EK Staff travel for friends with benefits
 

just got an email saying the EK will open staff travel for friends, about 25 years late

Friends with benefits?

That's illegal!

thats what cumber (former boss of staff travel) told me 15 years ago when I asked him for buddy passes, but is legal in AUH cos EY has them

Well let's be pessimistic for the moment...it says that there is a big change to be announced later in the month and it includes the word 'friends'...I suspect you're correct in your assumption - it'd be odd if you weren't - but let's wait and see what they come up with first!

Good news anyway, and hopefully the first step in a range of measures improving the contract offerings. Can I suggest to whichever EK department reads PPRuNe that a way of getting priority (ie out-of-seniority) leave bidding for major life events such as Christenings, weddings and the like would go a very long way - even if just for a maximum of a 4/5 day stretch? It's a big stress and isn't covered by emergency leave!

Cc currently have a 'priority' leave bid option. Not guaranteed but the longer you wait to use it the more likely you'll get it. Was under the impression that all crew (CC&FD) were now on same system. Is this only the case for swaps?

If the buddy passes are true- what will they take away for the privilege? /innercynic

they will take away the travel benefits of your wife and kids to be fair to the single guys

I've heard this same rumor….

While a noble jesture, I just can't imagine many if any at all of our friends being able to utilize this with loads about 90% system wide? Most can barely get family onboard let alone a "friend".

EK's way to make us think they're actually doing something for us.

How about better more reasonable rostering instead.

Kap

It's time we had 2 ALT's / year, as we are unable to take all our leave in one go. At least that would make getting out of here for leave that much easier; we'll see what comes out of EGHQ next week.

2 ALTs better than Friends tickets.
But it won't happen...

Releasing S class would be nice to help wife/kids travel stress free isof trying to clear Immigration on a Standby ticket at STD-55 mins

Jump seat approval would be good as well.

From an EK business standpoint, this only makes sense. When you are looking to maximize revenue, this is a fantastic way to do it. Cat C wider eligibility tickets are currently around an ID 50 rate and available to a fairly large range of family members. It would only make sense to extend this to friends as well. These are firm seats, not ID 90's, so your friends and wider family members will not have to worry about getting bumped (under most circumstances) This is a huge plus for you as you don't have to stress worrying whether they will get on. From a company standpoint, the reason this makes sense is that it will help EK fill up those last few seats with a reasonable fare (from the US, a cat C wider eligibility ticket still costs around 750 USD for economy and around 2300 USD for business). When they chose to release those seats remains to be seen. This is just my opinion, but if the company was smart, they would extend the wider eligibility tickets to include friends!

The downside of this is to those who use ID 90's on a regular basis. Wider eligibility tickets are firm, and thus cut down on the number of seats avail to standby travelers should people actually use them. They are not cheap, so that remains to be seen.

All in all, and this is just my opinion, this is a step in the right direction that makes sense for all. Lets just wait and see what comes of this and what they do to screw it up. Fingers crossed it will be good for all.

I was going to make a smart comment about less wives flying the better :E but recently they've been quite good when onboard, who read them the riot act?? :} :)

If this is a good change its especially great for those who don't have (like?) Their relatives and would rather travel with their mates instead...

Potential of taking with one hand while giving with the other.
 

Increasing the range of Cat C is just another way for EK to increase revenue.
To use the term buddy pass is incorrect as pass implies free and they are not.

This could be a case of the company reducing the number of cat A and selling those cat A seats as Cat C's to friends, ergo increasing revenue.

The temptation with this system is that we could all be operating as discount ticket brokers and selling these tickets for a profit.

Varmint, I agree that allowing others to pay directly rather than having it go through our paycheck would be the way to go but I doubt the company will do that.

All of this appears to be taking with one hand while appearing to give with the other.