I once took an early flight to NYC. No hotel. no plans. Once I landed i spent the afternoon and evening brewery hopping. Once I was done i looked for a convenient hotel. There’s something super fun about just doing literally whatever. Great video! I enjoyed the lessons.
Wow I love it Isaac! ☺️ That sounds like such a cool trip! Where did you fly from and which hotel did you end up going to? & Thank you!! I’m happy you got value from the video! 🤗
I flew to NYC for lunch in Time Square. I did a trip to Milan, Italy just to fly back on the same aircraft (I wanted and got Delta One). I also did a “weekend” trip to Rome. Non-Rev travel is AMAZING!
On the Milan flight, I had actually booked myself to Dublin. While sitting at the Dublin gate I look behind me and see a flight going to Milan that left 2 hours earlier and it had open Delta One seats. I canceled the Dublin flight, booked the Milan flight, and was cleared within the hour. It was by far my scariest experience in Italy. Their customs couldn’t figure out why I was trying to clear for an aircraft that I just got off of. They ended up getting a supervisor, who cleared me. After that I got “randomly screened” 3 times!
I'm a parent with standby from my daughter FA. I WFH so its great going everywhere with my laptop for work with interesting places to visit while off work.
Yes, so many adventures to be had..just have to be mentally flexible and adaptable and not be burdened with luggage…in the late 80s, early 90s, we could fly on a holiday and there’d be 17 passengers on a 727, 2 paying customers and the rest SA s (space available), today holidays are just as full..and..a r/t ticket to Japan, $36 😱……good stuff 👏👏👏
Another 👍 one! I love going places without planning except for business travel. Once, I called my travel agent around 9 am to enquire if I could get a ticket to Australia that day and packed my bag by 10 am and picked up the paper ticket on my way to the airport and flew off around 1:30 pm. Love all your stories. You are a wise soul beyond your years…✈️
Here's my story relating to your at minute 7. I to fly standby..... Six years ago I planned a trip to Seoul South Korea for a long weekend. I flew from Boston to SFO. When I got onto my flight from SFO to ICN, I fell asleep in my seat. Now I seated in the last seat gateway side of first class. About an hour after I fell asleep I woke up to find that we hadn't taken off and the door was still open. So I called over the FA and asked what was going on... See whispered to me what was going on and said the flight will most likely be canceled. I said OOOHHH!!. That's not good. So I opened my laptop, signed into the airlines employee travel app, looked for the next flight leaving SFO to any Asian country I didn't need to get a visa. Japan it was. Specifically Osaka.... I told the FA I was leaving, grabbed my carry on and hoofed it off the plane and jogged to the neighboring gate where the Osaka flight was leaving in about 30mins. When I got the gate my boarding pass was printed and I walked onto the plane, sat down and again fell asleep.... The flight departed. I ate dinner then said to myself "Oh shit... I don't have a hotel booked need to hurry before we get out of satellite range for the internet. So I bought the internet, looked up a hotel and booked it. I arrived on Saturday morning into Osaka and left on Monday.
You sound like a lot fun! LoL I haven’t visited Asia, but I’m not too keen on it either. European travel interests me more. I like going to the airport with no destination in mind and choosing once I get there (ATL is my preferred HUB).
Don't forget to pack for all the climates you could go to, if the flights are full, you may end up somewhere completely different from where you expected. Similarly you may (probably) won't get a direct flight and will have to connect and connecting means the possibility of getting stuck in a different place than planned. I (also nonreved with Blonde in The Air that summer) always pack/wear a pair of jeans, bathing suit, pullover/sweatshirt, sandals and rain jacket on any trip I take where I may get stuck in a different season) (Always bring a bathing suit no matter the time of year though, most hotels have a pool and you never know what could happen) I travel with an overhead roll aboard though, so I do have slightly more room than a backpack to accommodate, but this could easily fit in a backpack as well if thoughtfully packed
Thank you so much for your contribution Adam! The climate packing strategy is definitely a great idea to consider if the space is available. Also, bringing a bathing suit no matter what is very good advice ! 💡😄
If you know then you know... I agree. There are so many people that don't understand the standby concept and say "I couldn't do that". My sister being one of them. I've been flying standby for 35+ yrs and have done some really crazy trips. I just completed a trip where I only flew in Changi Airport in Singapore and stayed there for 24hrs just to see the airport. In fact I spent more time in the air than I did on the ground. Flew to Chicago to eat a Chicago Pizza, flew to MIA just to go to the beach for the day. and I fly to Boston once a month to meet up with friends. Always an adventure. Always a good time.
