Travel Perks

[Lewis]

One of my friends just got back from Las Vegas from work, he's not in the merchant navy. He got to flow there buisness class, all paid for by his boss. So do officers get perks like this when they travel? Or am I just being optimistic and do you just get stuck on the cheapest budget airline seat going in the right direction?

Or does it vary with shipping companies?

[Chiefy]

Re: Travel Perks

Cattle class all the way.

UK operators / personnel departments get very large discounts and special "Seamans" fares that only apply at the back of the plane.

BUT some of the oil majors pay for Bussiness for senior officers (I think BP is one). However mostly it's the luggage rack for you

[Lewis]

Re: Travel Perks

aw well worth a try.

[Lewis]

Re: Travel Perks

So what about airmiles can you collect them on your trips? Can you pre book the good seats ie beside emergency exit? Or does the fact its booked by the company stop you?

[Chiefy]

Re: Travel Perks

Depends.

If you are always with the same ship / area and use the same airline / group then join thier program as many of them have use by dates etc.

Most carriers charge for Emergency Exits and if you want to pay for it yourself you can pay the small fee to "upgrade" but I hate Emergency Exits cos the table is in the arm as is the telly so extra leg room bt no chance of extra width.

I normally put a seat request in when I get my flight instructions (on e-mail) as we use the Amadeus booking system and so can log in once company have made the reservation (get sent a unique code for each trip etc) and see if I can pick a seat. Also remember that no matter what many airlines let you check-in on line upto 30 hours before so get in early and you may get to pick a seat that way too.

www.seatguru.com is useful for finding good seats once you know the carrier and plane type.

[alistairuk]

Re: Travel Perks

As above;

Assuming you are from the UK, I recommend joining British Airway's Executive Club and BMI's Diamond Club. These two frequent flier schemes pretty much cover every airline in the world (except Air France / KLM who have their own 'flying blue' scheme).

BMI's covers all the Star Alliance airlines so; Lufthansa, BMI, Continental, Egypt Air, Air Canada, TAM, Turkish Airlines, United, US Airlines, etc....

British Airways covers all the One World Alliance airlines so; British Airways, Iberia, American, Lan, etc.

Both schemes also let you acquire points staying in most major hotel chains hotels.

Both these schemes 'points' do not expire (only the 'tier level' ones do - but unless your flying out and in pretty much every month you'll never acquire enough in a year to get upgraded membership anyway).

Both schemes let you specify seat preferences (so if like me you can say you prefer aisle seats) and when you add your flyer number it normally automatically allocates you a seat matching your preference when you check-in (even if you can't select your seat online).

As for seats; Your company will normally give you your booking reference which you can use to select seats through one of the airlines you are flying on's site (you can also add your frequent fliers number too). Occasionally it wont let you select seats online through an airlines web site - but there are ways around this :-)

[Lewis]

Re: Travel Perks

WHat about getting upgraded? Your company might be worth a lot of cash to the airline.

Iknow I'm an optimist:P

[Chiefy]

Re: Travel Perks

WHat about getting upgraded? Your company might be worth a lot of cash to the airline.

Iknow I'm an optimist:P

Muhawahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahah aaha

<message ends>

[Brimbo]

Re: Travel Perks

You can upgrade but you will have to pay the difference for the upgrade, its not worth going to economy plus in most flights though.

[alistairuk]

Re: Travel Perks

WHat about getting upgraded? Your company might be worth a lot of cash to the airline.

Iknow I'm an optimist:P

Nah, doesn't happen unless your VERY lucky Basically because your ticket only costs your company pennies... only chance you have of getting an upgrade is if the aircraft is empty and the airline has screwed you over (ie: you have missed a connection).

[Chiefy]

Re: Travel Perks

Oh Alistair KLM is the only one I am in and they are the same as your 2, tier points die, but award points dont. Oh and iirc BA (and KLM) only give you 1/2 miles for a seamans ticket, but hey ho they are free

[Steve]

Re: Travel Perks

RFA officers and cadets are supposed to fly business class on flights of, well it was 2.5hrs, but cuts have extended it to 4hrs and if there are trooping flights on the route we are supposed to use those instead. YMMV.

Basically we flew business class on long-haul flights until the MoD ran out of money. It is an entitlement that we (i.e. NUMAST or whatever it was at the time) negotiated back in the 90s in lieu of a pay rise or part of a pay rise.

A very worthwhile exchange for a few tenths of a percent in payrise!

[Beef1992]

Re: Travel Perks

I know of two class mates that when they flew out and boarded, the flight attendants knew they were Seafarers and asked had they completed the short course in Survival . they then moved them to the seats on the exits , Due to there being ice on the destinations runway.

[kayak]

Re: Travel Perks

I know of two class mates that when they flew out and boarded, the flight attendants knew they were Seafarers and asked had done a short course in Survival . they they moved them to the seats on the exits , Due to there being ice on the destinations runway.

Wow that must have been reassuring!

[Lewis]

Re: Travel Perks

At least you know if something goes wrong your first out.