Listing on a flight as ZED ticket holder: What for? How do you do it?

I have a question which has been bothering me for a long time:

Each time I buy a ZED ticket from the staff ticket office of my airline, they stress the importance of getting listed on the flight(s) I intend to make use of, which in most cases means I have to call the airline(s) and give them some info like my name, ticket number, travel dates etc., although some airlines have the option to get listed online, which is a nice feature since it saves a lot of phone calls as some phones at exotic airline offices do not seem to be attended very often... http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...>/rolleyes.gif

Now, I generally get myself listed, but I've never really understood WHY it is such a good thing to do this?
What exactly is it I gain from getting listed?
If I have a ZED ticket and present it at check in, shouldn't I get a seat if there's one free?
I've been told it has something to do with getting priority over other standby pax, but I plan my flights well in advance, avoid flights which show only a few open seats and always have several options available, so do I really have to bother with getting listed each time?

On flights with meal service, you are literally meal listing yourself. With no meal service, it just helps the airline to plan ahead. We can better plan our fuel loads and what not and nonrevs are taken into that. Just walking up and listing last minute, while sometimes must be done, is a pretty big pain to the gate agents and those of us working the flight.

Some airlines have mandatory listing. Some even require 24 hrs prior. Zed agreements vary.

Some airlines like mine (IB) allows non revenues to arrive at check-in without listing, but it helps very much to the agent to check you in if you are already listed, because they can automaticaly display your name and destinations, and print your boarding passes.
Some airlines like Continental didnt want me to check me in once because i wasnt listed on a flights, so they kindly sent me to the ticketing counter for listing and them comming back.
It is just a matter of rules. And I think they are very easy to follow... Arent they?

Thanks for the replies! Much appreciated by this new member!

So the bottom line is that is just something some airlines may require for their own convenience, although not all of them do, hence my staff office just stressing its importance all the time so to make sure I get all the chances, regardless the details of the ZED agreement?

I agree listing shouldn't be a big deal on condition you can do it online or via one simple call, but unfortunately I can tell you stories about having to call about 20 times before I got the right person on the phone or having to call in to international numbers during peak time (because the airline didn't have an office in my country)... http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/angry.gif
Those were the cases which made me think about the necessity to follow the listing procedure, since I knew for sure there were still 40 open seats on the flight, hence the question!

About the listing itself:
Do you generally call in for it or do you use dedicated websites?
Or even better: does your staff travel office do it for you?
At my airline, they take care of the listing if I fly on my own airline, but for all the others, they leave it up to us.
For that, we have a list of phone numbers of all the airlines we have ZED agreements with and other than the well-known flyzed.com list, we always have to call in, although -thanks to this site- I've learnt that AF for instance has a nice website where you can get yourself listed online! I've managed to 'crack' the login and password for my airline, which isn't very difficult actually and got myself listed very easily for a flight! How convenient, especially when you want to push back your return date during your trip!

Does anybody know of other airline specific listing sites which are more or less open to all?
I've read BA has such a site too (and even without a password) for instance, but I don't seem able to find it... http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...>/rolleyes.gif

Here you are:

https://idtravel.ba.com/

Best,

At AA, agents are instructed to deny checkin to any individual that shows up with out a flight listing. In part because we want the work of creating a PNR handled in the back-office, not in the operation. Our agents CANNOT norec any more so you must have a PNR in the system before they can check you in. Further, I believe there are security issues involved which require a PNR.

As more and more airlines move to electronic ticketing for ZED type travel, a previously created flight listing will be mandatory to ensure the ticket is "tied" to the itinerary and available for check-in and lift. This means more and more airlines will be using web based technology to accept flight listings. I know several are working on it.

BA, like AF, have their own web listing tool which requires you enter you ticket number as your password. Several others use FlyZED, for now, but are likely moving to a different platform.

Thanks again for the reply.

I agree that weblisting is very easy: I really hope it becomes the standard way of doing things pretty soon as phoning in can be a nightmare with some airlines. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...IR#>/angry.gif

Strange policy AA has. Never heard of it either. Basically it puts AA in contradition to the ZED concept then, since you can not hop onto an AA flight at the last minute if the flight you'd wanted to go on was full, but the AA flight wasn't?

