Military travel

[Lisa]

Has anyone had experience with their son or daughter using the military flights. Successful or not? How does it work?

[Hoppi aka Angie]

Are you talking about MAC flights? They work great if you are traveling off peak times...ie..not over the holidays.

[Cari]

why is that? My husband and I were just talking about this and were wondering how this works.

[Hoppi aka Angie]

When someone flys via MAC flights, they need to have flexaible scheudle. They go to the airport and put their name on the list. They may or may not get bumped. When the come back to base, they HAVE to be back by a certain date. If they get bumped off the flight they have to pay A LOT to get back to base on time or they will be UA and get into trouble.

[Hoppi aka Angie]

http://www.militarytravel.com/militaryhops.asp

http://www.spacea.net/faq.html#brief

[Kirsten]

My Favorite Flights, lol. I rather fly MAC then civilian. But you do need to bring time with you. They just like standby flights. They diff. category's they put you in CAT 1 Emergency Leave, CAT 2 Military Personal, CAT 3 Military Personal with Dependants, CAT 4 and CAT 5 is Retirees. So they fill the plane with those cat's . Even if you arleady picked to fly they still can bump you, so you wait for the next flight. I still love them and take advantage of it when I go home to see my Family in germany.

[Lisa]

Thanks for your info. He will be flying at Christmas time so this may not be our best option as he may not get home for quite some time. Just wanted to see if it worked like I thought it did.

[Anti M]

When my dad retired from the Navy, we traveled "Space A", space available, through Japan and Europe. We spent nine days waiting for a flight out of Yokota (the Vietnam War was still on). I used it once while active duty, but I had lots of leave time. I never have used it as a retiree myself. It isn't guaranteed, you can easily be bumped.

[Molly mom of 2 + 330,701 sailors]

So I was just reading through this and I think Ive got it other then what if you are traveling on Orders ? My son said something about them not being able to get him on a commercial flight, so they would use a military flight.
Ive heard about the time delays etc ---what if that is what they put you on to get to your first duty station ?

[Anti M]

Orders are different, then you have priority. You get the seat, and the folks traveling on leave do not. That's why using space A for travel on leave sucks so much.

[Chris A.]

My granddaughter-in-law took a week to get back to S. Korea on SA. She was stuck in Hawaii for 3 days (not bad) and then spent 4 days in a hangar in Guam waiting for a flight, with 2 kids. It was awful. If you need to be somewhere in a reasonable amount of time, better to pay commercial and be sure you get there.

[Anti M]

When I was 13, Dad retired from the Navy in Hawaii. We went Space A to Japan, but when we went to leave, we got stuck in the terminal for NINE days. This was before they had barracks rooms for dependents, and you had to be there in person when they read the flight manifest. Mom and I and several other families were sleeping in the ladies room lounge. Vietnam was on and the troops had priority, of course. Things are better these days, but I've traveled as active duty myself, and nearly got stuck in Mountain Home, Idaho, in a snowstorm for Christmas. Not fun.

[Molly mom of 2 + 330,701 sailors]

So I envision a military flight as a cargo flight with metal jump seats. Is this NOT the case ? Im looking worse case scenario here --- long flight, no food, no restrooms, wearing a helmet (LOL)
Seriously though all I know about Military flights is what I have seen on TV. BUt if they have familys with children on board then it cannot be like that.
Im trying to plan things to send with my son for a long military flight. (books on cd, food, drink, a pillow)