I think you could say that the lessons standby travel taught you, are lessons that you can apply to LIFE!!...LOL! So yes, in life we never know whats going to happen and all its twists and turns and so best thing is to relax, take it as it comes and remain plenty flexible and open minded!
One thing I do different than you with hotels...I dont book until I have actually landed at the airport destination! Funny enough I still wrestle with this, but I just dont like to take anything for granted (just like in Life...lol!) And so even when the door closes, I dont assume we're really going to take off, because there have been times when plane had to return to gate and flight delayed or cancelled due to mechanical or whatever.
Oh my!!! 😳 That's really traumatizing!! I totally see why you would have that as a rule. It's only happened to me once that summer but luckily I was flying home so I wasn't in a need of booking a hotel. By the way, are you a crew member or a family/friend of a crew member?
Thank you Brittney!! 😊 I believe the fuzzy blue pillows came from the "5 Below" store, the grey pillow came from a local store in Brooklyn, and the JetBlue plushie came from a souvenir store in LAX airport.
Welcome to Standby travel in 2022 post-pandemic(?) 1- Shortages of pilots, flight attendants, ground personnel, etc. causing delays or cancellations. 2- Airlines have not fully returned their fleet into service; reducing flight choices. 3- Planes are thus flying near 100% severely reducing your chances of flying standby. 4- Airlines have reduced non-stop flights pushing passengers into multiple hub segments thus increasing your chances of being bumped mid-travel. I worked for a semi-private airline; the pay was minimum wage with a small COVID premium, the draw was being able to fly standby on a number of popular airlines. However, I found that when using the employee insider travel website, almost any flight I chose had a very low to no probability of snagging a seat (see above reasons). I resigned.
Thank you for sharing! It’s nice to have an updated context on standby travel since times have changed. You mention you resigned from the airline industry. Which industry are you in now?
You get the whole experience! So the food and alcohol as well 😊 Btw boarding first, then being given a departure beverage and relaxing while everyone is boarding is an underrated luxury haha
@@BlondeInTheAir have you figured out how to get lounge access on non rev tix? I hear amex centurion does not allow non rev, but they might on connecting flights. or is it Impossible because standby tix are given right before boarding so no time for lounge. unless you know of a trick here. I really want lounge access.
also, is it possible to just be open to fly anywhere internationally, search flights with all open first and business class, and 90% chance you'll fly in one of those seats. lastly, how good are the hotel discounts?
My pleasure! I’m happy you liked the video! 😊 Yes, I’m doing well thank you for asking! I wish I was still doing non-rev travel but I’ve been paying for all my flights this year with points/miles so that’s good too haha. How are you?
Hi William! Since I didn't work at United, I wouldn't be able to tell you a confirmed answer. However in the airline I worked for, the non rev standby list based on 1. Check-in time and 2. Position in the company. For example, I worked as an intern - I am at a higher position than my company's buddy passes and crew members from other airlines but I was at a lower position than full-time crew members in my company. I could have checked-in earlier than a full-time crew member but they'll go before me even if they check-in after me.
On United, yes your seat depends on your seniority date of hire when flying non-rev. But check in time is not factored in. I've booked non-rev standby tickets about 1- 2hrs before a scheduled flight and checked well after the rest of the standbys and have gotten the last seat on the plane with a seniority date higher than other standby passengers.
I haven’t personally done it but I know colleagues who did. One of them told me to think about it like this - domestic flights are much more likely to sell out last minute than international because it takes more preparation to be able to fly internationally (hard to do it on a whim). Therefore, it’s generally easier to tell in advance if you’d be able to get on the flight (and possibly even in first class).
