Buddy Passes Suck!

[mac_arp4ever]

k guys so i just had the most horrible week ever...last saturday i found out that my grandfather passed away...my aunt's friend gave me her buddy pass as a gift (she works for continental) since she had to use them up anyway...

so i flew out this past tuesday and had absolutely no problem getting on the flight (buddy passes are standby)

when i tried to get back home friday (i had an 1130 am flight) i could not get a flight to save my life...apparently no one ever gets on standby when it's freakin SPRING BREAK!!!! i waited from 1030 till about 330pm trying to fly home...i was crying and desperate to get home...

so this lady puts me on standby for a 715pm flight the next night...mind you she tells me oh there's 23 seats open...you will def get on this flight

WRONG!!!!

i waited from about 6pm till about 930pm trying to get a flight....me and my husband just gave up and bought a one way $530 plane ticket from hobby airport (houston,tx) to JFK....mind u newark airport is 10 minutes from my house...

this is just a warning to those flying through buddy passes please be very careful if you haven't dealt with this experience...if you're on a buddy list you are on the very bottom of a long list of stand-bys...and no one gives a shit if you want to be home with your family or that the reason you were traveling was because ur grandfather died...mind you continental only gives you a 10% bereavement discount (yeah thanks the tickets were 1000!)

thanks for listening to my rant

glad to be back home with my family

 

[Mabelle]

First, im very sorry about your grandfather passing.

I must say though that buddy passes are amazing, usually. Yes they can be inconvenient, but your also paying less than half the price (in most cases).
Your aunt really should have explained to you in great detail how the passes work, and that you could end up waiting a while to get on a flight. Usually (with Air canada anyway, i imagine the same goes for continental) you can check how many seats are open online at any time. If your flight looks really full, you can try and bump it up to another day, or push it back.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but buddy passes really are a great thing. Sometimes you get screwed, but you usually save a ton of money. I've bad experiences too. I was flying to Ireland (there was no direct flight), but had to stop in and connect in London ( we actually had to take a bus from heathrow to stanstead to catch a ryanair flight). Our AC flight was delayed by like 5 hours and we wouldnt be able to catch out connecting flight. AC wouldnt let us use their computers in the lounge because we were employees. The pay computers didnt work.
I was panicking because it turns out it was "bank holiday weekend" in England (which means everything is closed!) so there were NO open ryanair flights. We ended up getting standby passes on BMO, but because it was a bank holiday weekend we missed like 10 flights. Worst part was we had to walk from the BMO desk to the gate every time we didnt get on a flight and go through security again. it was like a good 15 min walk.
we ended up getting there at like 11pm. We waited over 12 hours in the airport. Even with all that trouble, it cost me under 200$ to get to Ireland. It was hell for a day but worth it.the way back was smooth sailing.

In most cases standby/buddy passes are EXTREMELY worth it. Every now and then you get screwed.

It sucks that because your getting a discount, people forget your still a human being. All they care about if customers paying in full

Again, sry about your grandpa.

 

[xxManBeaterxx]

I was really close to my grandpa, he passed away 10 years ago and i still miss him

Ugh. what a crap week. i hope you feel better <3 Going on buddy pass during vactions/holidays suck. This past christmas my husband couldnt make it home in time to celebrate the holidays with us, cuz he was on buddy pass :\ He actually had to sleep over the airport for 2 days