SkyWest Travel Bennies.....

[Dave Benjamin]

Parent benefits and buddy passes are more stessful for the employee than they're worth. My parents have the best benefits in the industry (for now), and have spent more money on full-fare tickets trying to get home while non-revving than they would have buying a regular ticket to begin with. Enjoy them yourself, and with your significant other.

Agreed.
I would trade all my travel benefits for a 3 or 4 buck an hour raise in a heartbeat. We routinely drive the 11 or so hours to visit friends and family. It's almost always quicker than non-revving.

 

[Spicepilots]

There is sort of an art to non-rev travel. It only works when you don't need to be somewhere at a specific time or date and if you have a lot of patience. Forget travel during spring break, most of the summer, and immediately around the holidays. That being said, I recently sent my parents to Kona, and the airplane was half empty both ways. They did have to purchase a Frontier ticket to get to SLC first, though. It takes careful planning and a backup plan or two.

 

[Weasil]

I have to agree with Spicepilots. Non-revving is a skill, it takes practice and you must not be in a hurry to get somewhere. We have always planned our trips by doing research into travel schedules, and peak travel seasons. Last March we made it all the way to Auckland and back using Zed fares - cost $600 bucks for me, the wife and the kid round trip! It was two flights each way and we got on the first flight each time by choosing flights at a time of year, time of day and day of the week that were routinely not sold out. granted there is some luck involved but this is the way I have always done it and it works quite well.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I have to agree with Spicepilots. Non-revving is a skill, it takes practice and you must not be in a hurry to get somewhere.

If you don't place much value on your time it works out.
My parents have found that it makes more sense to just buy a ticket as a couple of extra days on either end of a trip doesn't pencil out too well.

Back when we used to get buddy passes on mainline a friend needed to travel from Australia to SFO. It was about the same rpice to just buy a ticket on EVA as opposed to a buddy pass. Same friend made the mistake of using a buddy pass to go from SEA to SFO. Took him 4 days.

 

[rickair7777]

It kind of depends on where you live and where you want to go.

My parents have had tremendous luck non-reving in the US (on several airlines, dependong on who I worked for), never got stuck longer than the next flight.

My wife uses a combination of revenue and non-rev to get around, depending on circumstances. She plays it pretty smart and doesn't get stuck very often at all.

 

[Grassstrippilot]

My wife and i travel to Europe 2-3 times a year, plus HI and the lower 48 freaquently. Watch the loads and have a back up plan. All our travels to Europe on a slightly flexible itinerary and we've never had a problem. There is an art to it. You just have to do some home work. By the way, all trips to Europe have been in Business elite going and sometimes in coach on the way back...even with buddy passers along....in peak season and out of peak season.

Bottem line, remember it is a "want to travel" ticket, not a "must travel". Always keep that in mind, do your homework, and have a back up plan.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

I love it when the parents say they want to travel somehwere on Thanksgiving Weekend but want to leave on the Wednesday before and return on that Sunday.

I sometimes feel like confiscating their pass cards and cutting them up on the spot.

 

[propsarebest]

If it's $30 per leg then wouldn't it be $60 per trip min (assuming 1 leg each way)?

That's true, except that they are vali for OO operated flights only. Sooooo, if you wanted to fly SFO-MRY, it would be 60 bucks. But if you wanted to go say DEN-SEA, it would be DEN-SLC-SEA. Most travel on SkyWest is at least two legs.

 

[dal757]

So are Buddy Passes as a Skywest employee not good on Delta or United?

 

[Spicepilots]

That is correct. SkyWest Buddy passes are only good on SkyWest flights.