Ek staff travel

[thatwasclose]

Guys ,

I have never been described as the brightest but has anyone actually used a cat c firm lately? I used to get them on tight flights to make sure I could get back but lately can't seem to find any on these flights. Everywhere I just looked for August , which was half of Europe, had no firm concessional tickets available. So in case, cat c and special tickets fall under this category right ? Does anyone have any tricks ?

[Capt Quentin McHale]

Does anyone have any tricks ?


Yep..... It's summer holidays in Europe now, in case you haven't noticed. If you HAVE to be somewhere... Go full fare!!!

[captainsmiffy]

I think that thatwasclose has a point. Not been able to get cat C firms to or from the UK everytime I look at least, for aeons! Not just european holiday times, either. This was never the norm prior to the special tickets debacle, or at least so it seems to me......

[ExpatBrat]

I couldn't get on subload in Dubai once. The guy told me if I held a Cat C ticket I could, though. I told him there weren't any available for that day's flight. So he had me go over to one of the computers, find the same flight a month or two down the road where a Cat C WAS available, book it and bring the receipt back to the counter. So I did that and he put me on.

Don't know if that would still work but I guess it counts as a trick!

[afcwxm]

It's a total joke.. I am treated the same if I have a cat A subload.. even when there are 20 seats spare in J and 100 in Y.

It's my LSC confirmed ticket which has now been shifted down to the special category ..What a p..take thanks EK for my 18years service!!!

[airbusgirl66]

I really feel for the guys who have have served the company and are now not able to use their LSC tickets. Just so wrong. :=

[crewmeal]

So what is EK's policy for retired staff? Or haven't EK been around that long? BA have changed their rules and the old'ens who have served many moons have had their privileged travel withdrawn.

[Dropp the Pilot]

I can't believe there hasn't been a larger dung-storm about the practical loss of retirement concessions.

How many times have you heard someone stay "I am staying 'x' more years in order to get my travel concessions in retirement". Haven't any of these people noticed that they essentially don't exist any more? There is rarely any availability showing, even when the flight shows empty and when it does show you are in competition with the temporary 'friends' of every venal Grade II.....

[airbusgirl66]

That NEEDS to be changed. Immediately. Friends are NOT the same as employees who have served the company for years!

[falconeasydriver]

If you need to get home, if you can't get a CAT C ticket etc etc, then think laterally and get a ZED ticket, lots and lots of options. Trying to get to CDG? flyzed to IST, VIE, ZRH, GVA, AMS, CPH, or wherever….and you'll get there.
Its all about your attitude, and realizing that staff travel out of home base don't give 2 sh1ts about you or your holidays.

[777boyo]

Its not as bad as some would have you believe. Just booked four long haul sectors involving a SE Asian destination and UK (LGW) using Firm Long Service Concessions for my wife and I, for travel mid September onwards.No problems at all, you simply have to plan ahead if you want to use these tickets - and keep monitoring Flight Status on Trips. It changes on a daily basis, sometimes more often.

Try asking expat guys in SQ or CX about their Staff Travel packages - nowhere close to EK in terms of eligibility or quantity of tickets, subload or firm, current or retired staff - especially the latter.

[pilotday]

not sure if special tickets and Cat Cs are in the same available category. It appears so, or some kind of matrix where when a special ticket is purchased, it reduces Cat C's available...

There is a big problem with Korean cabin crew buying the special tickets and flipping them to people who are not their friends for a quick scalp.

If you want to get home, just figure out the "Korean black market" and buy your staff travel tickets from them.

I remember a while back an e-mail warning people, but its still happening, screwing everybody.

[Ketek400]

The only way to stop this is to get employees to nominate 4 friends for staff travel under the special tickets. These should then only be changed once a year.

[whossorrynow]

Try asking expat guys in SQ or CX about their Staff Travel packages - nowhere close to EK in terms of eligibility or quantity of tickets, subload or firm, current or retired staff - especially the latter.

A couple of months ago an EK retiree came on this board to mention that when he tried to book this years ticket entitlement the system refused him. It seemed that his entitlement had been downgraded although no notification had been made to him - same as the recent changes to the rostering rules.

[777boyo]

whossorrynow,

re your last post. I didn't see the post you refer to, but there have been no recent (at least within last 7 years) changes to EK Retired Staff Travel benefits in terms of quantity of tickets, Onload priority, or Upgrade priority, as described in the Retired Staff Section of the Staff Travel Manual. Retired Staff have always had a lower Onload priority than currently serving staff, and rightly so, imho. (And I'm retired).

Having said that, Eligibility is one thing, while actually getting access to your preferred flight/seats on the specific day you want is something different entirely. With "Special" tickets, increasing seat factors, increasingly complex capacity/yield management, and increasing Skywards members, using any type of staff travel benefits - Retirement or otherwise - is harder now than it was 10 years ago and requires more planning.

7B

[MR8]

There's only a problem for flying personnel who have to wait for the roster publication before they book a ticket.
The company recognised the problem with CAT C vs Special tickets and changed the policy: CAT C opens up 6 months in advance, Special tickets open up 90 days in advance. So if you are able to plan more then 3 months in advance, you won't be affected by the special tickets and chances are that you might find CAT C if you are a little bit flexible.
With our rosters being published 7 days before the end of the month, and secondary leave being awarded about 2 months before, for pilots the special tickets will be a factor and it will be almost impossible to find something on our more popular routes.
The only option is the Annual Leave Ticket which is the one card you always must have up your sleeve. I don't use my annual leave ticket anymore for what it is intended for, but keep it as my 'get out of jail card' when necessary..

[SimCity]

EL Staff travel is a joke. You might as well fly ZED.