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HI I am newbe to ZED. Never used. Always travelled as parents of Virgin America employee. we want to travel from sfo to mum. few questions:
1. is there a site where I could find out rules for zed travel for the airlines associated with VA.?
2. Is there a way to check load factor on website for us?
3. How much extra one has to pay for confirmed seats?
4. could one buy upgrade to business or first in advance--ofcourse standy-- how much does it cost typically?
thanks for your guidance
Hi Sam and welcome to the world of ZED.
1. I would recommend Find flight listing option at FlyZED | ID Travel | Airline employees as a good place to start for rules/expectations for ZED travel on OALs. The information is fairly general, i.e., it does not apply specifically to that airlines agreement with VX, if one exists, but it's a good starting point. For details about VX ZED agreements (e.g., which airlines, who's eligible, what's the fare) your best bet is the VX staff travel office (often called the pass bureau).
2. VX is a participating carrier of the myIDTravel tool. If you can access it, you should be able to view general availability on other airlines.
3. It varies by agreement assuming VX has any agreements that include positive space. Again, the VX staff travel office is your best source of information.
4. No, upgrades are not generally supported for ZED travel. If VX has business class ZED agreements, then you buy a space-available ticket for business class (although keep in mind you may end up in coach).
Good luck.
thanks az. just little nervous about getting stuck someplace
AZ had great advice--I'll add mine--timing. Make the effort to find out about local holidays/festivals/celebrations/school breaks, etc in other countries. Everything from Chinese New Year to Spring Break. Plan accordingly and always have PLAN B (or C, D...) It really isn't as tough as you might think if you are flexible and prepared. What are your partner airlines?
Happy travels!!
what does zed fare based on mileage mean?
these are the airlines I know of ;
Aer Lingus
Air Tahiti Nui
AirTran
Allegiant Air
Avianca
Cape Air
Cayman Airways
Frontier
Hawaiian
jetBlue
Lufthansa
Midwest
SAS
Spirit
US Airways
Virgin Atlantic
WestJet
All ZED fares are based on mileage. :)
There are 9 ZED mileage bands (e.g., zone 1 = 0-450 miles, zone 2 = 451-750 miles ... zone 9 = 7101-9999 miles). Each mileage band is assigned fare amount, although there are several fare levels to which VX might agree to exchange bilaterally.Quote:
Originally Posted by sam
If you haven't already, read http://nonrev.net/content/119-what-zed-fare.html, located on the Home page of this website for an overview of ZED.
so aazed, in addition to taxes and fees there is extra charge for mileage zones?
so in addition to taxes, fees etc. there is a tiered rate for mileage zone right?
That is correct. For example, DEN-MKE and DEN-ORD are VERY similar distances. I'm going to assume they're within the same mileage zone, though in theory it could be that they are close to the cutoff and different zones - don't care to check now. Because of a variety of factors, DEN-MKE and DEN-ORD are bound to have different fares and different prices for a confirmed ticket. However, it's purely based on mileage, so they'll cost the same. Again, assuming they're in the same zones. In theory, you're supposed to be able to use a DEN-MKE ticket for DEN-ORD and vice versa, but don't count on the gate agent knowing that and accepting the ticket.
There are also several different "grades" of ZED fare, low medium and high. Basically, the better friends VX is with other carriers, the better deals you get. I've been studying a LOT of ZED fare rules for a project at work for the past couple months, and the vast majority of parents get ZH deals, but not all. Your mileage may vary. You're also supposed to be able to use a higher grade ZED than your agreement if you happen to have the paper ticket, but again, don't count on it.
Here are the current prices for ZED fares, not including taxes, according to my company's employee site:
Economy:
Zone Miles ZED Low ZED Medium ZED High 1 1-450 $22 $34 $41 2 451-750 $24 $35 $51 3 751-1600 $32 $47 $63 4 1601-3200 $49 $66 $102 5 3201-4080 $59 $80 $136 6 4081-5000 $63 $91 $153 7 5001-6100 $77 $99 $165 8 6101-7100 $102 $126 $217 9 7101-9000 $103 $127 $219
Business:
Zone Miles ZED Low ZED Medium ZED High 1 1-450 $41 $47 $85 2 451-750 $62 $76 $153 3 751-1600 $70 $86 $169 4 1601-3200 $129 $180 $360 5 3201-4080 $143 $199 $398 6 4081-5000 $144 $215 $430 7 5001-6100 $230 $323 $649 8 6101-7100 $305 $487 $841 9 7101-9000 $324 $516 $890
One last thing: this is all point-to-point, so LAX-EWR-BOM (for example) has to be ticketed individually, not as one long LAX-BOM ticket if you are in fact connecting somewhere else.
this is great. very usefull reply. thank you so much.
Quote:
Originally Posted by spongebue
if some one could check , now that summer rush is over,
Emirates load in late sept 2012 sfo-dxb-bom EK-0226 and EK 0502
and the zed fare? thanks
how does it work, if the flight is full, the ticket agent arranges the next available flight? or as a parent of employee, i have to check with my son to rearrange the flight schedule?
doing this for the first time, so wondering what can go wrong. thanks for your help.
They are supposed to roll you over to the next flight, and the next and the next till you finally get on. If the gate agent is cool, they'll mention it via some anouncement. The bad thing for you is not being able to check the loads right there, unless you have some kind of smartphone or Ipad so your next best thing is to dial 1-800-sonhelpme!
Sam, this isn't really the place to put load requests in. Thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by sam