ASA flight benefits?

[hou757]

ASA guys/gals, mind sharing what your current flight benefits are with DAL?

Thnx..

 

[damnflyboy]

-Pay upwards of $200/year to basically keep you and your pass riders in the database (when DL employees pay $50).
-Lower priority than a DL retiree and/or parent of DL employee.
-Buddy Pass riders and travel companions pay yield.
-Can't use "priority listing" for mainline flights.

We do, however, get priority on our own aircraft (S2's)

In short, unless you can ride jumpseat...walk.

 

[Metro752]

Why do you have to pay at all? That is insane.

 

[COOPERVANE]

Flight benefits are really no longer a "benefit"

 

[hou757]

How does the yield fare work?

 

[GeekMaster]

For those of us who actually use them and use them ALOT,

You pay the annual fee. It varies depending on whether your single or have a family.
You get UNLIMITED FREE domestic privileges. There are no mileage or usage fees.
You get more international segments than most people use in a year's time. There is a fee, but it's very reasonable. Some cities are more expensive than others. Example: coming home from Amsterdam to Atlanta is a little pricy at 50 dollars, but you are eligible to ride in First/Business. Yes you can get business if you're flexible on which days you travel. Other cities are quite cheap. JFK to Venice cost me a whopping 54 cents. Got first/business there too.

I've traveled worldwide with them. There is a learning process. IT IS STANDBY !!! You do learn to look at the loads well in advance and always make back up plans.

As for domestic; same deal but unlimited and free. Just watch the loads.

If you listen to the guys on this board who scream about how bad things are no matter what you give them, you'll never be happy about anything.

Hope that helps.

 

[GeekMaster]

As for yield fare, we use the ZED system. It's also great. Works on pretty much all the major airlines. Emirates from Houston to Dubai was 125 dollars. KLM from Dubai to Amsterdam was 80 dollars.

The list of carriers is too long to list. Pretty much all of them except the deep cutters like Ryanair and Easyjet.

 

[hou757]

Thanks guys.... Do ya'll offer travel companion? Finally do the Delta folks get UAL benefits and vice versa?

 

[GeekMaster]

Yes you get travel companions. I think its 6 per year. They ride on a lower priority, so that's one area I "would" advise caution. If the companion doesn't understand the standby system, they could be in for a long trip. If they are travelling with you, it's ok. If it YOUR personal companion in lieu of marriage, they get unlimited domestic, etc.

As for UAL benefits, you can choose to get those too. It's another annual fee and the priority is similar. I think there is a small mileage fee with them, but not sure. I don't use them very much.

 

[hou757]

Geek.. You are awesome. Thanks for the info!

 

[SiuDude]

You get more international segments than most people use in a year's time. There is a fee, but it's very reasonable.

We get 6 transoceanic segments. Yes it's more than most people use, but we used to get 18.
Also there is no fee for international travel. You just have to pay the taxes (LHR to ATL is around $160, while FCO to ATL is around $40).

 

[JoeMerchant]

Just to add...ASA and SKYW were the ONLY DCI carriers to keep priority on our own equipment thanks to Jerry and SKYW Inc....They negotiated something that no other DCI did...not even wholly owned CMR.

If you ride on ASA, you have priority over DAL employees as it should be...

 

[Cpt Oveur]

We get 6 transoceanic segments. Yes it's more than most people use, but we used to get 18.
Also there is no fee for international travel. You just have to pay the taxes (LHR to ATL is around $160, while FCO to ATL is around $40).

Yes, but the taxes are collected by the airline and passed directly to the government. The airline does not keep that money.

 

[Flyer1015]

Man you guys have at awesome!

Here is Pinnacle comparison:

-Pay upwards of $200/year to basically keep you and your pass riders in the database (when DL employees pay $50).

Ok, we the $50 dollar fee. So that's a plus.

-Lower priority than a DL retiree and/or parent of DL employee.

Same here. Lower priority on the rung ladder. Always S3C on Delta and S3 on our own Pinnacle planes. NOT S2.

-Buddy Pass riders and travel companions pay yield.

Hahahaha what buddy passes. We don't get squat!

-Can't use "priority listing" for mainline flights.

Nor do we.

We do, however, get priority on our own aircraft (S2's)

In short, unless you can ride jumpseat...walk.

Nope, we get S3 on our own. Pathetic, ain't it?

We get 6 transoceanic segments. Yes it's more than most people use, but we used to get 18.

