Do employees of national airlines get friend/family discounts?

Mr. Loverman

Hi all

Just curious.

If a friend of mine takes a job with Aer Lingus or some other national carrier, are they able to get discounts for friends/family?

If so, do you know roughly how much?
Also, are there any deals with other national carriers, i.e. they can also get a discount on those carriers too?

I think something like this used to exist around 20 years ago, but I'm curious if it's still around today.

Cheers

fartyarse

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Hi all

Just curious.

If a friend of mine takes a job with Aer Lingus or some other national carrier, are they able to get discounts for friends/family?

If so, do you know roughly how much?
Also, are there any deals with other national carriers, i.e. they can also get a discount on those carriers too?

I think something like this used to exist around 20 years ago, but I'm curious if it's still around today.

Cheers

Friend of mine's brother is a pilot for Aer Lingus and he can get discounts for either his brothers/sisters/parents OR kids and wife. Not both.

And no discounts for friends.

highlydebased

As mentioned above EI staff can get a discount but I believe only after a year or so of service.

ProudDUB

My father was Aer Lingus. He got discounted air fare for his immediate family only. Before he got married, that was his mammy & brother. After he got married, it was his wife and kids & his mother and brother no longer qualified. We kids lost our entitlement when we were 25. Our mother got to keep it for life, even after my father died. I think a widowed spouse is able to nominate one of her kids to travel with her as a companion & they get discounted airfare too, even if they are over 25. But you have to be actually traveling with your parent. You can't head off somewhere by yourself. My mother never used it, as she didn't handle the stress of traveling on standby status, which is how you go, if you are on a staff ticket.

Friends were definitely not included back then. I imagine that they are even stricter about that now, what with cutbacks and competition & what not.

hfallada

I have friend whose father is admin in Aer Lingus. She gets free flights around the world with them only until she is 21. After that she gets nothing.

circular flexing

The tickets would usually be standby which is real hassle to travel with, especially if there's bad weather at an airport as then standby tickets go to the bottom of the list.

My brother was in the US on a standby ticket and spent a week trying to get home after there was bad weather for a few hours in Chicago.

irish_goat

Cousin works for Virgin Atlantic and he gets something like 7 free trips a year plus discount for immediate family.

ProudDUB

circular flexing wrote: »

The tickets would usually be standby which is real hassle to travel with, especially if there's bad weather at an airport as then standby tickets go to the bottom of the list.

My brother was in the US on a standby ticket and spent a week trying to get home after there was bad weather for a few hours in Chicago.

Not only are you on standby, there is a pecking order too. I don't know about other airlines, but with Aer Lingus, your years of service counted for your place on the standby list, if there were a few of you on it. It is normally first come, first served. (That is another downer btw, as you have to get to the airport ages and ages before the flight if you want to be at the top of the list.) But if someone with more years of service shows up 5 minutes before the list is closed, they automatically go up higher on the list than you & they get the seat and you don't.

Holiday periods were also blocked off from use, meaning that you couldn't avail of staff travel during the peak summer, Easter & Christmas holiday periods, or the holiday weekends like Paddys Day or the bank holidays. Our family hardly ever availed of the free staff travel, as getting home was just too much stress, with all 6 of us on standby.