Thread: Newbie question: ID90 vs ZED?

I'm fortunate to be a 'parent of' a pilot, and therefore have some non-rev privileges (payback for putting him through four years of flight school). Thus far, I've only non-rev'd on his line, where the process is pretty trivial. I'm about to try some international on other airlines, and want to be sure I understand the process before I dust off my passport and head for the airport.

My kid has his hands full with job, spouse, and 3 kids of his own, so he's not particularly interested in carrying all my questions into his company's non-rev travel bureau. So I'm posting here.

Thus far, what I've seen is the ID90 web site, and I see how to pick out a flight and what it costs. But its less clear how/where to pay for the flight, beyond the few dollars that the ID90 web asks for. Also, the rates between city pairs vary widely, which makes me think that if the loads are too high and I need to switch to another flight, or worse yet, airline, it would be problematic. Can someone explain how this works, when you're actually out there, at the gate?

Its also not clear to me whether Zed is something completely separate from ID90 or if they overlap, or if they're the same thing. From what I've read, it looks like you're buying mileage suitable for the target city pair, rather than a specific flight, so for what I'm planning it would be preferable... if that's really the case. And where do Zed passes come from? Are they paper or electronic? Does my son have to go to the travel office and pay for them there, or is it done online?

Any assistance would be appreciated, even (especially) pointers to articles that would explain all this - I haven't been able to find any. I really do want to figure it all out before I wind up 10,000 miles from home, getting ready to sleep at an airport.

-lr