Yes. In fact I rarely travel domestically on non-rev tickets and only fly international. HOWEVER, my best advice I could give you is this. when flying internationally understand that most airlines only have one scheduled flight per day to certain destinations... Example: United only flys to/from Dubai, Amman Jordan, New Delhi, Naples, Rome, etc... once a day. So there's a real possibility that if the flight is over sold, you'll have to stay longer in a foreign country with limited ways to get home. It happened to me twice this year. I flew to Johannesburg South Africa and drove to Mozambique. While in Mozambique I was motoring the departure flights back to the United States. When I realized that the flight I wanted to take was going to be oversold, I decided to leave a day early, but still had to buy a local ticket one way on South African airlines to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town in order to get a seat back to the US. Once back in the US is was easy for me to navigate myself back home. While in Ghana, I ended up having to buy a ticket (first class/the only one left I could buy) back to the US. Flying to the EU and other certain locations gives you a better chance at having a second/thrid or even fourth flight back to the US as there are usually multiple flights per day from certain airports and if needed I could buy a cheap $30 one way ticket on Ryan Air or take a high speed train from one country to another to catch a different flight. Make sure you have a plan B and C in place just incase you won't be able to get your preferred flight. Also don't forget about what countries require visa's. It might not be possible to fly to another country to get onto a flight because visa's do take a while to process. I've actually gotten a via for another country with the intention of having it on hand just in case I needed to fly there. But every adds up so I price out everything and decide if it's worth flying standby vs paying full fare.
I have question about buddy pass ticket …so if I got on the flight and there’s 1 stop before my destination I’m I going to struggle again to find a seat during the second flight or as long I got a seat on the first flight then I’m good to go ??? Thanks 🙏🏼
I’ve never flown standby with connecting flights. During that summer where I traveled every weekend, I had no time to waste. So only I chose destinations with nonstop flights. I feel like the process for both flights would be the same though - you have to hope you’ll be able to make it on ur connecting flight or you’ll just enjoy the city you just flew into.
The answer is yes. Even though you may have a connection, you have to treat each leg as a separate ticket, thus you may not get onto your next flight. I always try to avoid contacting flights but if I do, I always look ahead to see the availability and make sure I'm 100% convinced I'll get a seat before I board my first flight. Unless there are multiple flights to my destination in that connecting airport and I know I'll have a seat, then I won't board my first flight. That being said I once had to fly backwards from Hawaii to Japan to San Fran to Boston just to get out of Hawaii during spring break. I also avoid going to destinations where EVERYONE is going. I tend to travel to destinations during no-peak times/days/ and time of year. I fly to southern hemisphere locations during our (USA's summer). If you think about it, there aren't that many people looking to fly into winter destinations during summer months.
lesson 1: people suck lesson 2: people suck more in close quarters lesson 3: people are at there worst during air travel....like something about it just turns everyone into a piece of shit
Hi Anonamous365, I appreciate you trying to generalize my lessons that have been already been labeled (see my description or numbered in my video), but your generalizations are not representative of what my lessons actually are.
I once took an early flight to NYC. No hotel. no plans. Once I landed i spent the afternoon and evening brewery hopping. Once I was done i looked for a convenient hotel. There’s something super fun about just doing literally whatever. Great video! I enjoyed the lessons.
Wow I love it Isaac! ☺️ That sounds like such a cool trip! Where did you fly from and which hotel did you end up going to? & Thank you!! I’m happy you got value from the video! 🤗
I flew to NYC for lunch in Time Square.
I did a trip to Milan, Italy just to fly back on the same aircraft (I wanted and got Delta One).
I also did a “weekend” trip to Rome.
Non-Rev travel is AMAZING!
On the Milan flight, I had actually booked myself to Dublin. While sitting at the Dublin gate I look behind me and see a flight going to Milan that left 2 hours earlier and it had open Delta One seats.
I canceled the Dublin flight, booked the Milan flight, and was cleared within the hour.
