Many Thanks to Pat for sharing his RUPA Pass Travel Report!

RUPA Pass Travel Report 

October 2018

Captain Pat Palazzolo rupapasstravel@rupa.org

Employee Travel Center (ETC) +1 (877) 825-3729 etc@united.com

Hello fellow aviators,

First, a correction from a previous column: Last month I wrote that the Star Companion Benefit is available to all retirees and allows us to take up to two companions with us on any one of several (but not all) Star Alliance carriers. We are allotted 8 companion tickets per calendar year.

I incorrectly stated that each ticket is good for one leg. That is not true. Each Star Alliance Companion ticket is good for all connections, and good even for a round trip, as long as all legs are purchased under one reservation number. Remember that the Star Companion ticket must be purchased at the same time as the employee or retiree’s ticket.

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One question I get now and then is why we can’t get interline agreements with certain airlines? The process for obtaining an interline agreement is rather simple.

First if there’s an airline out there that United wants to establish a Revenue Interline Agreement with (for paying customers), they begin negotiations. A Revenue Interline Agreement allows United and the other airline to sell each other’s tickets and to connect passengers and baggage with the other airline’s flights. This is far different than an Alliance agreement or code share agreement. For example, we have a Revenue Interline Agreement with Southwest that allows us to, for example, transfer a customer’s baggage from a United to a Southwest connecting flight.

The criteria for which airlines qualify for Revenue Interline Agreements basically involve whether or not our computer and financial accounting systems are compatible, how reliable the other air-line’s operation is, whether or not the agreement would be good for our customers, and whether or not it would be good for United. If the other airline passes all the tests, then the two carriers can add a “Non-Revenue Interline section to the agreement. These days, the non-revenue interline agreements take the form of ZED agreements.

You may have noticed that some airlines have Medium ZED fares and others have Low ZED fares. The level of the employee discount must be agreed to by both airlines. And some may allow parents and some may not.  Additionally, there are some airlines we have Revenue Interline Agreements with that refuse to permit Non-Revenue Interline agreements as part of the deal. Singapore Airlines, for example, is one of them. Why? Partly because the ZED agreement is far more generous than their own employee pass travel benefits. Air New Zealand permits only the more expensive High ZED fare for the same reason. Other airlines that are state owned such as Air China, Vietnam Airlines, etc., often don’t permit Non-Revenue Interline Agreements because their own employees are government employees.

There are no interline agreements which exclude retirees. All ZED agreements treat active employees and retired employees the same.

United continues to add new Interline agreements. Four of the most recent ones are:

Air Malta which flies to the Mediterranean island just south of Sicily from many major European cities such as Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, etc. We receive Medium ZED fares and Parents receive High ZED fares.

Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of China Airlines in Taipei. This Taiwanese carrier operates domestic and international regional flights. We receive Medium ZED fares for both employees and parents.

Vueling, a low-cost carrier in Spain. Employees receive the Low ZED fare, but nothing for parents.

XL Airways of France operates scheduled flights from Paris Charles De Gaul Airport to long-haul destinations in Africa, the Middle East, the United States and the Caribbean. We receive Medium ZED tickets and our parents receive High ZED fare tickets.

I’ve attached the ZED fare charts, but please remember that some taxes are added to the tickets, and for tickets departing other countries, the departure taxes can be more than the cost of the ticket. In Europe the departure taxes often exceed $100 from some cities.

32 September 2018 RUPANEWS