We get 3! THREE! That's not even enough for 2 roundtrips! Why the hell would they stop it at an odd number?! Makes no sense whatsoever.

Anyway, that's Pinnacle for ya! "Simply the Best"

 

[Gr82Aviate]

For those of us who actually use them and use them ALOT,

You pay the annual fee. It varies depending on whether your single or have a family.
You get UNLIMITED FREE domestic privileges. There are no mileage or usage fees.
You get more international segments than most people use in a year's time. There is a fee, but it's very reasonable. Some cities are more expensive than others. Example: coming home from Amsterdam to Atlanta is a little pricy at 50 dollars, but you are eligible to ride in First/Business. Yes you can get business if you're flexible on which days you travel. Other cities are quite cheap. JFK to Venice cost me a whopping 54 cents. Got first/business there too.

I've traveled worldwide with them. There is a learning process. IT IS STANDBY !!! You do learn to look at the loads well in advance and always make back up plans.

As for domestic; same deal but unlimited and free. Just watch the loads.

If you listen to the guys on this board who scream about how bad things are no matter what you give them, you'll never be happy about anything.

Hope that helps.

I'm guessing you don't have a wife and kids that you'd like to travel with? I used to travel all over the world when it was really a benefit(free). Now that it's nearly impossible to get the whole family on a flight, we have to pay for the ever more difficult to non-rev benefit of "free travel"...

 

[Full of LUV]

I'm guessing you don't have a wife and kids that you'd like to travel with? I used to travel all over the world when it was really a benefit(free). Now that it's nearly impossible to get the whole family on a flight, we have to pay for the ever more difficult to non-rev benefit of "free travel"...

Gr8,
If you get hired by DAL, it will be free again.... see something to look forward to!

 

[Full of LUV]

We get 3! THREE! That's not even enough for 2 roundtrips! Why the hell would they stop it at an odd number?! Makes no sense whatsoever.

Well it does make some sense. DAL considers each "day" an overseas segment, and since many involve a redeye, any connection going east could involve two overseas days, thus needing a third to return to the US going west.
Hope this explanation takes some of the sting out of your benefit.

 

[GeekMaster]

I'm guessing you don't have a wife and kids that you'd like to travel with? I used to travel all over the world when it was really a benefit(free). Now that it's nearly impossible to get the whole family on a flight, we have to pay for the ever more difficult to non-rev benefit of "free travel"...

Actually I do have a wife and kids and yes they traveled with me for all those places. Once I even took a 4th buddy pass rider along with us to Europe. It's all about learning to check loads, being flexible and having alternate plans. When I say check the loads, I don't mean look at the computer the week before you fly. I mean watch it several weeks out on which day of the week has the lightest loads and plan your trip accordingly.

Perhaps the benefit would be better if we got unlimited positive space first/business class ?

When you consider that ASA can have equal flight benefits on both Delta and United, we really do have the best travel benefits by far for the regional industry.

 

[COOPERVANE]

A buddy told me he was on the ASA crew bus one day a couple years ago when everyone was bitching about our new annual fees and loss in priority.

Suddenly an overweight dude in a golf shirt stood up and proclaimed

"We have the best benefits in the industry!! Anywhere you want to go... ASA goes there. And you can use S2's!! I helped negotiate our pass benefits and I'm tired of hearing all the complaints" Somebody politely pointed out that ASA currently does not fly to Paris or Barcelona. To which he said "Well, who the hell wants to go there? NOT ME!!"

Everyone on the bus was mortified. There was a collective..... WHAT!!!!?.....

The guy also said the first offer from Delta was literally NO benefits at all. They worked from there, and he was proud to get what he did.

 

[Gr82Aviate]

Actually I do have a wife and kids and yes they traveled with me for all those places. Once I even took a 4th buddy pass rider along with us to Europe. It's all about learning to check loads, being flexible and having alternate plans. When I say check the loads, I don't mean look at the computer the week before you fly. I mean watch it several weeks out on which day of the week has the lightest loads and plan your trip accordingly.

Perhaps the benefit would be better if we got unlimited positive space first/business class ?

When you consider that ASA can have equal flight benefits on both Delta and United, we really do have the best travel benefits by far for the regional industry.

I do "look at the computer", and not just the week before we plan to fly. The problem is my work schedule doesn't allow me to just drop everything and take a trip whenever the loads look the best...maybe it's easier for you to get days off whenever need be?