It was by far my scariest experience in Italy. Their customs couldn’t figure out why I was trying to clear for an aircraft that I just got off of. They ended up getting a supervisor, who cleared me. After that I got “randomly screened” 3 times!
I'm a parent with standby from my daughter FA. I WFH so its great going everywhere with my laptop for work with interesting places to visit while off work.
Yes, so many adventures to be had..just have to be mentally flexible and adaptable and not be burdened with luggage…in the late 80s, early 90s, we could fly on a holiday and there’d be 17 passengers on a 727, 2 paying customers and the rest SA s (space available), today holidays are just as full..and..a r/t ticket to Japan, $36 😱……good stuff 👏👏👏
Exactly, you got it! 😊 & Wow that's amazing you were able to experience the easier days of standby travel!
@@BlondeInTheAir ….and….flew the Concorde for $400, it was an airline staff special flight, D.C. to LHR in 3 hours 20 minutes 👏👏👏
Another 👍 one! I love going places without planning except for business travel. Once, I called my travel agent around 9 am to enquire if I could get a ticket to Australia that day and packed my bag by 10 am and picked up the paper ticket on my way to the airport and flew off around 1:30 pm. Love all your stories. You are a wise soul beyond your years…✈️
WOW! 🤯 That's impressive Jewel! What inspired you to go to Australia? & Thank you so much!!! 😊🥰
Here's my story relating to your at minute 7. I to fly standby..... Six years ago I planned a trip to Seoul South Korea for a long weekend. I flew from Boston to SFO. When I got onto my flight from SFO to ICN, I fell asleep in my seat. Now I seated in the last seat gateway side of first class. About an hour after I fell asleep I woke up to find that we hadn't taken off and the door was still open. So I called over the FA and asked what was going on... See whispered to me what was going on and said the flight will most likely be canceled. I said OOOHHH!!. That's not good. So I opened my laptop, signed into the airlines employee travel app, looked for the next flight leaving SFO to any Asian country I didn't need to get a visa. Japan it was. Specifically Osaka.... I told the FA I was leaving, grabbed my carry on and hoofed it off the plane and jogged to the neighboring gate where the Osaka flight was leaving in about 30mins. When I got the gate my boarding pass was printed and I walked onto the plane, sat down and again fell asleep.... The flight departed. I ate dinner then said to myself "Oh shit... I don't have a hotel booked need to hurry before we get out of satellite range for the internet. So I bought the internet, looked up a hotel and booked it. I arrived on Saturday morning into Osaka and left on Monday.
You sound like a lot fun! LoL
I haven’t visited Asia, but I’m not too keen on it either. European travel interests me more.
I like going to the airport with no destination in mind and choosing once I get there (ATL is my preferred HUB).
Don't forget to pack for all the climates you could go to, if the flights are full, you may end up somewhere completely different from where you expected. Similarly you may (probably) won't get a direct flight and will have to connect and connecting means the possibility of getting stuck in a different place than planned. I (also nonreved with Blonde in The Air that summer) always pack/wear a pair of jeans, bathing suit, pullover/sweatshirt, sandals and rain jacket on any trip I take where I may get stuck in a different season) (Always bring a bathing suit no matter the time of year though, most hotels have a pool and you never know what could happen) I travel with an overhead roll aboard though, so I do have slightly more room than a backpack to accommodate, but this could easily fit in a backpack as well if thoughtfully packed
Thank you so much for your contribution Adam! The climate packing strategy is definitely a great idea to consider if the space is available. Also, bringing a bathing suit no matter what is very good advice ! 💡😄
Best part of being an airline employee hands down.
I know right! 😍
If you know then you know... I agree. There are so many people that don't understand the standby concept and say "I couldn't do that". My sister being one of them. I've been flying standby for 35+ yrs and have done some really crazy trips. I just completed a trip where I only flew in Changi Airport in Singapore and stayed there for 24hrs just to see the airport. In fact I spent more time in the air than I did on the ground. Flew to Chicago to eat a Chicago Pizza, flew to MIA just to go to the beach for the day. and I fly to Boston once a month to meet up with friends. Always an adventure. Always a good time.
