Aruba. And Back……..

Traveling as a Standby (Non-Rev)

Working for an airline gives us a financial advantage while traveling. We can fly on our airplanes for free, or at a greatly reduced cost, depending on the departure city and destination. This is an awesome perk of the job called standby travel, but it can come with its own adventures and challenges. Allow me to illustrate….

Easy Peasy

Amie and the kids left for Aruba without me. Not maliciously or anything. It was all planned. Because we usually Non-rev when we fly, we we are always looking for the flights with the most open seats. Non-revs only get seats that aren’t bought, so we are the last to be assigned any open seats on a flight. We saw that the flights on Sept 3rd to Aruba were light (code for many open seats), so we decided she would take the kids a few days early and we’d get an Airbnb in a condo right in downtown Oranjestad before our reservation at the resort on Saturday the 6th. She and the kids flew from IAD-EWR-AUA with no problems. I returned from my Madrid trip on the 3rd, and traveled down on the 4th to meet up with them. Easy peasy.

Cutting It Short

Our reservation at the resort was from Sept 6th-20th. We really enjoyed the condo, downtown, shops, and the pier, but we were ready for the resort and beach after a few days. We booked our cab, changed locations, and settled in to resort life. All good things must end though, and since we Non-rev’d down, we were set on doing it back home too. The loads were light for both flights home on Sept 18th, but looked horrible on the 19th and 20th, so we made the decision to head back to the states a few days early. Saving on the flights far outweighs the cost of housing for us, so it’s an easy trade-off. We listed for our flight on the 16th, packed up the night of the 17th, and set off for the airport around noon on the 18th.

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

French. Technically means “let the good times roll.” Often used in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. My version is more “Here we go. This is probably going to suck.” You know, tongue in check type stuff. The night before we left, we had 3 people on the Non-rev list in front of us. We were numbers 4-9 on the open seats list, with 14 open seats on the first flight, 90 on the second. When we woke up, the open seats on the first flight were down to 9. No problem. We could still make the first flight. If not, the 2nd was wide open. The goal for any standby traveler is to get as close to your destination as soon as you can, then adjust as needed.

“Missed It By That Much……”

We arrived at the airport almost 2 hrs before the flight on the recommendation from my mother (she actually said we should arrive 3 hrs before the flight. Gotta love moms). Made it through security rather quickly, and made our way to the gate with plenty of time to spare. Checked the app, and now there were zero seats available. Ugh. I talked to the gate agent, and was informed they blocked the seats because the flight was near max takeoff weight, and needed the extra lb’s for fuel. Sure enough, we missed the flight. There were only 5 seats open, but I can ride in the cockpit, so without the weight issue, we would have made it. Next flight in an hour. Got some pizza and chilled out.

One Problem Solved, Another Pops Up

There were plenty of open seats on the next flight, so getting on and sitting together was easy. Our next problem to solve was that we would arrive right when the last flight to DC was leaving. The odds we would make it were slim, so I started looking for open flights the next day. EWR-IAD is a popular route, and the next day had 6 flights, but no open seats. Checked the train schedule and cost. A five hour ride for about $300. This included train changes and arriving at IAD mid afternoon. Not ideal. I found an open flight to Norfolk, VA that left an hour after our arrival into EWR. Next day had 25 open seats on the 10:30am flight to IAD. Looked like our best option.

Mo Money, Mo Problems

Norfolk was now departing in 35 minutes, and the gate was at the other end of our terminal, so back to race walking. They will close flights early if all revenue passengers are onboard, so we didn’t have time to spare. We arrived at the gate with about 10 minutes to closing time. Next challenge was finding a hotel room. Well, two really. As a family of six, we almost always need two rooms. The limit is usually four or five people, and anyway, I’m not about shoving six into one to try and save some money. Norfolk doesn’t have hotels at the airport, so I looked for one with a shuttle and breakfast. One option. and not a good one. I booked a different hotel 25 minutes away, (with points!) and an Uber XL showing $40 for the ride. All this while taxiing out for takeoff. I get things done.

Not Done

It’s a short flight to Norfolk. We make our way to the curb and I look for a ride. Uber is now $75. For our Vermont amigos, Phish had a three day concert event starting the next day, so all the Phish Heads were arriving in Norfolk it seems AT THE SAME TIME. Thus, driving up the cost of an Uber. I looked at Lyft, and it was $50. Sweet! Not sweet. After booking a ride, no one picked it up. After 15 minutes of staring at my phone telling me someone will be picking my ride up shortly, I cancelled it and booked an Uber. Still took 15 minutes to get a ride. Good times. Made it to the hotel, got in our rooms, and fell asleep a little after midnight.

On The Road Again

Woke up at 7:15am, ate breakfast with four very tired kids, packed up, and booked our next Uber. Hit some traffic on the way, but made it to the gate with an hour to spare. Had the kids do some homework, boarded, and landed in IAD twenty four hours after leaving the condo in Aruba. I picked up the van, swung it up to the terminal, and loaded up the fam and our stuff. Everyone was hungry, so we stopped at Chick-fil-A for George and Fiona, then went to Cava for us other four. We still needed a hotel for our three day stay in DC, so I looked at options while we ate. I found one with small kitchens very close to Dulles. Pro tip: Kitchens are a great way to save money while traveling. You may pay more for the room, but you save tons on food costs.

That’s a Wrap

There you have it. By the time we checked in to our hotel in DC it was 27 hrs after we left the condo in Aruba. Two missed flights, three flights, two Ubers, two bus rides, one taxi, and two hotel rooms later. Non-revenue travel is not for the faint of heart. We save a ton of money, but need to be patient, flexible, and able to adapt on the fly. Modern technology makes it much easier, but we still need to look at all options when we’re trying to get to where we’re going. It’s fun to solve the problems in real time, and use different types of transport. I’m also proud of the kids for hanging in there as we constantly change plans. Not always an easy thing. But, we found a way to get ‘er done. The only thing missing was a train.

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