From: pal@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.dbp.de (Peter Loibl)
Newsgroups: rec.travel.air
Subject: Re: Delta 30 day Standby Airpass
Keywords: delta
Date: 14 Apr 92 08:23:05 GMT

wallace@titan.trl.OZ.AU (Glenn Wallace) writes:

>A friend and I are travelling to the US in July, and we want to use a
>Delta 30 day standby air pass to get around.

>Has anyone had any experience with these?

>How long are we likely to wait at airports for vacant seats, as we are
>"standby passengers"?

>(and no, we won't be travelling on 4th July etc...)

>How good is Delta (safety/service/food/legroom wise) ?

>What are the best times of the days to get seats?

>The price for overseas travellers is US$449, which is damn good value
>for 30 days unlimited trips. We have a copy of the conditions and there
>are no catches, OTHER THAN the fact you are on standby.

>NorthWest have a similar deal, same price. Is this better or not?

>We have visions of waiting days in airport lounges....!

>Flying between cities will maximise the places we can see in our time in
>the US. I know these questions may sound silly, but bear in mind that
>the Australian airline industy/system is *nothing* like the US.

>Glenn

>Net: g.wallace@trl.oz.au | Please don't cut down the tall timber
>IRC: HMMurdock           | Let it grow tall straight and true
>RealTime: Glenn Wallace  | In this world we need tall tall timber
>Work: Drift Project AOTC | Tall timber like me and you - Greg Macainsh

Hi!

I have done that twice. So there are some of my experiences:

1. Delta is a rather huge airline within the US with major hubs in
   Atlanta (ATL), Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW), Salt Lake City (SLC),
   Los Angeles (LAX), Orlando (MCO), Cincinnatti (CVG) and New
   York - John F. Kennedy (JFK). So their net is pretty dense.
   Their reputation concerning service, food and maintenance is pretty
   good. I have flown for about 40 times with Delta right know and
   had no reason to complain.

2. You can fly whenever there are free seats. This is usually always
   true - if you are not a large party. You also should avoid
   flying around large public holidays (I tried that the weekend
   after Thanksgiving. I ended up waiting for 10 hours. The quickest
   connection from SFO to SAN (San Franzisco -> San Diego) was to take
   a night trip to Cincinnatti and then return to San Diego ...). There
   can be also some minor problems, when there are large sports events
   (World Series, Super Bowl, National Rodeo Finals, ...) or a
   large congress. 
   I was always flying during the day (I like looking out of the 
   window) and had only two times problems not getting the flight
   I intended to. BUT: make sure in advance, by calling 1-800-...,
   that your flight is available.
   Even my request for a window seat work in most cases.

3. Norhtwest has a similar deal. But look in a time-table and in the
   rules. NW does NOT have any hub in the west, and you are allowed
   to fly to a certain city only 2 or 3 times. DL allows you
   UNLIMITTED flying within the mainlaind US as you like (e.g.
   daily nonstop SFO->CVG->SFO). You also can change the routing,
   after checking in, if it figures out, that your flight is full
   and that there is a possibility of getting to your destination
   with another combination!

So good luck!

Peter
pal@regent.e-technik.tu-muenchen.de
Newsgroups: rec.travel.air