5 Reasons Flight Attendants Aren’t Willing to Give you a Buddy Pass

1. Summertime is rapidly approaching and while we’re all gearing up for warmer weather,  backyard barbeques, relaxing by the poolside and treks to the beach, flight attendants are preparing for the dreaded buddy pass vacationers.  

You probably already know what a buddy pass is but if you don’t, it’s free or reduced rate travel that flight attendants and other airline personnel can use for themselves, their families and friends. When traveling on a buddy pass you are never guaranteed a seat because the stipulation for your inexpensive fare, is that you are flying standby. You also don’t receive any compensation for flights that you miss and you’re likely the low man on the totem pole on the standby list, which can cause you to spend hours in the airport, watching planes come and go.

A buddy pass vacationer, by definition, is someone who attempts to plan (in advance) a vacation with a buddy pass ticket. One who will pay for an entire cruise but will scrimp on airfare and attempt to book air travel using a buddy pass to get to the ship.  One who will reserve a lovely Mexican villa that they may or may not enjoy because it was booked with a buddy. One who will forgo the girl’s trip because all the other girls purchased a plane ticket and one lone ranger knew a guy, booked with a buddy and is likely still standing by for the 2017 trip.

Unfortunately, I know many flight attendants, including myself, that have been looked at as being rude or selfish because they don’t want to deal with buddy pass vacationers and their travel shenanery. If you’re gearing up to be a 2018 BPV, here are 5 reasons why your request for a buddy pass may not be granted.

1. Who Even Are You?

I am always so tickled by that saying because it’s so grammatically incorrect that it gives you pause. The same pause flight attendants feel when someone that they don’t know, don’t know very well or has not seen since kindergarten, asks for a buddy pass. Though I rarely give buddy passes to anyone, when I do, I need to know you and you should actually be someone I consider to be my buddy. I want to feel comfortable knowing that you will not act a fool while traveling on my personal flight benefits because my name is attached to your reservation and so is my job.  I could lose my job and/or my flight privileges if your behavior is anything less than civilized on a flight or even while waiting for one.  So if you are thinking about propositioning a flight attendant that you don’t know by sliding in their DM’s or randomly approaching them while they’re in their uniform at the grocery store, I can assure you, it’ll likely be a resounding no.

2. Knowing You and Your Shenanigans, Scares Us Even More Than Not Knowing You.

Listen, some of our friends and family are not the most conservative, professional or even respectful people and for that, I’m sure we don’t love them any less. We totally welcome them aboard our airlines with open arms and hospitality but it will be on tickets you booked under your government name. As it pertains to buddy pass travel, there are strict rules, conditions and appearance standards, that must be adhered to. Frankly, we don’t trust you. We don’t feel confident that you won’t show up with your pajamas or hair bonnet on, with six carry on bags and the wherewithal to not curse out the airline employees should you not make your flight. Therefore, your 2018 buddy pass request in addition to any and all other requests are denied.

3. The Best Things in Life are Free, Unless it’s a Buddy Pass.

As my Mother often says, “free isn’t always free.” The same can be said for buddy passes. Though you may feel as though you’ve essentially hit the jackpot with this free or extremely low fare, the flight attendant that gave you the pass may have to pay big and it will be with their time, energy  and sanity.  When you are not able to get on a flight, the first person you call is the flight attendant who issued you the buddy pass,  with additional questions and hopes of an accommodation. We can’t help you! We already warned you that it is indeed standby travel and you get what you pay for. Furthermore, some airlines just don’t give the employees these passes. It’s based on a merit or reward program. For example, a flight attendant can earn points for things such as perfect attendance and customer commendations. After they accumulate a certain amount of points, they can then redeem them to purchase merchandise like a computer, a new cell phone, gift cards or if you choose to save those points you can get something as lavish as a boat. A boat! However, people think our hard earned points should be used to buy your buddy passes. We like boats! We want a boat. For that reason, you may need to get Randy Jackson on line 1 because it’s gonna be a no from me dawg.

4. There’s Still Plenty of Time for you to Purchase a Ticket Though…

It’s always interesting when people reach out to me for a buddy pass 6 months or even a year before their travel date. That’s plenty of time for you to save and purchase an actual ticket for the low low price of not standing by. Honestly, I think that buddy passes should be used for emergencies or last minute circumstances, not for planned travel. However, you should probably refer to denial reason #1 before you reach out, even under dire situations. Don’t be a BPV, don’t miss your girls trip, enjoy your Mexican villa, buy a ticket and when you do, don’t call us asking how you can do it or if we have intel on reduced or sale fares. We don’t friend. You may need to enlist the help of a travel agent for your travel needs.

5.  It May be Better to Just Gas up the Bug

Sometimes it’s best to just make it a road trip. People don’t only ask for buddy passes in the height of the summer season, they love to ask for them during ridiculously impossible standby travel times, like Spring Break, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Rest assured, if you absolutely can not purchase air travel during these times, it would be in your best interest to drive or to just have a jingle bell jamboree at your home.  It’s likely you will get nothing more than continuous uncomfortable  naps at the airport should you try to use a buddy pass during these times and flight attendants know this. If you come across a flight attendant that’s actually willing to give you a buddy pass for these busy travel times, they don’t care about you or your well being. Don’t trust them. I’m totally kidding. Or am I?

Safe travels!