OMG! CAL Buddy Passes now $250

[Pocono Pilot]

What a giant ripoff. Can CAL do anything else to screw their employees????

I guess I will tell my friends to buy a ticket on Southwest instead of using one of my buddy passes. LOL

 

[Bdfg1]

As I understand it, the current policy only applies to you.

See ya!

 

[Thedude]

Non-rev, the oxy-moron of the decade.

 

[erj-145mech]

Buddy passes are NOT for emplyees. He's not screwing the employees, he's screwing the travelling public.

 

[EMBpilot]

So if you want to help your friend to get to say a funeral he needs to pay $250 for the buddy pass he gets from you? Did I get it right?

Indeed a lot of money. I wish it was unlimited and free.

 

[MILF Hunter]

It would be interesting to see how much money CAL makes off its employees.

Is it still $12.50 per leg to sit in the back for employees with less than 10 years?

 

[MJG]

Just curious, what do other airlines charge for their buddy passes? Back in the day, CAL only charged $25 each way + tax. That actually made them something that you could "give" to your friends and family, a true airline perk. Not so any longer.

 

[Hutchman]

I was going to get two of my high school friends down to CUN from ORD next month. Now it will cost them $475 each round trip to NON REV on my buddy passes. Full fare tickets are $500-$600. What a bad time for the change. They now have less than a month to make alternate plans and fares have gone way up in the last 2 months. Thanks CAL!

 

[Hutchman]

Thank you Delta! I just got a round trip ORD-CUN next month for $417.30 including all taxes. That is more than $50 cheaper than a stby buddy pass from CAL.

 

[V1rowt8]

Mech, Actually the buddy passes are for employees. The buddy passes were offered to me as one of the "benefits" of my employment. Yes employees don't use them for personal use but they were used for friends and family. Since CAL has increased the fee to $250 per round trip, my "benefits" have been reduced, diminished. It is not surprising that the current CAL management made this poor decision based on their track record on how they handle employee relations.

 

[scarlet]

CAL passes have always SUCKED !!

At Airtran 32.50 one way=does not matter where you go in the system !!

They are for employees if you want a friend to go with you somewhere.

That crap they feed you that the taxes and fees cost the airline is a LIE!! CAL pass office screws the employees even with companion travel, by including it as part of the employees income, so tax time, you have to pay tax on the money !!! So yes it does screw the employee BIG TIME.

 

[fencitup]

Gone are the days when...

 

[Uncle Bunkle]

Gone are the days when...

Little girls like Pokaho Pilot were back in the kitchen where they belonged.
Hey Pocono: Why don't you worry about your crappy little XJT! You're still pissed that you're not at CAL I see...

 

[Skybus]

Years ago I attempted to use an ID90 to Bali on CO. The price.....$640. I could not friggin believe it. FULL Y fare was $1200 and they claimed that ID90 was over half the price of a Y fare. I ended up on Garuda for FREE. Thats what an airline perk is supposed to look like.

 

[bizicmo]

So if you want to help your friend to get to say a funeral he needs to pay $250 for the buddy pass he gets from you? Did I get it right?

Indeed a lot of money. I wish it was unlimited and free.

Thought you said help your friend get there. How is sending someone space available helping them? If you were a real friend you would buy a real ticket.

 

[Lear70]

Thought you said help your friend get there. How is sending someone space available helping them? If you were a real friend you would buy a real ticket.

And with your VAST airline experience, you would know how companion passes have worked in decades past and what they were originally intended to be?

$250 is highway robbery for a companion pass. Thought it was typical Pocono regional pilot wonder flower child flaming going on when I first read this.

The raping of airline employees will continue until morale improves or degrades enough for even SJS wunderkids to find a different career.

 

[scarlet]

No it is true. CAL does some fuzzy math when it comes to buddy passes and companion fees.

I was there 9 years. Took personal leaves for several years, but had a companion which still traveled. At the end of the year I would get w-2
for their travel, as they were filing it as income earned. I had to pay taxes on this money.=WRONG

 

[Rebel]

In comparison, JetBlue charges $25 each leg for a buddy pass, plus taxes.

 

[MILF Hunter]

No it is true. CAL does some fuzzy math when it comes to buddy passes and companion fees.

I was there 9 years. Took personal leaves for several years, but had a companion which still traveled. At the end of the year I would get w-2
for their travel, as they were filing it as income earned. I had to pay taxes on this money.=WRONG

If they show it as income on your w2 does CAL report it somewhere? You would think it would be another tool for your contract. Has CAL ALPA addressed this?

 

[Mike man]

Thought you said help your friend get there. How is sending someone space available helping them? If you were a real friend you would buy a real ticket.

Mr. Bizicmo, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Plus if you were a true friend to aviation you would not be a Gulfstream.

 

[bizicmo]

And with your VAST airline experience, you would know how companion passes have worked in decades past and what they were originally intended to be?

$250 is highway robbery for a companion pass. Thought it was typical Pocono regional pilot wonder flower child flaming going on when I first read this.

