Europe

To fly non-rev anywhere overseas, you need to do the following a month to a week before you leave. First decide where you want to go. Then go to the ID90 system ( [] ) and Log-In Once you are in ID90, click on the Help Menu and select Zonal Interline Agreements. Next, see what airlines we have agreements with. For zonal agreements - minimum employment time is 6 months before you can request. Also check to see who is eligible with that airline. Most airlines only allow spouse/domestic partner, dependent children, and parents to fly. Zonal agreements change. As of this date that I'm typing this, we no longer have agreements with AerLingus, British Air, or LotPolish. We recently added agreements with American and Virgin American.
 * Flying Non-Rev to London: Mike Summers - February 2011**

Now that you know which airlines we have an agreement with by looking at ID90, you want to determine which airlines fly the route that you want. So, go to Passrider.com ( [|www.passrider.com] ) or Expedia or Travelocity to determine which airline will fly your desired route. When I was looking at London, I came up with four choices (but there are more): London on United by way of Washington, DC (around $350 rt); London on US Air by way of Philadelphia (around $300 rt); London on Virgin Atlantic by way of Boston (around $340 rt); and London on American by way of Boston (around $330 rt). There's many other routes, but remember a Zonal fair takes into acount mileage flown. So, it's better to non-rev on Frontier or JetBlue to Washington, Philadelphia, or Boston and then pay the Zonal (ZED) fare from 'jump-off cities' along the east coast. I also noticed that American has three daily flights to London from Boston; US Air has one flight daily from Philadelphia; Virgin Atlantic has one flight daily from Boston, and United has three flights daily from Washington Dulles (IAD). So, you might want to consider how many flights daily from a particular 'jump-off' in case you get bumped from a flight.

When you find a route that is flown by an airline with which we have an agreement, send an email to f9pass@flyfrontier.com with the following information: 1) Your **//name//**; 2) Your **//employee number//**; 3) The **//names of the people//** you want to buy passes for (check agreements to see who is eligible to fly; 4) The //**city pairs**// (including any connecting points); In this case it would simply be IAD (Washington Dulles) - LHR (London Heathrow) and LHR - IAD; You could also do the following on United: DEN to IAD, IAD - LHR, LHR - IAD, and IAD - DEN, but it would cost more because of the rt from DEN to IAD; 5) Lastly, the //**airline**// you want to use (make sure we have an agreement).

The Pass Bureau will price it for you and let you know the cost of the Zonal Passes by email. You then have three options: Option 1) take the record that they send you by email to an F9 ticket counter. You can purchase the pass there using a credit/debit card. They will print the pass on F9 ticket stock. Only the employee with their badge can purchase the pass. Option 2) Go to the F9 Pass Bureau at Frontier's Main Office at 7001 Tower Road. Option 3) Purchase from F9 Pass Bureau by phone (720-374-4616) with your credit card number to pay for the pass and Fed Ex charges to deliver the ticket for you. No US Mail and expect a minimum Fed EX cahrge of $14.00 for three business days.

Once the Pass Bureau quotes you a price by email, the price is valid for seven calendar days. If tickets are not purchased by the end of the seven days, which is highlighted in the email, the passes must be repriced due to changes in international taxes and fluctuations in exchange rates.

The tickets you receive are paper tickets. They are open and specific dates and flight numbers do not appear on the tickets. They are valid for travel up to 90 days from the date of issue for the Airline and the City Pairs that appear on the ticket. You can request a refund or exchange for any unused coupon within a year from the date of issue.

Next, you need to list with the airline. Most have a non-revenue number. The Pass Bureau can provide it. When you list, know the dates, times, and flight numbers. I simply go to the airline website, and type in the date and city where I'm going. Then look at flight numbers. Write down a few so that when you call to list, they can tell you how open a flight is for your date.

Lastly, ask about that airline's dress code policy for non-revenue travel. It helps you avoid surprises at a gate or counter. Four of us Scouts did fly to London. If you want information about our trip, contact Jim Campbell, Robert Maciel, Frank Vaucosovic, or me. We'd be glad to share our experiences.

