Current Military Only Deals

Most military travelers have heard of Government Fares and Military Fares. It is important to keep in mind the distinction between the two. We have set up a chart of different Airlines Phone Numbers and Fare offerings.

Government Fares are usually negotiated annually by the GSA with the various airlines at an airport bidding to provide the government seats at a set price. They have the advantage of being changeable without penalty but there is usually only one airline that sells seats on a particular route. For instance, coming from Norfolk, US Airways may have the contract for Norfolk to Charlotte while Delta may have the contract for Norfolk to Atlanta. Each airline has its own rules on whether or not military personnel on leave can use these fares and you have to call them to ask.

Military Fares are those fares that are set aside for military personnel and are at a discount to the regular fares and sometimes the Government Fares. Again, they can be changed without penalty (which is their great advantage). These are not always the lowest fares available however nor are they a set contracted price like the Government Fares are. Each airline may sell seats over the Internet at a lower price in order to fill up a plane earlier and often those seats cost less than the Military Fare bought closer to the day of the flight. As of yet, there is no online service which can offer the military fares over the Internet.

Special Military Discounts are offers from the different airlines to various classes of military personnel, such as those returning from Iraq or Afghanistan. They typically run for months at a time on the few airlines that offer them. MilitaryTravel.com runs a semi-annual check of these offers and summarizes them in the table below (as of 25 AUG 05). Call the airline if you think an offer is available to you. This table does not include the specials available though Operation Hero Miles or Fisher House.

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How to Get an Airline Seat For Less

1. Buy Early! Airline fares are sold for different prices depending on the number of seats remaining on a plane. The earlier you purchase your seat the more likely there are many seats the airline needs to sell.

2. Rule of Seven: Usually seat prices increase at 21 days, 14 days, and 7 days prior to the day of departure. Your goal is to buy before the computers re-price these seats for the week ahead. Don't wait until the last minute on any of these days because there might not be enough seats available. However, there is no need to buy two months in advance since your plans can change and some fares are non-refundable. You should use the Rule of Seven to your best advantage.

3. After Midnight: Some Frequent Flyers say that the best time to buy a seat online is just after midnight because that is when the cancelled seats are put back into the system by the airlines. We have our doubts, but if you are up that late you might try it (but don't violate the Rule of Seven).

4. Don't Limit Your Options: Online booking services like MilitaryTravel.com allow you to see a wide variety of airlines as well as times of departure. Limiting your fare search to only a certain airline because of its Frequent Flyer program or because you did or didn't like the last flight you took with them can cost you Big Bucks!

5. Compare the Best Online Fare with an Online Auction: Priceline.com and Hotwire.com allow you to have airlines compete to sell you a fare if you don't care what airline you fly. We prefer the Hotwire.com model because it allows you to see the times of departure of a flight before agreeing to buy the seat, but Priceline.com seems to have more participating airlines.

6. Don't Take the Last Flight Out! The last flight out is where the most competition for seats is going to be which can drive the price up. Air travel is not perfect and flights can be postponed, delayed due to weather, or cancelled- all of which can cause you to miss a connecting flight. It is not fun having to leave your family or vacation a few hours early, but you have to be back on time whereas the business travelers do not. Being late can cost you "Half a Months Pay for Two Months."

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Frequent Flyer Programs

1. Join them! Particularly on airlines that you are using frequently (such as those that service your home). Then join the special programs they offer that build points as well (credit card programs, long-distance telephone services, etc.). These points can build quickly into free tickets. Try to avoid spreading your points across too many programs if possible.

2. Ticket prices come first. No airline has a right to expect you to pay a hundred dollars more for a ticket just because you belong to their Frequent Flyer program. If their ticket is within $20 you should go ahead and pay to have the extra to build your Frequent Flyer points, but anything more than that and you probably should go with the cheaper fare.

3. Joint Programs. Many different airlines engage in Code Sharing which means that you can fly Northwest for instance while using (or booking) Delta SkyMiles. When booking an airline reservation, try to stick with those airlines that are Code Share Partners with the airline you do your frequent flying on. To see which major airlines are Code Share Partners, consult the Hotwire.com Codeshare chart.

