Don’t Fly Cross-Country on Standby Tickets With Kids During the Summer When You’re Broke

NYC Aviation ^ | August 22, 2012 | Matt Molnar

[HamiltonJay]

I did the buddy pass thing 1 time on delta, my layover wasn’t this extreme but the price of the tickets was hardly next to nothing.. in fact it was barely cheaper than what I could have gotten bonafide fairs on JetBlue or Southwest for. After that 1 experience I opted against Buddy Passes from that point on.

[I still care]

LOL. We went to Disney with no money (we had a family pass, gifted to us) and then found we couldn’t get in the gate, because we didn’t have money for the parking!

We thought the gate was $7 but they had raised it to $10. They kept saying, “You came to Disney with NO money?” After a search through the car cushions, they had pity and let us in. We had a pretty good time.

Sometimes, when you have no cash, you just let the adventure happen.

[UCANSEE2]

What I want to know is did they have pass through a TSA inspection each time they tried to get on a plane ?

[ponygirl]

The thing most non-industry buddy-pass flyers don't understand is that the non-rev system is tiered with some airlines. So just because they've been stuck there for 6 days does not mean they will ever get any closer to the top of the list. At the airline I used to work for, it was NR-5, NR-6, NR-7 and NR-8. Within each category, the traveler is selected by the company seniority. NR-5 were traveling on company business. NR-6 were the retirees (this has since changed). NR-7 were active employees. NR-8 were buddy passes. So if you are an NR-8 and your friend's seniority number is August 2011, you are pretty much at the bottom of the NR-8 list. And even if you've been there waiting for a flight every day for a month, anybody who is a NR-7 and shows up is always going to be ahead of you.

And Salt Lake is horrible to pass ride out of... so many employee commuters live there and everyone has a huge family with 6 children.

[ponygirl]

And one other thing I didn’t mention... if they knew how to work the system, they would have tried to get to a different airport, like to the West Coast or Denver or somewhere that they had more options. I once had to fly to Brussels to get to London before I could get to Berlin because the DC to London flight was cancelled. You have to be creative.

[allmendream]

And the morons were waiting for four seats? One parent and one child could have flown out. Poor AND stupid.

[ridesthemiles]

IF you are that POOR, you should NOT be flying anywhere at all.

Senseless gamble. Busy season.

Airlines do not owe them a thing!!!

[I still care]

Getting in a plane and going far away from home with no money in your pocket and a bunch of kids is reckless.

[nascarnation]

IF you are that POOR, you should NOT be flying anywhere at all.

A recent local tv analysis of Indiana EBT/TANF card swipes shows a surprising number in Vegas, Disney (Fl and Ca), Puerto Rico, and even Hawaii.

[ContraryMary]

What moron flies standby with kids?! Expecially a 4-year-old!

I remember we were in Montana one year many years ago visiting my in-laws when Northwest went on strike. We had to take whatever the other airlines had available. We split up -- I took our daughter and hubby took our four-year-old son -- so that we could get home in time for our daughter to start school.