Questions from a Newbie - D3 Pass vs D1 from AA..

I'm trying to fly to Hawaii in a few weeks... I have a friend who is retired from the airline who has offered to allow me to purchase D3 passes from JFK to Hawaii, currently around $300 each direction for first class which sounds like an excellent deal. But the more I read about these D3 passes the more it seems like a high-risk activity.. I have a few questions:

1. Does the D3 Pass Reservation guarantee me a seat on the flight?
2. Since this is a retiree account they obviously cannot deduct payment through payroll, how is payment weight? Is there a way that me, the traveler can pay for it?

He has also offered to extend a D1 pass to myself and my fiancé. Is this possible?

1. Is a D1 pass guaranteed a seat on the flight?

Considering a round-trip coach ticket $700 and less I have a good shot at getting first-class with the D3 or the D1 pass, at $600 is not much of a savings to go through the stress of an unconfirmed First-class seat to save $100 per ticket. Do I have this all backwards? What do you guys think?

Also, I read somwhere that AA changed thier policies around a year ago:

Before June 1st 2016
Domestic First Class was 20.00
Domestic Economy Class was always free
Business Class International was 83.00
First Class International was 100.00

But when i log into the https://sui.aa.com/employee-travel-planner site and add the flight to the cart it shows a fare of $314.76 each way... what gives?:



deleted link- Migflanker Administrator

What gives is non-revving is an art form, it’s luck and you’re playing the odds.
1. Nothing is guaranteed - not the flight, not your seat, not even that you and your fiancée will be travelling on the same plane.
2. Hawaii typically has high non-rev loads- my advice avoid the stress and get the cheap tickets.
3. Your best source of info is always your sponsoring employee and read the NRTP guide again it will help.
And finally it’s a no-no to link to the AA site, I deleted the link.

Nooooooo. Don't do it.

To have an answer to these type of questions you must talk to the employee who let you uses these pass and not in a forum.