What Discounts off flights do staff get?

[SOPOOR]

I'm sure it depends on airlines, but someone told me that staff get 90% Off standard airfares?? if thats the case, that is awesome, I would take the discount over any other work perk!

I have a friend of a friend who has worked at qantas in senior management for 17 years, apparently she gets free business class upgrades when available,

naturally, the business class upgrade would be nice but 90% off to me is the best perk!

Trips to Asia for $100? Round the World, $300? europe $200?

You could fly to France just for the weekend?

I know there are different levels based on years but are all the airlines generally the same???

or do the cheaper airlines have less perks?

 

[TonyHancock]

You could fly to France just for the weekend?

:shock:.....or alternatively bypass the Maginot line and invade through the low countries! It would only take a few days before France surrenders. Whoops there I go off topic again with my distaste for The French!!

I know there are different levels based on years but are all the airlines generally the same???

or do the cheaper airlines have less perks?

I suspect it might be a little more complicated. I got the impression that BA were reigning their perks in recently.

 

[straitman]

I'm sure it depends on airlines, but someone told me that staff get 90% Off standard airfares?? if thats the case, that is awesome, I would take the discount over any other work perk!

I have a friend of a friend who has worked at qantas in senior management for 17 years, apparently she gets free business class upgrades when available,

naturally, the business class upgrade would be nice but 90% off to me is the best perk!

Trips to Asia for $100? Round the World, $300? europe $200?

You could fly to France just for the weekend?

I know there are different levels based on years but are all the airlines generally the same???

or do the cheaper airlines have less perks?

If only it was that simple.

I have friends who have basically given up using the staff perks as there is never a guarantee of actually getting a seat. These are standby tickets and it can mean sitting around for days at a time to get the 'great' discount.

How valuable is your time?

 

[bam71]

Not as glam as it sounds. I'm actually leaving QF in two weeks, one of the reasons is the staff travel is being eroded, i.e. more people travelling = less seats for staff on standby basis.

No one gets free upgrades to J or P on leisure personal travel, you have to pay for it, and yes its cheap ( think around 1200 return Australia to Europe) but a few months ago coming out of London there were staff that had been waiting for 3-4 days to get on to come home. ( I was lucky - I had a higher priority than them). Its a pretty expensive town to get stuck in at the end of your holiday, and if you dont get back to work in time disciplinary action awaits:shock:. Apart from that you are the last served meals, no guarantee of being seated together or even in the same cabin, and if the J seat is broken ( i.e. no recline or IFE) guess who gets to sit there for 24hrs home.

With the rise of cheaper J coming from extra competition, I now prefer to pay and have all the hassle of staff travel taken away.

 

[anat0l]

Not as glam as it sounds. I'm actually leaving QF in two weeks, one of the reasons is the staff travel is being eroded, i.e. more people travelling = less seats for staff on standby basis.

Probably a good thing if it means more revenue. Most passengers would probably not see the worth in increasing capacity or having an artificial ceiling on seat sales / upgrades / awards on account of providing enough for staff travel.

I can bet my last dollar here that most would rather have more award seats for customers rather than more staff travel capacity on flights.

No one gets free upgrades to J or P on leisure personal travel, you have to pay for it, and yes its cheap ( think around 1200 return Australia to Europe) but a few months ago coming out of London there were staff that had been waiting for 3-4 days to get on to come home. ( I was lucky - I had a higher priority than them). Its a pretty expensive town to get stuck in at the end of your holiday, and if you dont get back to work in time disciplinary action awaits:shock:.

3-4 days seems alright - sorry, that came out the wrong way. I was expecting you to say something more like 2-4 weeks.

If it is travel during peak times then I don't see why it can't be expected that getting a seat home would not be complicated. And this is London. Again, I'm not sure how 3-4 days lines up against reasonable expectation.

One of my aunts works for Q Catering and I believe is afforded staff travel rights. From listening to her experiences, she has rarely - if ever - had any problems with using it, albeit yes they (a family of 3) do have to factor in slack for standing by. I believe they even went to Europe on staff fares.

Apart from that you are the last served meals, no guarantee of being seated together or even in the same cabin, and if the J seat is broken ( i.e. no recline or IFE) guess who gets to sit there for 24hrs home.

If you read a lot on AFF, you'll actually find that many have commented that, as passengers, this is exactly the kind of treatment that should be given to staff (whether deadheading or on staff travel). In a nutshell, passengers who are not affiliated with the airline should be served as a priority.

There have been plenty of anecdotes on AFF where members (as passengers) have had to deal with their preferred choice of meal not being available, being denied an upgrade or not being able to sit together on account of staff members taking the first dibs on these. Whether these anecdotes are based on truth or not may be dubious, however......

Apologies if this is harsh, but most people here are convinced that staff take the lowest precedence when being served on the carrier they work for, especially when the compensating factor is much cheaper travel and the imperative to serve passengers first. In practice, the anecdotes here suggest that staff are not always last to be served anyway...

With the rise of cheaper J coming from extra competition, I now prefer to pay and have all the hassle of staff travel taken away.

I assume there's a lot more processes involved with staff travel beyond simply waitlisting and waiting......

 

[addyoni]

From a sibling at a Muslim airline, it's roughly 50%. Not really worth it if you aren't flexible on dates. Paying to hotels & transport to & from airport to check if you've made that last 1 or 2 spots on the stand by list could add up.

Did PER-DUBAI-NY back in 2008 or so: Hassle for sibling to book, they have to log on to their Intranet thingy with the RSA SecurID key and it can get frustrating and sluggish. Plus it's only available for one family member per year I think.

