I forgot one thing. Flying within Europe once you are there is very easy. Even as a non-dependant, you are eligible for SkyTeam ID96 fares. This means you pay 96% off of the full-fare Y class fare. This is still standby.

Another agreement to know about for DL nrsa's is with Swiss Airlines. You can get ID95 on Swiss flights. Swiss will, unlike Skyteam, allow you to book the ID95 on a C business class fare. In fact, for most inner-europe flights the C fare and the full Y fare are the same on Swiss. Cool heh?!

UPDATE: Apparently ID95 tickets on Swiss are supposed to be issued as Y. Y and C are the same fare inter-europe, but an ID95 in C internationally will cost more. Most Swiss agents will honor a ID95 in C for business standby, while others will not (which is the official line.) If you try for the C ticket, also buy a backup ticket issued in Y class so that if you get there and C is full or the agent will only let you standby for Y, you can refund the more expensive C ticket. Make sense?

As far as being a non-dependant goes, "technically" you are not eligible for ID90/95/75 fares outside of SkyTeam. Most US CTO (city ticket offices) are good and catching this and enforcing it. There are different rumors about non-dependants and travel companions be able to buy some ID9x tickets. I guess you can always see what happens.

To clear some confusion for other airline employees out there...at Delta we are allowed to do self-ticketing in the DL computer system for ID90 type tickets. As I understand it, this is not the case for most non-USA airlines. Apparently you must go through your Staff travel office. Can some of you with different airlines confirm this. I was always curious!