About the advantages of being listed: Did you know that at my airline, you can even do an e-checkin as standby ticket holder and thus select your seat (provided the load is not too high)? Does anybody know if any other airlines also allow ZED ticket holders (with a listing obviously) to make use of the e-checkin option rather than send us to at the gate?

Strange policy AA has. Never heard of it either. Basically it puts AA in contradition to the ZED concept then, since you can not hop onto an AA flight at the last minute if the flight you'd wanted to go on was full, but the AA flight wasn't?
<blockquote>Actually this is not in contradiction with the ZED concept or agreement. You can run from BA to AA,for example, if you&#39;re not accommodated on the BA flight, you just have to have a pre-existing flight listing or call while you&#39;re running from check-in desk to check-in desk. This is fairly common policy. </blockquote>
You mention that SN allow ZED ticket travelers to check-in on-line. Are you certain that that includes non-SN staff? I&#39;ve not heard of any airline that permits OAL emloyees holding ZED/standby tickets to check-in on-line. Many permit that for their own staff but not interliners ... yet.

It Iberia you can check in online or via kiosk check-in if you have an electronic ticket and if you are listed on a particular flight, even if you are an employee or oal employee. For example, we have electronic ZEDs with some airlines, so if your ticket is issued for a flight you actually want to fly, just check-in online or via a kiosk.
Also, BA always wants me to do via the kiosk. Last week they even give me a seat at the machine, and I changed seats assigments as a revenue pax.

Well, I am not 100% sure, but the internal mail about this didn&#39;t sound like it was limited to just our own airline staff.
Also, Spainflier seems to know of a similar concept at IB and BA...

With European airlines, it has always been much more common practice to give a ZED ticket holder a seat right at check-in, rather than last minute at the gate like it seems to be the standard in the USA, so the step to just letting ZED pax use the kiosks (or even the e-check-in option) is much smaller overhere.

Does anybody know why some airlines (especially in the USA) make such a big deal about giving us a confirmed seat some hours before the flight departs, when they still have 80 open seats?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (flyer146 @ Apr 1 2009, 05:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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Does anybody know why some airlines (especially in the USA) make such a big deal about giving us a confirmed seat some hours before the flight departs, when they still have 80 open seats?[/b]

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Hope....hope that no matter how remote the possibility, how long the odds, how improbable it may seem, that 80 people will show up at the counter, cash in hand, and want to get on your flight to Phoenix. http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif http://www.nonrev.net/forums/style_e...#>/biggrin.gif

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SpainFlier @ Mar 31 2009, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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It Iberia you can check in online or via kiosk check-in if you have an electronic ticket and if you are listed on a particular flight, even if you are an employee or oal employee. For example, we have electronic ZEDs with some airlines, so if your ticket is issued for a flight you actually want to fly, just check-in online or via a kiosk.
Also, BA always wants me to do via the kiosk. Last week they even give me a seat at the machine, and I changed seats assigments as a revenue pax.[/b]

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Great point, I forgot that some carriers are already exchanging electronic ZED tickets. Generally, if the traveler holds an eTicket then checking in via a kiosk is supported.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SpainFlier @ Mar 31 2009, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

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It Iberia you can check in online or via kiosk check-in if you have an electronic ticket and if you are listed on a particular flight, even if you are an employee or oal employee. For example, we have electronic ZEDs with some airlines, so if your ticket is issued for a flight you actually want to fly, just check-in online or via a kiosk.
......[/b]

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Is it with the regular website or through a specific one?

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Originally Posted by SpainFlier

It Iberia you can check in online or via kiosk check-in if you have an electronic ticket and if you are listed on a particular flight, even if you are an employee or oal employee. For example, we have electronic ZEDs with some airlines, so if your ticket is issued for a flight you actually want to fly, just check-in online or via a kiosk.
Also, BA always wants me to do via the kiosk. Last week they even give me a seat at the machine, and I changed seats assigments as a revenue pax.

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Intresting, would this be possible with a paper ticket? I will be in MAD with a paper ZED trying to get to SVQ (along with everyone else) and that would make things a little easier.

No, with a paper ticket it is not possible. Even if you are listed.
But I am sure that any agent will check you in very quick, because the system is very flexible.
if there are seats available for standby travelers, the system at the check-in will issue boarding passes with seat assigment so the agent will give you a seat right this moment. It happens all the time.

J