. Please enjoy reading the other experienced non-revs comments and we hope you will see you again in a reply to this comment. Goodbye!
Working for the airline isnt too bad.
Points to consider:
1) They hire Part time Employees (15 hour weeks for flight benefits? not to mention health/dental for part time).
2) Depending on what airline you work for, standby isn’t so bad. Us Airways (Never), Jetblue (They Dont overbook so why not)
3) Pay Sucks, So get a regular 9-5 and travel without the worries of $$
4) Best Solutions: Use Points for hotels and flights will be free. Airline Employees overall have access to other airline networks. So If your on a buddy pass, that sucks for you. Cause as an employee, you are free to jump on most other airlines whenever you want.
Hope that helps.
Benefits are good, as long as you know how to compliment them :p
If you travel standby, it’s all about knowing the system and having a backup plan. Customer Service Agents have the best knowledge when it comes to flying standby. They know the totals and availability and they know countless routing methods. Points will only take you so far unless you’re a road warrior. And even then, you’re so busy traveling that you don’t have the opportunity to enjoy those collected miles. Flying standby can be a real hassle if you’re not prepared. But it can be awesome when you know the system. First Class, Business? who doesn’t like that.
My husband just went to work as a first officer with United. How do you get points? I was under the impression we get no points since we basically fly free. Are there tips you all can share.
Thanks
Lana
I know this is old, but for future readers that is correct, non-revs do not collect airline points. You would have to sign up for a credit card that offers rewards points, charge as much as you can to rack up points and cash them out for hotels/flights if you get stuck somewhere.
My husband is a Delta employee. He works 4 days per week. I have flown a lot and never even gotten bumped. He can travel on his days off and can get additional days off by getting someone to cover his shifts which is not a problem at all. The college kids are always looking for more hours.
I’m a flight attendant and I work 80 hours in a MONTH. That’s full time! I have a lot of time to travel on my passes.
We even get a certain number of executive class passes a year so we can sit up there in the pods for free. We get passes on many other airlines, discounts off hotels, car rentals, etc.
I get full health and dental benefits, and make more than a lot of my friends with 40 hour/week jobs, and this is just working 3 times a month (I fly the Asian routes).
Flying standby really isn’t bad, I’ve been able to go somewhere once a month, every month for fun. You really should try not writing about something you know nothing about!
Everything you wrote about flying on points is true. It is confirmed travel, free flights in business/first and lounge access. Problem is, you can only take a trip like that MAYBE once a year (depending on your spending habits and how many points you accrue). Most likely longer. We use a credit card that is rated best for travel benefits in most reviews – we charge as many of our expenses that we can to earn points/miles and pay our bill at the end of the month to avoid interest charges. For two tickets in first class to an international destination, it would probably take (us personally) at least two years to earn the required points for those kinds of tickets, and then we would be completely draining our points balance and starting all over.
I now work for an airline, yes the pay is not good but the way I think of it is I am not working for the money, I am working for the flight benefits. I am in a position where I am not the primary income in the family so it works out for us – I know it wouldn’t for everyone. We have free lounge access to airports throughout the world through our credit card, for which we pay a VERY nominal annual fee. We are able to accrue points for hotels and as a back-up for flights in case we get “stuck” somewhere flying non-rev. As many others already mentioned, this doesn’t usually happen when travelling overseas. We are able to travel SO much more than we used to. We love to travel and used to travel mostly on points, but would also take road trips domestically or pay full fare for maybe one or two round-trip trips per year. We would only take maybe 3-4 trips a year before I worked in the airlines, and on our budget that was basically limited to domestic travel. Now we take a trip on average once a month! And are not limited to seeing the US but can consider going practically anywhere in the world for our next trip. Our only real restriction now is co-coordinating our time off from work.
Although this article is over 2 years old I can’t help but comment. My wife has been a flight attendant for a legacy US carrier for the past 2 years and the benefits we’ve had have been incredible. We’ve been to Europe multiple times, Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Alaska, at least 10 other US cities, and have been in Business class for every international trip. We have never payed more than about $80 in taxes for any trip. We also have standby priority on MANY other airlines across the world, which adds even more to the flexibility. While yes it can be stressful at times not knowing for sure if you’re going to get on a flight, but anyone that’s smart can figure out alternative routes and make sure you get where you’re going. Since I don’t have to focus my spending to gather airline miles, I’m able to maximize other credit card spend to cover my hotels and other various expenses. While it would be nice to have millions of miles to fly around the world, I would never have the time to accumulate anywhere near enough miles in a lifetime to go where I’ve already gone in 2 years. The only thing that limits us from traveling more is my “regular” 9-5 job.
Once again sorry to revive an old post, but I couldn’t help but comment to make it clear that airline employee discounts surely do not “suck” in the least. Maybe too many people with “buddy passes” have told their horror stories, but for the most part airline benefits are better than anything I could ever have hoped for.
I work for an airline and I would NEVER give my benefits up.. as long as you know your stuff, you rarely get stuck. Sure, bad weather can happen, and you can get stuck, but guess what? You have a thousand other routes you can take to get there. Also, we don’t just get “one” week off. I have been out of the Country over 15 times just in the last year for leisure alone.
Appreciate all the comments here, long after the original post. Wish Drew would revisit this post — and perhaps come down of his oh-so-sure disposition that employee (and family) flight benefits “suck.”
Happens my son recently took on a part time job with Delta…. while the hourly pay may “suck,” (for those who persist with the middle school diction) the benefits are, from everything I’ve been reading, incredible…. (and we’ll be benefiting too….)
On the other end, recently wasted 25k of amex/Delta miles for what should have been a great trip out west… for two. Problem is, with Delta, you CAN”T cancel or change your award travel without forking over outrageous fees. (yes, we got spoiled by years flying Southwest)
now THAT “sucks.”
Hello, I wish that an employee of any airline could assist me and my wife with 2 airline employee discounts so that we could go to rome Italy, I hope we have been married 35 years and I would like to surprise her, reside in Canada
I have to agree with the other Airline employees. Though I am not an employee myself, I am the son of one, and have been flying standby for more than 20 years (I am over 30, but the airlines offers 10 travel vouchers a year for other people).
I have only ever been stuck for a day, once, on a trip to Bangkok in the winter.
As someone already mentioned, you can choose and pick dates where flights are not full. The airline for which my mother used to work pastime for (now retired, and sill revives benefits) also has a prognosis depicting the eventual booking, and how many free seats are expected in which class.
Not being able to go in to a lounge is unfortunate, but Its still worth it. “Sucks” is most certainly not the term for this.