Source: The Arizona Republic
Author: Dawn Gilbertson

Paying travelers filling up seats

Endless hours in standby hell. Out-of-the-way connections and dead-of-the-night flights. Missed work or family events while marooned at the airport.

Airline employees, for whom free flights are a prime reason to be in the business, call them non-rev nightmares - short for non-revenue. And they say they're recurring more than ever this summer because of airlines' jammed flights.

Flying free is always dicey during summer vacation season because flights are filled with paying passengers. This summer, though, is shaping up as one of the toughest ever because of record passenger loads at most airlines. Tempe-based America West has put up record traffic statistics for months now and sees the trend continuing. That's great for the industry's depressed bottom line, but it means fewer chances for employees to nab a free seat by flying standby.

"It's a lot more difficult to get out," said Andrew Christie, a frequent non-rev flier who works at America West's headquarters in downtown Tempe.

Christie, who travels to see family or friends at least every other weekend, has had to make some adjustments this summer to keep up the jet-setting. His weekend trips have mostly become overnighters because it's nearly impossible to find a seat on Friday night, at least to cool weather spots like California.

He's also added something to his carry-on that he never needed before: a book.

Overall, this summer's jammed flights mean airline employees and the family members whom their benefits extend to must plan more and pack even more patience. Spouses, parents and other family members traveling without the employee have to jump through more hoops because they are lower on the standby priority lists. Friends with "buddy" passes are even lower.

Paul DiDomenico, a customer service supervisor for Southwest Airlines in Phoenix, dropped his wife off at the airport on a recent Sunday so she could go standby for a 1:10 p.m. flight to Sacramento. The flight turned out to be completely full so she didn't get on. She set her sights on the next non-stop, at 4:35 p.m. It, too, was packed, and didn't look good. She ended up nabbing the last seat on the flight at the last minute.

If she didn't get on that one, she was simply going to scratch the trip.

DiDomenico said most airline workers are taking the full flights in stride and helping each other find ways to get around the mobs of travelers.

"You've got to keep it in perspective," he said. "You've got a privilege. That's why they call it space available."

America West flight attendant Mimi Rodriguez said employees everywhere are buzzing about the new non-revenue headaches.

"It's a hot topic because it used to not be this difficult," she said. "People are having to wait around longer or having to be smarter about getting from point A to point B."

She and her husband, an America West pilot, use their travel benefits all the time.

They have it easier than some employees because both are eligible for a jump seat since they're part of the flight crew. Still, they've run into their share of travel snafus this year.

They fly to Austin a lot to visit relatives and almost got stuck there one day last week.

The morning flight they hoped to get on was full, after showing availability a couple of days earlier.

"We were like, OK, what are we going to do?" she said, adding that they both had to get back to work.

They checked out flights on Southwest (airline workers can fly on competing airlines for hefty discounts). They got lucky and nabbed seats on America West after all, due to a rare spare plane that was there from an earlier maintenance delay.

But they were prepared for the worst.

If employees and their families absolutely have to be or want to be somewhere, airlines have always urged them to do what the rest of us do: buy tickets. They usually get a discount; in America West's case, it's 20 percent off the lowest fare. There's no standby involved.

Many employees are taking that advice to heart this year.

DiDomenico, who has three young children, bought tickets to Cancun for his family's summer vacation in June. Flights on America West and other carriers were booking up, and he didn't want to risk disappointing the kids by flying standby.

"It was a big family vacation, an important family thing to do," he said.

Rodriguez did the same thing on a spring flight to Hawaii because she and her husband were meeting friends there.

"The flights were just so full," she said.

She's also lining up backup plans for a trip to Oshkosh, Wis., for a big air show next week. They are hoping to go into Milwaukee on America West for free, but plan to buy a backup ticket on Midwest Express. Another option: flying into Chicago, where there are more flights.

Even the experts are buying tickets. Sharon Roberson manages America West's Pass Bureau, which oversees employee travel benefits.

She has a family wedding coming up in Orange County, Calif. Few spots are more in demand in the summer from Phoenix than California, so Roberson ended up buying tickets.

"I want to be there," she said.