I hope that this has helped! Enjoy! Mike Summers


 * How to get from Denver to Europe and what to do and where to stay when you get there.**
 * FLYING IN EUROPE ON ZONAL TICEKTS (LUFTHANSA):**

I started my trip by taking the overnight Lufthansa flight from Denver to Frankfurt. This flight was amazing; the food, the movie selection, the W.C.'s.... everything. I left around 7:30 (my flight was delayed) and arrived in Frankfurt around 10:30 the next morning.

Once I got to Frankfurt, it got a little more chaotic. The Frankfurt Airport is a maze but it is a well-marked maze. The signs are very good but you may have to walk for 30+ minutes. The employees actually ride bicycles.

I was hoping to connect straight to Dublin so after leaving my arrival gate in the airport, I proceeding to a desk labeled "Transfer Flight Customer Service." My flight was delayed out of Denver so many people needed rebooking. You don't have to stand in that line but there is another line labeled "Transfer Flight Check-In" directly to the right. Here you will receive a boarding pass with no seat.

Beware…. I had to go through three different security checkpoints so get a new boarding pass as soon as possible. I saw several travelers who assumed they could get a new pass at the departure gate but still were turned away from security. Also, keep your liquids handy and be ready to put everything through the x-ray. I was even required to take off my money belt so make sure your passport and documents are hidden before going through security. You cannot even hold your passport and boarding card in your hand. (This was scary for me at first since parting with your passport is the #1 no-no of traveling alone but....)

Secondly, don't buy water until you actually reach your gate. I made the mistake of buying a bottle after passing the security checkpoint into the B 50-59 area. I then had to go through another security station just to get to B50-52 where my flight was departing. The water had to be chugged/tossed.

Once you reach your gate, they won't issue another boarding pass to you. There are screens above the waiting area and about 5 minutes before boarding two screens will appear. One will be "Accepted Standby Passengers" with your name and a seat number. The other will be "Standby Waitlisted." If you are accepted, as you enter the jet way, you will receive a receipt with your seat number.

Ultimately, it was all very efficient and I had no problem getting all the way from Denver to Dublin.

The Dublin Airport is about a 50-minute bus ride outside of town or a 45-euro taxi ride. There are two bus choices. The 8-euro option is the Airport Shuttle, which runs really early and really late. The 1.90-euro option is Bus #16 and runs through the central part of Dublin.

I stayed at the Avalon House (http://www.avalon-house.ie/). It is across the street from a #16 bus stop and just ask the driver where the stop is…it is the Dublin way! The Avalon is a very big hostel that tends to house very large groups. Even though it seems to need a bit of a renovation, the beds were great, the location was perfect, the included breakfast was good, and there is a massive kitchen with several grocery stores close by. (Tesco is a cheap and fun grocery store all over Europe. It was also our first stop in Prague, Bratislava, and Vienna.) I stayed in both a private room and a 12-bed dorm-room and the 12-bed was just as wonderful for the private room. Each dorm room has four bunks on the first floor with two bunks up a spiral staircase with a privacy divider. I would recommend trying to get a second floor bunk in a 12-bed dorm.

A Note on Dublin…. Dublin was a very fun and quirky town and by far my favorite place to visit. We went to the Dublin Art Gallery, The Temple Bar, the Guinness Storehouse Brewery, and spent a day on the DART trains traveling up and down the coast to the small seaside villages. We also just walked around and found a ton of fun pubs and shopping districts. The boardwalk along the river is a must do!

I then left Dublin and flew back to Frankfurt on another non-revenue ticket. Once again, it was very easy but make sure you are listed on www.flyzed.com. There are internet cafés everywhere and I never had an issue finding a computer my entire trip. Hostels usually have communal computers as well but, airports tend not to have easy internet access so make sure to list before you leave the city

Once back at the airport in Frankfurt, follow the signs to the metro. It was a long walk but the metro station is right in the airport. When buying a ticket at the metro, your destination is Frankfurt. At any ticket machine you can buy tickets to anywhere in Germany so just buy a 3.50euro metro ticket to Frankfurt. The main train and bus station is about a 15-minute metro ride.