4. Don't Hold Miles. When you get enough miles to buy 2 Frequent Flyer tickets, go ahead and use them (keep enough for one spare ticket for emergencies). There is not much advantage in holding onto excess miles or points. If an airline goes bankrupt, you don't want a bunch of extra miles sitting in your account. Another airline will probably buy their Frequent Flyer program from the bankrupt airline and honor your miles but that may take months if not years to sort out.

5. Upgrades are out! One of the best uses of Frequent Flyer miles is to upgrade a Coach seat to First or Business Class, particularly on long trips or Redeye flights. Unfortunately most military branches forbid members from flying on a government ticket in First Class. Even if you are permitted to upgrade your seat, the class of ticket that the government buys usually has a restriction that prevents you from using your own Frequent Flyer miles to upgrade it. As to a personal ticket, that is your affair but again you need to call the airline once you have ordered your ticket to see if they will allow you to upgrade it.

6. Other Benefits: For military members and their families, probably the smartest use of Frequent Flyer points is to use them on rental car and hotel rooms. Since your air fares are going to be cheaper than most normal travelers you should consider spending the points you have on those parts of a trip that don't have deep discounts. Check your airline's Frequent Flyer Program to see what other options are available to you.

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Where are the Best Seats for...

1. Sleeping: Other than Business or First Class, your best bet for sleeping will be in a window seat where you can jam a pillow between your seat and the plane's bulkhead. Downside: hard to get out of for bathroom breaks or emergencies.

2. Tall People: Without a doubt the best seats for you will be the Rear Window Exit seats. Downside: To get these you need to call the airline and book through them or see if they are available immediately before or after you purchase your ticket online.

3. the Most Arm Room: Aisle seats win this contest hands down. Downside: Remember that on a long flight you will be getting up to let those stuck on the inside.

4. Plugging in Your Laptop/DVD/Gameboy: SeatGuru.com has mapped out the electrical outlets on the different types of planes used by the major airlines. To get these you need to call the airline and book through them or see if they are available immediately before or after you purchase your ticket online. Downside: Be aware that the airlines reserve the right to change out plane types so what you may have thought you were flying may not be what you actually step onto. Carry Extra Batteries!

5. Two Carry-On Bags: Aisle Seats that are not in a Bulkhead Row (usually Row 10) or a Window Exit Row. By using the Aisle Seat you can put your foot into the aisle for more leg room (except when someone is coming down the aisle of course). Window exit rows are usually forbidden to have anything under those seats that may block the exit and even if you are allowed to have a bag there it will be further away from you than a regular seat. Downside: Two bags means you are delayed in getting off the plane which can cost you a tight connection. Plus you have to truck all of that stuff around the airport. Today's airlines use baggage handling systems that are very sophisticated and rarely lose luggage for more than 24 hours if at all. You don't need two bags. You need to learn how to pack properly! (If you do need two bags, keep them SMALL.)

6. Avoiding Airsickness: Best bet here is over the wings or further back. Downside: Few seats over the wings and the further back you go the louder the engine noise is.

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Aviation Safety

1. Relax! Major jets are hardly ever involved in crashes and the number declines each decade. Air travel is a function of Physics: not Hope or Prayers. Planes are tough! Turbulence has NEVER been the proven cause of any Jetliner crash according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Jet crashes make the news precisely because they are so rare- they are newsworthy. You are more likely to die in your car speeding to the airport to catch the plane than on the plane itself. Your car crash is not newsworthy and won't be reported on CNN (even though you would be just as dead).

2. Worry about the Right Things!

Get to the Airport early so that you won't be involved in a car crash. Repeat: Early!

Your plane may not crash but you may have to exit in the dark or smoke so know where the exits are. COUNT the number of seats between you and the exits to the front and rear of you. Could you get out with your eyes closed?

