Most of my friends and family are quick to conclude that my
life of free travel is pretty awesome. I
must admit, it is. Or rather it can
be. If everything goes smoothly, my
number one job benefit can definitely be the best thing ever. To be able to decide last minute to go
somewhere far away and then to do so at little or no cost for air travel is
pretty amazing. I have tried to partake
of this benefit as much as possible, and I have made it to such far-flung
places as Australia, Paris, Tokyo, and Prague.
I have even made a number of shorter trips—Denver and Oregon to see
family, New York to see a couple of shows, San Diego to have lunch with a
friend. There are not many careers that
afford the time and the free travel to just go, with little or no
forethought. I am extremely lucky. Many times, however, the fates have been
against me and I’ve found myself stranded.
Yes,
stranded. You see, my free travel is a
perk but not a guarantee. It all depends
on available seats. I fly standby, and
standby can be very difficult. People
who are not in the airline industry are often befuddled by the word ‘standby,’
so let me explain how it works. The
airlines aim to sell every seat on their planes—the cost of flying planes is
enormous, and without paying passengers, the airlines would have to cancel
flights and routes. Sometimes, a flight
does have some empty seats: the nonrevenue (or standby) traveler’s golden
ticket. If there is an available seat, a
standby traveler like me who has been waiting at the gate for this rare bit of
real estate can board the flight and be on his way—awesome! Unfortunately, due to the rising cost of
fuel, airlines have dramatically cut their routes and schedules, trimming the
fat and eliminating flights that undersell.
As a result, flights are fuller and empty seats are harder to come
by. This can leave standby travelers
like me fumbling for a way home or stranded in far off places for hours or days
at a time.
So, how
does one manage it? It can certainly be
a challenge. I would say the secret to
nonrevenue travel is planning backups for yourself and using creative problem
solving. Never plan on the last flight
home without a backup—I’ve seen friends forced to ‘sick out’ from work due to
missing a flight home. I imagine it
looks a little conspicuous to your airline employer when you fail to show up
for an assignment after you missed your standby flight. Not a good plan by any means. Plan for backups—other airlines who operate
the same route are definitely a good backup.
The seasoned ‘nonrev’ (airline lingo for nonrevenue or standby traveler)
is creative when it comes to getting home; it may not be the most direct route,
but if it allows you to get there, so be it.
I have flown east to go west, like flying to Atlanta from Texas in order
to get to California. It is extremely
counterintuitive to fly in the wrong direction to get where you are going, but
it can often mean the difference between reaching your destination and doing
airport appreciation time for hours or days on end. Some cities are more difficult to get out of
than others—Seattle for one, can be almost impossible, which I have discovered
in the recent past, much to my chagrin.
In fact,
this weekend I had an almost perfect example of this mishap. I decided to take a mini-break and fly to
Amsterdam for some fall weather by the canals.
I checked flights—they looked great—booked a hotel, and flew off to
mingle with the Dutch. It was a great
24-hour visit—I wandered the streets, drank some Heineken, and ate some amazing
Dutch food (including those caramel-filled waffle cookies which are so very
tantalizing). As per usual, I marveled
over the truly guttural Dutch language, which despite having some similarity to
English, sounds remarkably like one is trying to clear his or her throat of excess
phlegm. It was a perfect escape, a great
mini-adventure. Unfortunately, the
expedition turned a bit grisly when the wide-open flight home to Seattle filled
up due to striking air traffic controllers in France—damn them! It could have been bad, but I am a seasoned
nonrev traveler, and I quickly began looking at the alternative options—including
travel through other cities and returning a day later than I originally. Fortunately, being a flight attendant, I also
have the ability to book jump seats on flights operated by my airline, and thus
after some last minute scrounging, I was able to obtain a seat back to the
USA. All of this cost me a bit of extra
time and planning and a bit of extraneous stress. Fortunately, I made it back, so the rest is
just a bad memory. It could have been
bad, really bad. This time, I escaped
the worst, but next time I may not be so lucky.
Don’t worry;
I’m not complaining about my job perk—it is the best part about my job, hands
down. Nonrev travel, however, is not for
the weak of heart or for the easily stressed and overwhelmed individual. It can be a headache at times, and is best to
avoid attempting it during peak travel seasons, like around the holidays. I recommend planning ahead, keeping the
options open, and planning alternatives.
Sometimes the eventual outcome cannot be avoided, but I tend to like the
extra challenge. So, while the perk
continues, I’m (sigh) up for the game.
Now, who wants to join me?
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