I think you could say that the lessons standby travel taught you, are lessons that you can apply to LIFE!!...LOL!
So yes, in life we never know whats going to happen and all its twists and turns and so best thing is to relax, take it as it comes and remain plenty flexible and open minded!
Yes, love it! Well said Gabriel!! 😊
Thanks for sharing your experience ❤
Thank you for watching!!! 😊❤️
One thing I do different than you with hotels...I dont book until I have actually landed at the airport destination! Funny enough I still wrestle with this, but I just dont like to take anything for granted (just like in Life...lol!)
And so even when the door closes, I dont assume we're really going to take off, because there have been times when plane had to return to gate and flight delayed or cancelled due to mechanical or whatever.
Oh my!!! 😳 That's really traumatizing!! I totally see why you would have that as a rule. It's only happened to me once that summer but luckily I was flying home so I wasn't in a need of booking a hotel. By the way, are you a crew member or a family/friend of a crew member?
I almost got bumped off a flight for weight and balance, but they got it sorted out. The doors on that flight had closed…
Where did you get your pillow, I love it!!!??
Thank you Brittney!! 😊 I believe the fuzzy blue pillows came from the "5 Below" store, the grey pillow came from a local store in Brooklyn, and the JetBlue plushie came from a souvenir store in LAX airport.
Welcome to Standby travel in 2022 post-pandemic(?)
1- Shortages of pilots, flight attendants, ground personnel, etc. causing delays or cancellations.
2- Airlines have not fully returned their fleet into service; reducing flight choices.
3- Planes are thus flying near 100% severely reducing your chances of flying standby.
4- Airlines have reduced non-stop flights pushing passengers into multiple hub segments thus increasing your chances of being bumped mid-travel.
I worked for a semi-private airline; the pay was minimum wage with a small COVID premium, the draw was being able to fly standby on a number of popular airlines.
However, I found that when using the employee insider travel website, almost any flight I chose had a very low to no probability of snagging a seat (see above reasons).
I resigned.
Thank you for sharing! It’s nice to have an updated context on standby travel since times have changed.
You mention you resigned from the airline industry. Which industry are you in now?
do employees who get first or business class seats, do you get the food and alcohol free or just the seat. thanks!
You get the whole experience! So the food and alcohol as well 😊
Btw boarding first, then being given a departure beverage and relaxing while everyone is boarding is an underrated luxury haha
@@BlondeInTheAir have you figured out how to get lounge access on non rev tix? I hear amex centurion does not allow non rev, but they might on connecting flights. or is it Impossible because standby tix are given right before boarding so no time for lounge. unless you know of a trick here. I really want lounge access.
also, is it possible to just be open to fly anywhere internationally, search flights with all open first and business class, and 90% chance you'll fly in one of those seats. lastly, how good are the hotel discounts?
thanks for the tips. hope ur doing well!
My pleasure! I’m happy you liked the video! 😊 Yes, I’m doing well thank you for asking! I wish I was still doing non-rev travel but I’ve been paying for all my flights this year with points/miles so that’s good too haha. How are you?
Where did you get your shirt?
Hi Casey! 😊 It's from one of Amazon's subsidiaries called "Woot!" A long time ago I got a gift to spend $20 on Woot and found this shirt there.
Is united check in time or seniority based when it comes to non rev?
Hi William! Since I didn't work at United, I wouldn't be able to tell you a confirmed answer. However in the airline I worked for, the non rev standby list based on 1. Check-in time and 2. Position in the company. For example, I worked as an intern - I am at a higher position than my company's buddy passes and crew members from other airlines but I was at a lower position than full-time crew members in my company. I could have checked-in earlier than a full-time crew member but they'll go before me even if they check-in after me.
On United, yes your seat depends on your seniority date of hire when flying non-rev. But check in time is not factored in. I've booked non-rev standby tickets about 1- 2hrs before a scheduled flight and checked well after the rest of the standbys and have gotten the last seat on the plane with a seniority date higher than other standby passengers.