The Frankfurt Hostel (http://www.frankfurt-hostel.com/) is literally 100 feet from the main train station. You can actually see the sign from the train station main entrance. Besides the very confusing door keys, this is a fabulous hostel and in a great location if you get stuck in Frankfurt. The one thing is, it is on the edge of the Frankfurt red-light district but we felt very safe and had a lot of fun. We spent one night in a private room that would easily sleep three with a private bathroom. The other night, we had a large dorm room still with a private bath. The breakfast was also good as well as the guest kitchen. There was an open-air food market one block away and we bought food there to cook at the hostel every night.

Later that week, we took a train to Prague. There are day and night trains that are very nice and clean (http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml). We found out a couple things when buying tickets. Tickets are always cheaper if you buy them five days ahead of time. Secondly, group tickets are usually cheaper. For example, four tickets to Prague cost $415 but six tickets at the group rate were only $350. Depending on the destination, the number of people to equal a group differs but to Prague it was a minimum of six.

Prague was unbelievable. We stayed at a fabulous hostel called Sir Toby’s (http://www.sirtobys.com/). The rooms have amazing windows, great beds, and good locker cabinets (bring a padlock). We met a couple from Oklahoma and they let us snoop around their private room and it was even more incredible. With a basement bar, a huge guest kitchen, and back patio it was the perfect hostel. The location was a little out of the way but it was only a 5-10 minute tram ride to the middle of Prague and the restaurants near Sir Toby’s were delicious and cheaper.

We bought three-day public transport passes that were a lifesaver. You can purchase these in the same automatic ticket machines as the single-use tickets although sometimes it is easier to find a ticket booth with a real person to make sure you buy the right pass. In all of the places we went, no one ever looked at our passes but having the 24/7 pass was cheaper and just made it so easy. We didn’t have to think about it since most tram stops don’t have ticket machines. There were 24hr, 48hr, 72hr, etc. options in every city.

There were millions of things to do in Prague but the castle and the National Museum are a must. Also, the beer is amazing and the café seating is unlimited. The real Budweiser is from Budvar and don’t be fooled, it is an incredible beer unlike the stuff in the states. My boyfriend is a beer connoisseur (a.k.a “snob”) so I heard all of the Czech beer history and drank a lot of truly amazing beer!

From Prague, we took a train to Bratislava, Slovakia. The tickets were extremely cheap but beware…. Both the Czech Republic and Slovakia are not on the euro and have different currencies. Czech kroner won’t work in Slovakia.

Slovakia was beautiful and we read millions of brochures for vineyard tours although we didn’t have time. Everywhere in Bratislava is walkable and beautiful. It is a small city but with a lot of character and historic buildings.

The first night we stayed at the Patio Hostel, which was not terrible but not great. The second night we stayed at Hostel Blues, which was amazing (http://www.hostelblues.sk/). Also, Hostel Blues had a double-bed dorm option that is cheaper, especially if you are traveling as a couple. It is a basic large dorm room with double bed bunks that they rent to two people for the same price as one.

We then took a boat to up the River Danube to Vienna there are a couple different boat options that leave out the Bratislava Harbor. The ride was 12euro and it takes you through the locks. The trip was about two hours.

Once we got to Vienna, we bought our 72-hour transportation passes and headed to Westbahnof. Two blocks away from the metro station was our hostel, Wombat’s Hostel (http://www.wombats-hostels.com/). Also, Westbahnof is the central train station in Vienna so it was a perfect location.

Vienna was by far my favorite city. We took the metro to the Volkstheater stop and from there you could spend a week seeing all of the sites. We went to the National History Museum, the Modern Art Museum, and the Museum of Art History. We also bought standing-room tickets for the opera, which is something everyone should do. Standing-room is literally standing at the back of the theater with rails to lean on but the view is great and the experience is amazing. We also did the cathedral and took the tram out to Belevedere Palace. One of the best things in Vienna was the millions of beer grottos and underground wine taverns. Wombat’s Hostel had a great map with their staff’s picks on restaurants and such. We weren’t led astray. Also, there is a great Geletaria next to the cathedral.

