Advice needed on using Delta buddypass to go to Europe this summer

So me and my friend are thinking about nonreving to Europe this summer with Delta buddy pass. I know it's not going to be easy, that's why I am here seeking advice from the experts.

I've used buddy pass a handful of times for US travel so I am familiar with the general rules and regulations. I have been to Europe a couple times (with reserved seat) during the summer so I know how busy summer travel can get. So hopefully those past experience will prepare me a little for the adventure I am about to take on.

The plan is to leave US around 7/1 (+/- how many days to make this possible) and come back 7/11 (+ how many days to make this possible). My friend is a teacher so she has the whole summer off. I can probably let my boss know that there is a chance I may get stuck in Europe for a few extra days so it won't be a big problem.

I guess my first question would be "which route should I redeem the certificate for"? I live in NYC so leaving from here would be the most convenient for me. Boston is fairly close so that's another option. As for destination in Europe, we are going to get Eurail pass so I don't really care where we end up (and return from).

I read some old post about how CDG is a bad choice for nonrev. Is that still the case? I looked through Delta's flight schedules, CDG has 10+ flights to NYC/BOS daily. So wouldn't I have a better chance to find a seat or two (we can take sepearate flights if it's really that hard to find 2 seats together) from CDG than from another airport with only 1 or 2 daily flights?

Like I said, we are going to have Eurail passes so it doesn't really matter which airport we setup camp at to wait for a flight back. I just want to figure out which will have the highest chance to have avaliable seats so I can pick it when I redeem my certificate.

Of course I'll probably be calling Delta buddy pass phoneline A LOT in June to see if I can figure out any summer traveling patterns before redeeming the certificate. But any advice from an experienced person or insider will be appreciated.

Also, which airports in Europe are more comfortable should a multi-day standby waiting scenario occurs. I've only been to CDG, AMS in recent years. CDG, if I remember correctly, kind of sucked. I like AMS a lot, there were a lot of comfortable areas to rest for a long wait and there is wireless internet so I have access to more information. It's easier to get back to downtown Amsterdam from AMS than getting back to downtown Paris from CDG too.

And if anyone has any general advice on things to do in Europe during the first 2 weeks of July, I am totally open to suggestions too. So far, I just have Running of the Bulls in Pamplona and Loveparade in Berlin in mind. I've only been to Amsterdam, northern France, southern English so far so there are still a lot of places I can go explore.

Hi Henry,

I have tried this in the past with a friend on a buddy pass. I have a relative who works for Delta, so I fly S3B which is a little better than a buddy, S4 priority, but still kinda low on the list. We planned a trip to Copenhagen, DK in July for a week going through London Gatwick (LGW). From my personal expereince, I have never had a problem getting into, or out of LGW. On the other had, my friend on the buddy pass, was able to get to LGW, but would not have made the list for the return trip and ended up getting a one way ticket. If you are already in NY, JFK has a lot of flights to Europe, so I would just try to get on one of those if you aren't too far down on the NRSA list (whoever gave you the buddy pass can tell you this). The beginning of July is a tough time to travel, especially due to our July 4th weekend. I'm not sure about European holidays also, but there are a couple websites that tell all the official holidays of each country. My advise would be to try from JFK if the Travelline says the flights are "fair", otherwise try to get to LGW. When you are at LGW, you can find some really cheap flights from there to other European cities on Easyjet or Ryanair or others...probably cheaper than a train out of the UK. There are a lot of good articles on the site explaning the Nonrev process so I would spend some time studying this site...especially ATL to Europe on DL. Other airports I have Nonreved out of or into are:
Frankfurt (FRA) - very busy airport...pretty standard as far as comfort is concerned. Once flight is ready, you go to the gate which is a separate room. You wait there until you are called along with the reserved seat passengers.
Stuttgart (STR) - pretty small airport and easy to get around. Delta has one gate with a bunch of chairs....not to comfy.

LGW is a really nice airport. It is big and busy, but has a lot of shops and places to eat....plus a bunch of comfy chairs with a screen showing all the flights coming in and out so you don't have to wait at your gate.

Let me know if I can help anymore. Good luck!!

My friend has been working at Delta since 9/98, is that what you meant by how far down I'll be on the NRSA list? So my friend's seniority is going to a better determinant of my chance of getting on a flight than how early I list myself on the flight or how early I show up at the airport? If that's the case, is 7 years good enough?

