has anyone ever done it?

im about to start working for AA, the one and only reason for doing so is that i get to fly anywhere in the world for free and unlimited times, also my parents and spouce will fly free
im not married but it would be a great pick up line at a bar
"hey baby, wanna fly the friendly skies for free..."


so anyone ever done it? i need ideas one where i should travel etc..

6/3/2008 3:50:42 PM

Keep your resume up to date. you will be needing it soon.

6/3/2008 3:51:20 PM

holy fuck that sounds like an awesome perk

6/3/2008 3:51:26 PM

[something angry and generic]

6/3/2008 3:51:35 PM

I hope you've snagged an indispensable position.

6/3/2008 3:51:43 PM

pilot or flight attendant?

6/3/2008 3:51:58 PM

yes job security crossed my mind, but i only plan to work there for the summer, i graduate in december and might try to parlay this into a carreer if possible

but for now its all about traveling

6/3/2008 3:53:15 PM

im just a call center employee, they have a place in cary where you do the work
also you can even work from home

6/3/2008 3:53:46 PM

sounds to me they should cut that employees and family flying free thing and not worry about that $15 baggage charge

6/3/2008 3:54:49 PM

Quote :

"the one and only reason for doing so is that i get to fly anywhere in the world for free and unlimited times"

not quite. You fly anywhere domestically on stand-by for free. You fly internationally at an insanely low fixed rate.

6/3/2008 3:55:13 PM

i have a cousin that does it, and she seems to enjoy it... plus she makes really good money

6/3/2008 3:55:38 PM

i went through high school and part of college with this capability (my mom worked at midway for a while before they folded)

it was great

weekend trips EVERYWHERE

6/3/2008 3:56:35 PM

I was the kid of the airline employee who got to enjoy free flights. It was way easier to get on a plane 15 years ago as a standby, though. Now you can still go whenever you want if you just show up at the airport and say send me somewhere, but you have to be really careful about just trying to go one specific place at a specific time.

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 4:00 PM. Reason : and you might get stuck at your destination]

6/3/2008 3:58:45 PM

that sucks about standy, i hope though there are times where you can expect to find open seats, like early or late

but to those who did this, where did you go, did you go for the day or the whole weekend?

6/3/2008 4:02:55 PM

sounds like youre really jumping into this without any sort of research!

6/3/2008 4:04:10 PM

my mom has worked for continental my whole life and i flew on her pass until i was 25. now my sister works there and i'm her companion because she's not married.

i think flying standby is sweet. i can look up the flight loads and see how full they are and choose my flight that way, so i almost always get on. i usually try to fly in the mornings though, there seems to be more seats and the flights haven't been delayed all day or something.

i used to fly out to denver and las vegas a lot; these flights can be full sometimes though. now i usually just go up north (from atlanta). i've been to europe like 5 times on standby, and have gotten business class each time.

the job security thing can suck sometimes. my sister is a little concerned about her job. she started in 2005...they are still hiring more and more flight attendants though. a lot of that job security is related to senority with the company. my mom has had to move across the country or she would have been laid off. and after 9-11, her hours got cut down to part time for awhile, which sucked. that only happened because she works in a small market for continental (greensboro), and there are people there that have worked there since like the 1960s.

6/3/2008 4:14:36 PM

^^research? its just a summer job, besides i have a friend who works there, he told me all the important facts
also time is ticking on the summer so i had to act fast

[Edited on June 3, 2008 at 4:15 PM. Reason : ^]

6/3/2008 4:15:06 PM

^^thats pretty cool, did you go to europe by yourself or with someone else?

6/3/2008 4:17:26 PM

i've flown there alone, and with my family...

i'm going to hawaii in august, and that is not a flight i would fly standby on. those flights to honolulu are always full, and people with way more senority would get on before me.

6/3/2008 4:19:59 PM

Quote :

"not quite. You fly anywhere domestically on stand-by for free. You fly internationally at an insanely low fixed rate."

not true, at least not for delta, anyways. My sister has been working for Delta since 1997 and she is able to fly standby for free on any delta flight in the world. She also can fly free standby for several other airlines as well


My parents fly for free, but they are on a lower standby priority than her.

I also get to fly standby for a big discount (ID90's is their name = 90% off). My priority is S3, and I have a limited number of S2 I can use each year if needed. Sis flies S3, parents fly S3b.

the lowest priority is companion or buddy pass, S4. Hard to fly it nowadays sometimes

S1 is special case. I think bumped customers who have paid.

6/3/2008 4:51:15 PM

6/3/2008 4:53:44 PM

yeah i don't get charged anything for flying international on continental either.

i forgot about getting tickets on other airlines. that part is awesome too. my mom got me a free ticket on american one time, so that i could fly down to curacao. then i got another free ticket when i left on air curacao.

i've been on northwest, delta, american, alitalia, us air for either free or like 25 bucks.

6/3/2008 5:03:08 PM

this is the reason we cant have good things in here

6/3/2008 5:04:39 PM

I was supposed to be headed to first officer training May 26th until American Eagle cancelled all new hire classes


But yeah, the airlines are where it's at if travel is your thing.

6/3/2008 5:06:34 PM

i need to go to south america, i wonder which country is best, i hear chili is cool and the exchange rate is real good

6/12/2008 12:59:25 AM

I went on a trip last month and got to talk to the flight attendant for a little bit, she had just left a job at a large bank. She really enjoyed working with the airline. She had only been there for 6 months so she was still on crappy flights, but she said in another she was going to fly international. Seemed to be a pretty sweet job. She was also the best flight attendant ever, extra pretzels and a full bottle of water

6/12/2008 1:05:56 AM

so, you're gay then?

6/12/2008 1:08:30 AM

^^thanks for that useless story

in no way did that answer any of the questions or bring in any new relevant information
everyone in this thread is now dumber for having read that
i award you no points




[Edited on June 12, 2008 at 1:10 AM. Reason : im just messin with you man, dont cry]

6/12/2008 1:08:31 AM

too late


I think it will be fun, dunno where you are working but she really liked being there. She said if you ask for specific flights you can get them. One of her kids lived in Dallas, so they gave her a Dallas layover.

[Edited on June 12, 2008 at 1:15 AM. Reason : ...]

6/12/2008 1:13:10 AM

well, it actually revealed that new flight attendants can be stuck with sucky flights, which could be something to consider if you're talking about traveling all over the place. you could be stuck with going from charlotte to dallas or something all summer.

6/12/2008 1:15:38 AM

stop crying you big baby


no, im working in reservation in cary, it will be short term, like 2 months or so depending on how it goes

[Edited on June 12, 2008 at 1:16 AM. Reason : ,]

6/12/2008 1:15:46 AM

Yes, I used to work for American Airlines. I'm officially on payroll until sometime in August...

7/16/2008 10:56:45 AM

^so have you used your flying benefits

7/16/2008 1:25:37 PM

where's sumfoo1 at..

his sister used to do this.. i know he got to go anywhere for free but only if the flights weren't full so it was pretty stressful..

[Edited on July 16, 2008 at 1:28 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/16/2008 1:28:19 PM