We then flew RyanAir (www.ryanair.com) to Stockholm. RyanAir is a cheap European airline that makes its money by flying into smaller airports outside the major cities. Flights in and out of Dublin and London Stansted are amazingly cheap sometimes as low as eight or nine euro. Vienna to Stockholm isn’t a very popular route so the price was a bit higher but it was still cheaper than flying standby through Frankfurt. Also, RyanAir puts a price on each seat so sometimes you will get a better online fare if you check two hours later. Our flight left from the Bratislava Airport, which was a 10Euro bus ride from Vienna. The flight took us to Stockholm South and we caught an hour-long bus to the central station in Stockholm.

Stockholm was a very peaceful city and the city is actually made up of eight separate islands. We walked to our hostel, which happened to be a boat in the harbor. The Red Boat Hostel (http://www.theredboat.com/indexENG.htm). We stayed in a two-bed cabin with a lovely view over the harbor. The beds were very narrow and everything was ship-shape. It was a blast and the breakfast was quite a spread. People seem very happy there and we just walked around downtown with the Swedish families out and about on a Saturday.

Lufthansa flies out of the Stockholm/Armada Airport, which can be reach by a high-speed train out of the central station. I actually ended up spending the night in the airport with about 200 other people. The train doesn’t run to the airport before 6am so if you have an early flight, it is commonplace to sleep on one of the airports very cushy benches. I was chatting with an 80-year-old woman who travels every month to see her grandchildren and she always spends the night. Also, there are banks of coin-operated computers for internet all over Stockholm so I actually ended up using one for most of the night.

I easily caught a flight back to Frankfurt then to London. The Frankfurt airport was once again a little hectic but I got seats and was off.

In London, I stayed with the family of a friend, which made my time in London very cheap since the exchange rate was not in my favor. I took the commuter trains into Waterloo station and from there I walked or took the underground anywhere I wanted to go. My favorite thing was walking east along the south bank from Waterloo. You pass the National Theater, the Globe, and the Tate Modern Museum. The Tate Modern is a wonderful museum that was converted out of an old turbine factory. I also spent a day getting lost in the West End and Soho. Talk about cheap theater...you can buy tickets the night of the show for very little.

I then flew from Heathrow back to Frankfurt. One thing about Heathrow…you are only allowed one bag. For my entire trip I had a carry-on size backpack and a medium size purse. At Heathrow I had to either combine the two or check one. After the use of some duck tape (never without it!) and ditching my novels, I made it work, but be sure to calculate this into your trip. Stanby is a lot harder with checked luggage.

I am going to title this next section “The Coming Home Saga.” The first thing that I figured out is not to trust www.flyzed.com for numbers. The flights that show a green/good sign can be just as full as the flights with red/bad signs. My Frankfurt-Denver flight was green/good online but completely booked when I got to the ticket counter. I also found out that every flight to Denver for the rest of the week was oversold by at least 30. My chance weren’t good but I did learn a few tricks.

One, Lufthansa is one of the only airlines that will give jump seats to non-employees. Always ask for one. In my case, two Lufthansa employees were also flying standby and they got the jump seats.

Two, make friends with the Lufthansa flight manager. I wish I had bought more than one cross-Atlantic ticket (for example, also bought a Frankfurt-Washington, D.C., Frankfurt-Chicago, etc.). Technically, you can only board the flight that is listed on your ticket. But… I was told that the flight manager of any flight could approve a switch. The flight manager on the Frankfurt-Chicago flight said it was impossible to do but the flight manager on the Frankfurt-Philadelphia flight said ok and gave me the last seat on his flight. I was ecstatic.

When, I got to Philadelphia the ticket desk had already closed for the flight and since the Frontier staff in Philadelphia is only three people, there was no way to get a boarding card. If I could have found a printer I could have made the flight but I was left frustrated and stranded on the wrong side of security. If I had been thinking, I would have also traveled with a Southwest pass but I didn’t have one on me. Another option would have been to plan for Frankfurt-Philadelphia as my plan B and listed myself and printed a boarding card to connect to Denver while still in Frankfurt. But…it all worked out. I spent the night at a hotel that I will not recommend and caught the early flight the next morning to Denver.

We then returned my unused tickets and called it an extremely successful trip! submitted by Elizabeth Nance (via her daughter) on 8/6/08