The raping of airline employees will continue until morale improves or degrades enough for even SJS wunderkids to find a different career.

My family has been involved with the airlines for over 30 years. I have used buddy passes in the past. And lastly that post was some what of a sarcastic joke. But honestly if someone had to be somewhere I would recommend using anything other than a buddy pass. Now that aircraft loads are much higher then in the past it almost doesn't matter what the cost buddy pass are, they aren't worth it.

 

[bizicmo]

Mr. Bizicmo, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Plus if you were a true friend to aviation you would not be a Gulfstream.

Thank you for responding to the "most insanely idiotic thing you have ever heard." I'm not sure where that puts you post. I don't work at Gulfstream. Actually I never worked at Gulfstream. Maybe one day I will update my profile from when I first signed on to flightinfo.

 

[bizicmo]

Mr. Bizicmo, what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Plus if you were a true friend to aviation you would not be a Gulfstream.

Plus if you were a true friend to aviation you would not be working at Skybus or Virgin America.

 

[Lear70]

My family has been involved with the airlines for over 30 years. I have used buddy passes in the past. And lastly that post was some what of a sarcastic joke.

I don't think anyone else got it either, maybe a wink or a smiley face or something would help get that across.

But honestly if someone had to be somewhere I would recommend using anything other than a buddy pass.

True. It was easy the last 5 years or so, tickets were so cheap you could almost buy a buddy pass for the same price if you planned ahead. Can't do that anymore, really...

So, if your "friend" can't afford the $300-500 revenue ticket and you don't have the money to loan him/her for it, the buddy pass USED to be their best option. At $250 bucks I think it just died. Next thing, they'll want to negotiate it out of the contract since so few people are using them, and give the CAL pilots nothing for it in return (seen this tactic before; it's slow, it's methodical, and it's diabolical because the pilot group can't remember how good they used to be if it's done slowly over time).

Now that aircraft loads are much higher then in the past it almost doesn't matter what the cost buddy pass are, they aren't worth it.

True, but as one person on FI said last month, "If you're too stupid to figure out how to successfully non-rev, you don't deserve the privilege" or something to that effect.

You may have to take a red-eye or 0530 a.m. flight and connect twice, but you can almost always get where you need to be... Been doing it for 27 years...

 

[Motive Flow]

In comparison, JetBlue charges $25 each leg for a buddy pass, plus taxes.

Yeah, but you have to sit in the lav.

 

[bizicmo]

True, but as one person on FI said last month, "If you're too stupid to figure out how to successfully non-rev, you don't deserve the privilege" or something to that effect.

You may have to take a red-eye or 0530 a.m. flight and connect twice, but you can almost always get where you need to be... Been doing it for 27 years...

I guess I was thinking about my friends who are not in the airline industry asking for a buddy pass. They would beat the crap out of me if they went through the non-rev game. They would just be impatient with the it. If someone is unfamiliar with the game they would probably be disappointed. I just think of my last commute to work when 4 hours prior to departure there were 57 open seats with 14 non-revs. When the flight left 10 non-revs were left behind. Two of us were in the cockpit jumpseats and two were in the flight attendant jumpseats. I understand how that happened but I don't think the non aviation friend would deal very well with that.

 

[bizicmo]

So, if your "friend" can't afford the $300-500 revenue ticket and you don't have the money to loan him/her for it, the buddy pass USED to be their best option. At $250 bucks I think it just died.

This isn't an attack against you or your friends. I repeat this isn't an attack against you or your friends. Honestly if someone needs to be somewhere $300-$500 ticket is not a deal breaker. Can you honestly say that you or any of your friends don't have at least $500 in your bank account? And that $500 dollars isn't associated with this months rent/car/necessity payment. You may not want to pay it but you can. I guess I think air travel is a priveledge(spelling) not a right, especially for the non-employees. And that it shouldn't be at the companies expense. I guess technically I don't know what the break even cost of a seat is, however it seems like they aren't charging enough for the normal paying passenger right now. blah blah blah ramble ramble ramble I don't know where I'm going with this.

 

[McNugget]

stopwith the fu@#ing Billy Madison movie line.

That and I just spit "insert beverage" out of my nose from laughing are used WAY TOO MUCH on flightinfo.

 

[Lear70]

Didn't see Billy Madison... which line is it that has you so perturbed?

And it's none of your business whether someone or their friends has a spare $500 bucks, that's not the point. I'm not taking it as a personal attack either, I'm taking it that you don't understand the core issue:

The POINT is that a company should NOT be using a NON-REVENUE companion pass TO GENERATE REVENUE... What part of that is hard to understand?

This, along with about a hundred other things that have gone downhill in this career, are just the signs that the airline industry is a poor shadow of its former self, and people just keep putting up with it...

 

[aussiefly]

Non-Rev privleges and buddy passes are part of our overall compensation. Take them away...or make them what is basically revenue tickets....then I WANT more money.

some people in this thread are forgetting that they are literally part of your compensation package.