 

You may laugh at the Flight Attendant showing you how to operate a seat belt but close your eyes and answer this question: Does my seat belt open by pulling from the right or by pulling from the left. Again, be prepared to do this in the dark or smoke.

 

Most jets of all types fly on instrumentation, but even pilots will tell you that they can see more in daylight than at night. So book your flights for earlier in the day if you fear Physics and Electronics.

 

On Takeoff, planes have to use their engines power to overcome Gravity. Landing a plane is a matter of allowing Gravity to overcome the plane's forward motion. Pilots are trained to land without engines at all (although this is not the recommended method). So if you are still scared of Physics, pray at Takeoff - not Landing (unless the pilot tells you otherwise).

 

Smaller planes crash a little more often than bigger planes due to the fact that they have less powerful engines and less experienced flight crews. So book most of your flights on bigger jets if you are that scared of Physics.

3. Terrorism. World-wide, about 1000 planes have been hijacked in aviation history, but fatalities have been avoided 85-percent of the time. It used to be that terrorists wanted to hijack a plane to ransom their hostages for some political gain, or to go to some "unscheduled destination.". After the Ethiopian Air and AirFrance incidents in Africa in the 1990's and the 11 September 2001 hijackings, that can no longer be the assumption. Under the old assumption you wanted a window seat since the terrorists couldn't grab easily you to make an example out of you, particularly if you are military. Now that suicide seems to be the terrorists goal, military people should consider being in the aisle seats and/or Exit Rows to take care of any business that arises. The function of airport security is to keep bombs, grenades, and guns off of planes. Jerks trying to take over a plane with box cutters, fingernails clippers, or plastic knives are up to the passengers and flight attendants to deal with. Junior Enlisted should not wait for a superior's instructions to begin the counterattack since the Senior Officer Present may not see the events unfold at the start.

4. Home Alone. While you are away, your home and family are without your protection. No need to let the bad guys know where that home is. Use luggage tags that have a flap to cover them so they cannot be read without lifting the flap.

5. Identity Theft. Many military people travel with their Duffel Bags or Sea Bags. Unfortunately the military switched from using a service number to using your Social Security Number as your identifying Service Number back in the 1970's before Identity Theft was a crime to be worried about. If you have to have your SSN on your bag, use the following tip to provide some protection. Use three pieces of Duct Tape to cover the first five numbers of your SSN. The first piece covers the SSN and the two smaller pieces cross that piece at both ends (one to two inches from the end) so that someone cannot just peel the one piece back and look at your SSN. It should look like a dumbbell at the gym when done.

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Best Luggage

1. Baggage Handling is Rough Stuff! The goal of your check-in luggage should be about protecting its contents, not the bag itself. There is simply no beating a hard-shell bag for durability and protection of contents. It is not just the baggage handling equipment that can harm a soft-sided bag and its contents; it is also the rain and sand that can seep through while it is sitting outside. We recommend Samsonite's line of hard-shell cases for their Durability and the lack of identifying American marks (unlike American Tourister).

2. Carry-On Luggage is all about the Pockets. We asked pilots and flight attendants their preferred line of carry-on luggage and the preference was TravelPro hands down. It is more expensive than other brands but the people we spoke with said it is the most functional line of carry-on bags out there.

3. Duffel Bags and Sea Bags. Now with wheels. You know- one of the first inventions of mankind designed to make work easier. Carrying these bags on your back may be required at times but not always. If your command allows it, buy one with imbedded wheels.

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Should I Travel in Uniform? INCONUS: YES!

1. You will get a lot of respect that you will not if you are just a face in the crowd. Recently at Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport we saw the troops in Desert Cammies have their money turned down at the Food Court. Don't count on that if you are in Civilian Attire!

2. Traveling in your Dress Uniform is especially worthwhile if you will need to wear it upon arrival. It is easier to keep it from getting wrinkled if you wear it. Best bet is to wear it with non-Corafram shoes (actual leather ones that you polish). That way you don't have to pack an extra pair of shoes if you will be in a civilian suit.

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