Buddy Passes

[USCREW]

Can someone please enlighten me on how to research flts and prices and also book flights. Can you look at West flts as well? I've gotten as far as looking at some East flts, but not pricing yet. Can I do all of this at the travel desk in CLT? I hope this is not a redundant post, sorry. I have 16 buddy passes and wish to get my friends together to celebrate my b-day. Thanks.

 

[rsv4ever]

Can someone please enlighten me on how to research flts and prices and also book flights. Can you look at West flts as well? I've gotten as far as looking at some East flts, but not pricing yet. Can I do all of this at the travel desk in CLT? I hope this is not a redundant post, sorry. I have 16 buddy passes and wish to get my friends together to celebrate my b-day. Thanks.

you can go on the hub and continue like you are going to book a buddy pass. enter a fake name and it will quote your a price. just cancel it after you see the price. i would imagine that you can go to the travel desk in clt, or the employee ticket counter in phl. hope i helped.

 

[USCREW]

you can go on the hub and continue like you are going to book a buddy pass. enter a fake name and it will quote your a price. just cancel it after you see the price. i would imagine that you can go to the travel desk in clt, or the employee ticket counter in phl. hope i helped.

Thx, I was worried about going too far, so I stopped before entering any names. Also when I put in something that East does not fly, like SEA-LAS, I got nothing, so I was wondering if I could get West flts up as well.

 

[rsv4ever]

Thx, I was worried about going too far, so I stopped before entering any names. Also when I put in something that East does not fly, like SEA-LAS, I got nothing, so I was wondering if I could get West flts up as well.

when you are actually doing the search, you can choose either US or HP. i honestly don't know if the pricing for HP would come up. and i dont think you can mix a US flight with an HP flight (on the hub)... i could be wrong, so someone please correct me if i am. sorry i couldn't help more.

 

[BoeingBoy]

There's a little drop down menu where you can choose which flights to display - US or HP. Choosing HP will display the HP flights.

Unfortunately, there's no way to see both side's flights on the same ETC screen if it's a mixture of metal. For that I'd recommend the USAirways.com timetables to research flight options then the ETC for fare info.

Keep in mind that buddy pass prices (the zone charges) for a mixed metal trip can be more expensive since you pay the zone charges for each side - i.e CLT-LAX on east metal (zone 5 to 1) would be $30 each way but CLT-PHX-LAS with one leg on US and one on HP would be $55 each way (zone 5-1 on US and zone 5-5 on HP)

Jim

 

[USCREW]

Zone charges? Okay, I'm clueless now. The only Zone I've heard of are the ZED fares. So, I guess it isn't ID90 anymore?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Me fault - trying to use too much shorthand.....

The cost for a buddy pass is based on which "zones" the origination and destination city are in, and there are 6 zones that cover the "lower 48" plus Alaska, and Europe/Hawaii are zone 7.

Go to the Hub, click on the travel link (the one in the list down the right side, not the button for the ETC), and scroll down to find the link for the employee zone travel chart. It'll give the charges for buddy pass travel within a zone or travel between zones. Just keep in mind what I said before about mixed-metal travel.

Jim

 

[flyingcat]

A quick note if you want the complete price, select yours segments, then go to the purchase screen and enter dummy info for a guest pass name and all the other usual ticketing stuff.

When you enter all the dummy info you will get a screen showing the complete cost and it will give you the option of paying online, at the airport, or canceling the whole thing.

Guest passes are not deducted until you pay for it.

 

[USCREW]

I just tried a dummy on East metal and it worked great. SEA-IAD, $40 each way. I wonder if SEA-RSW (because of the connection thru CLT) would be charged at 4 segments instead of two. I know that BB was saying to be aware of mixing metals, but what if it's on US only with a stop?

Actually, I just realized that it would be the same because SEA-IAD has a connection in CLT. Duh...

 

[BoeingBoy]

Other than when there's mixed metal, it doesn't matter what zones you go thru or connect in - the price is the same since it's based on origin and destination zone. What you will find is that the additional fees can be different depending on where you connect, mainly the PFC's. But that'll only make a few dollars difference at most.

Jim

 

[USCREW]

I'm booking my first buddy pass and the computer is rejecting the mailing and billing address. It says, address not authorized in SHARES. At first I used my friends address, then I changed it to my address. Neither works. What to do???


Second try....computer says, "Failed to connect to SHARES". Oh boy. I wonder if I can just do this with res. Any res people out there?

Third try....success at last! Whew, it took a long time to book on West metal; that's what was holding me up. The East tickets were fast and painless.