Wow, sounds like the passes you all get are really expensive and difficult to use. AS gives us 20 flexible passes which can be used as either a guest pass or companion pass, depending on whether we are flying with the person or not. If we choose to give them as a guest pass, the pass is ticketed by the TRAVELER at the ticket counter and nothing is taken from the employee's paycheck. The cost to the guest is 10% of full fare, so basically an ID90 with a similar boarding priority. My experience is that the overall cost ends up being approximately 50% of the lowest advance purchase in the market. I don't give these passes to anyone I don't know extremely well - family or good friends. Their behavior reflects on me and I take that pretty seriously.

If we use them as a companion pass, the taxes are deducted from our check. This is usually a minimal amount. I think I paid $32 for my aunt to fly with me from PHX to YVR.