Yeah, that is what I meant. There really isn't any good way to tell if your friends senority is "good" enough...it all depends on who else is listed on the flight. If you have a bunch of buddy passes on the list with less senority, then yes, your friends hire date would get you higher on the list....but then if there are a lot of buddy passes with earlier hire dates, then you would be pretty low on the list...which is obvious. Then remember you are still below any employees and family members...so that is where it gets tricky. The best thing to do is just have your friend check the standby list for you everyday prior to your departure for about 4 or 5 days. This should give you a good indication if you will make it or not.

I forgot to address your second statement about listing. It doesn't matter when you list. For example, as a buddy pass, you could list on the flight months in advance. Someone with higher priority, like an employee of family member, could show up at the airport and list the same day and still beat all the buddy passes.

Henry,
I work with Delta and cannot tell you how carefull to be using a buddy pass to Europe in the summer. July is better than June, but you are pretty close to 4th of July. I recommend leaving Tues/Wed and returning Tues/Wed/Thurs. These generally give you the best chances.

As far as departure city, just stick to JFK. JFK "generally" has less non-revs than Atlanta and CVG. I would not rule out CDG, but generally its not the greatest as I see you have read in my post long ago.

What I would do is make a list of all the JFK options and then narrow them down. To check that many flights on TraveLine is insane so I have a better recommendation. Check this website out: Delta Seatmaps. It will allow you to see the number of seat assignments for flights. This is NOT anything more than a way to see what flights may have seats. A flight may show here lots of open seats, and then you call TraveLine to check actual availability and you will find that its full. Thats because people may have tickets but not actually have seat assignments. Like I said though...It will narrown down the possibilites for you.

As far as the eurail idea goes, another idea is Easyjet. Easyjet is an extremely low cost carrier where you can travel all over europe for cheap, especially if you book now. Many people find now that planning your trip on Easyjet can be cheaper and much faster than Eurail train passes. See www.easyjet.com

Also be ware that hotels fill up fast and on weekends. Research the hotel and hostel options before you get here. Hotels are not cheap like they used to be in Europe. Hostels are a better option for the budget traveller, but have a reservation for weekends at least 1-2 weeks in advance.

Happy travels and let me know if you have anymore questions.

Matt

Thanks for the insider info. My Delta friend works out of CVG and is not in the reservation/ticketing department so he doesn't seem to be very familiar with all the details regarding to using buddy pass, let alone travel load between JFK and Europe. The website you sent me is current not working. Maybe I'll try later. I've also heard about Delta's internal site called TravelNet (<a href="https://dlnet.delta.com/deltapassport/login.jsp" target="_blank">https://dlnet.delta.com/deltapassport/login.jsp</A>). Does that site give the actual availability like TravelLine?

I've already compiled the list of flights between JFK and most Europe destinations. And I just found out that Delta no longer permits buddy pass on code share flights so the list is down to just 11 flights between JFK and Europe (10 cities that we won't mind going) each direction, with another 11 between ATL and Europe as backups. So it's not too bad to type in all that in TravelLine if we (me and the girl I am going to Europe with) divide up the load. I guess my other big question is that is it possible to fly open jaw with DL buddy pass? If that's possible, I can just wait till a few days before returning to call to see the return flight from which city is more available and pay a little extra money to change to it. That'll definitely increase my chance of getting back on time.

So you think June is busier than July? I don't know why I had the impression that it's the other way around. And it's good to know that Tues/Wed are good for outbound and Tues/Wed/Thur is good for return. Our trip has been extended from 10+ days to 14+ days since there are just too many places we want to go to. So maybe we'll do 6/28+ to 7/12+.

As for traveling within Europe, I am familiar with the low cost carriers. I know it would save a lot of time but Eurail provides a lot more flexibility. We are trying to be as spontaneous as possible (as in having a list of places we want to go to but depending on how much we like once place, we may stay a little longer or shorter before moving on, etc). That's probably going make any sort of reservation more than one or two day ahead of time difficult. I'll definitely try to plan ahead as much as possible with weekend hotel rooms. I'll bring a huge list of hotels for all the cities we may visit so we won't end up homeless at 2AM in the morning at a unfamiliar city. And as a backup, I can actually afford expensive hotels if we have to, we are just trying to do the budget travel thing because we think it'll make a great experience for us, especially since we are both turning 26 later this year.

Nobody knows?

Henry,
The DeltaNet online does give more information, but there is no way to access it with a buddy pass. You can ask the employee who gave you the pass if they have access to DeltaNet (also called TravelNET). Not all employee groups have logins yet.

With June you want to be be very careful with the early part of June because that is when school gets out and everyone flees the country. Also....be very careful about using ATL as a backup. There are more options out of Atlanta, however there are MANY more non-revs on ATL flights.

Regarding that seatmap website...try it again, it works fine for me when I click from the forum post.

Happy Travels!