Ask your nonrev question
Every week I go live and answer standby travel questions from the nonrev community — employees, retirees, family and buddy pass riders. Send yours and I'll take it on air.
What is Travel Tips Q&A?
Travel Tips Q&A is a live weekly show for non-rev travelers. Every Tuesday I go live on YouTube for an hour and answer standby travel questions from the audience in real time — no script, no set topic list, just whatever you bring to chat. It's built for airline employees, retirees, eligible family members and buddy pass riders at every experience level, from people who haven't flown standby yet to 30-year veterans.
I've been flying for 45 years and writing about non-rev travel at Passrider for most of that time. Most of these questions I've had to answer for myself the hard way, usually at a gate, usually at the worst possible moment.
What kind of questions can I ask?
Anything about non-rev or standby travel. The ones that come up most:
- Loads and odds — how to read a flight load, how much loads move in the last 24 hours, how many open seats is safe to gamble on, and how to check loads on a partner or other-airline flight.
- Standby priority — how non-revs are actually cleared, whether seniority beats check-in time, where buddy pass riders sit in the order, and whether you can be bumped after you've been given a seat.
- Buddy passes — what to tell a first-time rider before they get to the airport, what a buddy pass really costs, and when standby genuinely isn't worth it versus buying a ticket.
- Dress code and etiquette — what the rules actually are in 2026, whether they change by cabin or by airline, and what behavior puts pass privileges at risk.
- When it goes wrong — the last flight is full and you're at an outstation, how many nights you're willing to risk being stuck, and when to eat the cost of a revenue ticket home.
- ZED fares and international — how ZED pricing works, listing on another airline versus your own, proof of onward travel, and the visa issues that catch non-revs off guard.
- Family travel — non-revving with kids, what to do when the family clears but one person doesn't, and how retiree benefits differ from active employee benefits.
When is it live?
Every Tuesday at 11:00am Central — that's 12:00pm Eastern, 9:00am Pacific and 5:00pm in the UK. It runs about an hour and ends on time.
What if I can’t watch live?
Send your question through the form above and I'll take it on a future show. Every episode replay stays up on the channel with chapters, so you can jump straight to the question you care about rather than scrubbing through the whole hour. I read every question that comes in, and if you leave an email I'll tell you which episode answers yours.
Do I have to be an airline employee?
No. Plenty of the audience are family members, buddy pass riders, or people who are simply curious how standby travel works. Questions from complete beginners are welcome — those usually turn out to be the ones everyone else was quietly wondering about too.
New to all this? Start with What Is Non-Rev Travel? and What Is a Buddy Pass? — then bring me the questions those don't answer.