American "Companion/Buddy Passes"

[SWAemp91]

Hi all,

I am a single employee that works at Southwest Airlines. For employees that are not married, Southwest allows them to designate one person per year as their "companion" which allows them to book non-rev flights for free on Southwest.

I am wondering if American has a similar program and if so, would anybody be interested in a companion/buddy pass swap?

Thanks for your consideration .

 

[WeAAsles]

Hi all,

I am a single employee that works at Southwest Airlines. For employees that are not married, Southwest allows them to designate one person per year as their "companion" which allows them to book non-rev flights for free on Southwest.

I am wondering if American has a similar program and if so, would anybody be interested in a companion/buddy pass swap?

Thanks for your consideration .

Yes AA does also have a Registered Companion program.

I don’t think swapping would abide by the intention of why our companies initiated the programs in the first place and it could potentially put you in hot water if it were discovered.

Personally I doubt you’re going to get any takers anyway? Why would anyone want to exchange a program that gives them the ability to fly free anywhere in the World to be restricted to pretty much just the US with Southwest Airlines?

I think maybe you should just consider trying to get a job at AA, United or Delta Airlines instead.

 

[SWAemp91]

I don’t think swapping would abide by the intention of why our companies initiated the programs in the first place and it could potentially put you in hot water if it were discovered.

I will have to look into this.

Personally I doubt you’re going to get any takers anyway? Why would anyone want to exchange a program that gives them the ability to fly free anywhere in the World to be restricted to pretty much just the US with Southwest Airlines?

I feel like there would probably be plenty of people who have family in other states that would love to be able to have access to the largest domestic carrier in the US.

I think maybe you should just consider trying to get a job at AA, United or Delta Airlines instead.[/

No thanks, SWA is a pretty great place to work

 

[WeAAsles]

When we list a registered companion that individual stays on our list and can’t be changed for one full year.

Nothing personal to the SWA route map system but where do you think SWA flies that would entice someone like myself (I’m single) to make the exchange?

Does SWA fly to London, Paris, Milan, Munich, Tokyo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Panama, Costa Rica, Etc?

Has SWA even started its Hawaii service yet?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Airlines_destinations

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Eagle_Airlines_destinations

 

[SWAemp91]

When we list a registered companion that individual stays on our list and can’t be change s for one full year.

Nothing personal to the SWA route map system but where do you think SWA flies that would entice someone like myself (I’m single) to make the exchange?

Does SWA fly to London, Paris, Milan, Munich, Tokyo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Panama, Costa Rica, Etc?

Has SWA even started its Hawaii service yet?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Airlines_destinations

How often do you realistically fly to any of those places in a given year? Once, maybe twice if your wallet is feeling fat. How often do you visit family that lives in another state? I'm willing to bet not enough and this would be something that could let you see them around 2-5 times per year.

Hawaii service starts Q1

 

[WeAAsles]

How often do you realistically fly to any of those places in a given year? Once, maybe twice if your wallet is feeling fat. How often do you visit family that lives in another state? I'm willing to bet not enough and this would be something that could let you see them around 2-5 times per year.

Hawaii service starts Q1

We have many commuters at AA but those commuters are all able to fly home on AA.

Again nothing personal but at least as far as traveling goes it’s sort of like you’re asking someone in First Class to change seats with you and go sit in the back of the plane near the engine hum.

Good luck trying to find a trader though.

 

[WeAAsles]

SWAemp when you look at Wikipedia for the two airlines AA shows that it flies to 350 Destinations in 50 Countries while SWA shows that it flies to 99 Domestic Destinations.

Quite a difference.

 

[swamt]

Hi all,

I am a single employee that works at Southwest Airlines. For employees that are not married, Southwest allows them to designate one person per year as their "companion" which allows them to book non-rev flights for free on Southwest.

I am wondering if American has a similar program and if so, would anybody be interested in a companion/buddy pass swap?

Thanks for your consideration .

In case you do not know. SWA already has an agreement with AA for travel. SWA employees can go through our company to get next to free flights on AA and AA'ers can do the same on us. It's called ID-90. Just being an airline employee gives us travel options on all the airlines listed with SWA already.
Weez is right. Why would someone from AA trade with SWA, when they can use their own passes?
If traveling somewhere that their carrier does not fly to, then use the airline employee benefits and use any other airline listed.

 

[WeAAsles]

Most people choose a registered companion because they want to travel with them BTW.

The ID90 option is something but the problem with it is that you’re still flying standby and you go to the bottom of the list behind D1, D2, D3, D2R and D2P if I’m correct.

If you’re going to use the ID90 option you might want to make a friend within the Airline that can tell you what they think your chances might be of getting on the particular flight you’re looking at.

And of course if you’re looking to travel International, the off seasons give you your best shot of getting on and back.

 

[SWAemp91]

In case you do not know. SWA already has an agreement with AA for travel. SWA employees can go through our company to get next to free flights on AA and AA'ers can do the same on us. It's called ID-90. Just being an airline employee gives us travel options on all the airlines listed with SWA already.
Weez is right. Why would someone from AA trade with SWA, when they can use their own passes?
If traveling somewhere that their carrier does not fly to, then use the airline employee benefits and use any other airline listed.

I am aware of ID-90 and while yes it is greatly reduced, it is still not free. Was hoping to find some like minded individual with no person currently to share companion benefits but from what I've seen in this thread, American Employees think very poorly of SWA. Sorry for even asking.

 

[SWAemp91]

Most people choose a registered companion because they want to travel with them BTW.

The ID90 option is something but the problem with it is that you’re still flying standby and you go to the bottom of the list behind D1, D2, D3, D2R and D2P if I’m correct.

If you’re going to use the ID90 option you might want to make a friend within the Airline that can tell you what they think your chances might be of getting on the particular flight you’re looking at.

And of course if you’re looking to travel International, the off seasons give you your best shot of getting on and back.

I have the StaffTraveller app which effectively tells you the available seats on any given flight

 

[jimntx]

Dont assume that just because people are not interested in a pass swap that there is no one at AA that thinks highly of WN. If and when people around me start bad-mouthing WN, I just point out that 17 straight years without a losing quarter has not (nor will it ever be) duplicated by another airline. WN must be doing something right. LOL When I was based in STL after a recall from furlough, I commuted on WN at every opportunity. Aside from the fact that WN employees were incredibly nice to me (considering that my airline has tried to thwart Southwest at every opportunity for the past 30 years), Love Field is about 15 miles closer to my house than DFW.

BTW, good luck on the Hawaii service. I was just there in November visiting a friend. He and everyone else I met are highly excited about the start of Southwest service--especially if you start the inter-island service soon.

 

[WeAAsles]

I am aware of ID-90 and while yes it is greatly reduced, it is still not free. Was hoping to find some like minded individual with no person currently to share companion benefits but from what I've seen in this thread, American Employees think very poorly of SWA. Sorry for even asking.

Sorry I didn’t mean to make you feel that I was disparaging your Airline. Far from it actually. Except for the Flight Privileges I probably would have been much better off economically had I made the move over back in 1997 when I got to DFW.

I really wish AA had the same size operation in FLL that you guys have. I live 15 miles from FLL but travel over 30 miles to get to MIA.

 

[Rogallo]

Yeah, obviously he/she is not privy to your M.O.

 

[Kev3188]

SWAemp91--

Welcome to the boards!

You likely won't have a whole lot of luck here looking for a trade as people are concerned about violating their company policies.

That said, I hope you stick around and join the discussions! Thanks also for the heads up about StaffTraveler; I'll have to check it out.