OT: Anyhow the airline I went on, had staff 'nationals' that were so flippantly arrogantly rude it was shocking. The Muslim moron (how he made it past the personality interview beats me, oh well maybe it was a nepotism post, second cousin of the ruling family or whatever) my age (about mid 20s) basically told me to piss off and get out of the rear cabin barely 10 minutes or so after the seat belt sign first switched off ) I put my bag on my seat and went 2 rows to go pee whilst 40% still boarding, and not even 2 minutes they switched my seats without consent and moved me to a coughpy exit row window seat without compensation (until I asked like 3 or 4 times back to Perth from Dubai and all I got was some coughpy chocolate thingy LOL).

Point of story: I think they know you're a standby and treat you like the great friend/family of their colleague you are. Could be coincidence but my sibling left the airline as soon as the 2 or 3 yr contract ended, as amongst so many things they just treat you like a number. Dubai is so overrated it's not funny. So get a friend or sibling in Qantas or somethin', support local.

Better option is to join that travel club for current and former hospitality workers. Get discounts on a range of things. So go work in the industry for a year or so and join that club. :mrgreen: Or just do what most on AFF are doing, join programs, get plastic cards, sign up for bonuses, accumulate points and move up levels by flying :idea:

 

[richie9x]

From what some friends have told me ID90 (Industry discount 90%) fares are fairly commonly. But they are not as good as they seem. They are standby seats so you might have to hang around an airport waiting for a free seat for days. The discount is on the full fare price. For economy this can mean the ID90 fares can come out about the same as sale economy fares that normal customers buy. The benefit of the normal fare is that it is not standby so staff will often just buy normal economy sale tickets instead of ID90.

The most benefit of ID90 fares are for business and first class tickets. But not all staff have access to these. In particular the first class tickets are often restricted to the highest ranking employees - senior management and senior pilots.

 

[bam71]

If you read a lot on AFF, you'll actually find that many have commented that, as passengers, this is exactly the kind of treatment that should be given to staff (whether deadheading or on staff travel). In a nutshell, passengers who are not affiliated with the airline should be served as a priority.

Couldn't agree more. Unfortunately we've seen it ourselves as well where staff take priority over passengers.
I agree with anat0l entirely that commercial pax should have total priority, and it still amazes me after 16yrs here that there are wp's wanting upgrades and they hand it out to staff members (me included).

Anyway, wont be using it again now, and we're in the fortunate position that we dont need it anymore to travel J and can still have our 2-3 o/s trips a year.


happy (confirmed seat) days

 

[minkw]

I generally fly on AD100 both for duty and leisure travel but am not an airline employee, always confirmed space, I think airlines have different rules/procedures for employees and partners/suppliers. Cheers, M

edit: However I always get served last with meals..

 

[milehighclub]

I agree with anat0l entirely that commercial pax should have total priority, and it still amazes me after 16yrs here that there are wp's wanting upgrades and they hand it out to staff members (me included).

I have said it multiple times before but a staff member will never ever be upgraded before a commercial passenger. Points upgrades are done first, then any available seats may be taken by staff. If a frequent flyer missed out, they would of missed out anyway regardless if there were ten staff or zero staff.

Qantas has always been rather "stingy" with points upgrades but with a change in process we should see more frequent flyers being upgraded into empty seats than in the past (and as published on the Qantas website about offering more upgrades)

As for my person view on staff travel - I love it. In nearly 10 years I have used staff travel more times than I could even begin to count and I have missed 2 flights. It's all about proper planning, thinking outside the box and a touch of patience. Could it had 2-3 hours to my journey? Maybe - but the savings are absolutely worth it.

Cabin crew and pilots have the added advantage of being able to ask the operating crew if they can use the crew seated rest area. These can be given up for staff travel if the 100% of the crew agree (and it is not done by seniority - the crew can give it up to anyone they wish which is handy if you have your travel companion with you as you know they will get on)

I also don't travel during peak season (like school holidays) not because I can't get on but I don't like to pay excessive prices at the other end!

 

[medhead]

I have said it multiple times before but a staff member will never ever be upgraded before a commercial passenger. Points upgrades are done first, then any available seats may be taken by staff. If a frequent flyer missed out, they would of missed out anyway regardless if there were ten staff or zero staff.

My experience on one points upgrade tends to disagree with you. Only tends to disagree as I was able to present information that contradicted the initial rejection and got the upgrade as a result.

I have also missed out on a customer care space available upgrade request to staff. Entirely different kettle of fish, but still staff put in front of a commercial passenger trying to use a reparation upgrade.


Sent from the Throne (80% chance) using Aust Freq Fly app

 

[elbarto]

BA off their staff discount tickets that come with all the same conditions of a standard commercial ticket. It's not as cheap as staff travel, and weirdly, can be more expensive then some sale fares and travel websites but it sure beats some of the cough you have to put up with on staff travel (plus the points and scs are a real bonus too)


Sent from my iPhone

 

[VHOEJ]

The QF discounts are good but as others have said, it is all standby so if there are no free seats, you don't travel. Staff have more recently been more likely to purchase a commerical ticket because the sale fares are so cheap and often comparable to actual staff travel fares.

But yes, it is not as glamorous as it seems. You pay for the upgrade if it is available, but it is all based on years of service and the category of travel. It is good if you are very flexible and don't mind changing your plans. You really can't travel in school holidays or around any holidays.

All you need is an aircraft to break - the truck that hit the A380 in London a few weeks ago was a nightmare for commercial pax, staff had no hope of getting home. I was stuck in LAX for 3 days because of an aircraft out of service and getting stuck with about 100 staff travellers. You have to pay for all your accomodation and extra costs so when you add that together, it can be more expensive than buying a commericial ticket (if it is available). So if you plan, you are flexible and have back up plans, more often than not it is worth it. But when you add up the costs of getting stuck somewhere, it does diminish the 'benefit'.