I hopefully about to experience United Airlines non-rev travel and was told it’s seniority based.
Would you recommend flying international non rev? Thank you
I haven’t personally done it but I know colleagues who did. One of them told me to think about it like this - domestic flights are much more likely to sell out last minute than international because it takes more preparation to be able to fly internationally (hard to do it on a whim). Therefore, it’s generally easier to tell in advance if you’d be able to get on the flight (and possibly even in first class).
Yes. In fact I rarely travel domestically on non-rev tickets and only fly international. HOWEVER, my best advice I could give you is this. when flying internationally understand that most airlines only have one scheduled flight per day to certain destinations... Example: United only flys to/from Dubai, Amman Jordan, New Delhi, Naples, Rome, etc... once a day. So there's a real possibility that if the flight is over sold, you'll have to stay longer in a foreign country with limited ways to get home. It happened to me twice this year. I flew to Johannesburg South Africa and drove to Mozambique. While in Mozambique I was motoring the departure flights back to the United States. When I realized that the flight I wanted to take was going to be oversold, I decided to leave a day early, but still had to buy a local ticket one way on South African airlines to fly from Johannesburg to Cape Town in order to get a seat back to the US. Once back in the US is was easy for me to navigate myself back home. While in Ghana, I ended up having to buy a ticket (first class/the only one left I could buy) back to the US. Flying to the EU and other certain locations gives you a better chance at having a second/thrid or even fourth flight back to the US as there are usually multiple flights per day from certain airports and if needed I could buy a cheap $30 one way ticket on Ryan Air or take a high speed train from one country to another to catch a different flight. Make sure you have a plan B and C in place just incase you won't be able to get your preferred flight. Also don't forget about what countries require visa's. It might not be possible to fly to another country to get onto a flight because visa's do take a while to process. I've actually gotten a via for another country with the intention of having it on hand just in case I needed to fly there. But every adds up so I price out everything and decide if it's worth flying standby vs paying full fare.
@@derekinhawaii Appreciate the response. Thanks so much.
Is it cheaper to fly standby or more?
When I was flying standby, it was free! It was because I worked for an airline. Not sure about standby travel + costs for regular customers.
I have question about buddy pass ticket …so if I got on the flight and there’s 1 stop before my destination I’m I going to struggle again to find a seat during the second flight or as long I got a seat on the first flight then I’m good to go ??? Thanks 🙏🏼
I’ve never flown standby with connecting flights. During that summer where I traveled every weekend, I had no time to waste. So only I chose destinations with nonstop flights. I feel like the process for both flights would be the same though - you have to hope you’ll be able to make it on ur connecting flight or you’ll just enjoy the city you just flew into.
The answer is yes. Even though you may have a connection, you have to treat each leg as a separate ticket, thus you may not get onto your next flight. I always try to avoid contacting flights but if I do, I always look ahead to see the availability and make sure I'm 100% convinced I'll get a seat before I board my first flight. Unless there are multiple flights to my destination in that connecting airport and I know I'll have a seat, then I won't board my first flight. That being said I once had to fly backwards from Hawaii to Japan to San Fran to Boston just to get out of Hawaii during spring break. I also avoid going to destinations where EVERYONE is going. I tend to travel to destinations during no-peak times/days/ and time of year. I fly to southern hemisphere locations during our (USA's summer). If you think about it, there aren't that many people looking to fly into winter destinations during summer months.
Hello there id like to fly witch you!!!
Haha maybe we will see each other in the airport one day Rodrigo! 😊
So cool.
Lopez Sandra Moore Edward Johnson Sandra
Thank you Kokrovan! 🤗 & yes, that is how I really felt 😂
lesson 1: people suck
lesson 2: people suck more in close quarters
lesson 3: people are at there worst during air travel....like something about it just turns everyone into a piece of shit
Hi Anonamous365, I appreciate you trying to generalize my lessons that have been already been labeled (see my description or numbered in my video), but your generalizations are not representative of what my lessons actually are.