Interline Airfare Discounts

Interline Airfare Discounts are typically only available thru your airline's pass bureau department. They will have a list of the discounts the employees, retirees, spouses and parents qualify for. Not all airline employees get the same discounts with every airline. These discounts are negotiated by each airline and your pass bureau will have all of that information.

From time to time, especially in slow seasons some international airlines offer special airfare discounts.

Sometimes you are better off buying a ticket than using an "interline" discount as the savings may not be that much depending on how cheaply you can find the airfare for.

Remember in almost every case your interline airfare discount is a standby ticket so you may have trouble getting to your destination on time. Allow plenty of time to get "bumped" and have alternative plans in place just in case.

ZED FARES

A new airfare discount that has become available on many airlines is called ZED fares. ZED Fare Pricing is a ZED Fares travel planning area where employees from participating ZED airlines can look up discount ZED fares and flight schedules. ZED agreement information such as eligibility criteria, embargoes and unique fare pricing are automatically applied to the trip itinerary.

The system is called ZED, which stands for Zonal Employee Discount. It's been the talk of the interline community. And for good reason. It is not just a fare change, but a completely different approach to interline nonrev travel.

What this means for airline employees is simple.....

First, the days of loading up on back-up passes will be a thing of the past, because travel passes will be interchangeable among airlines that have a ZED agreements with each other. This means employees traveling to Sydney, London, Atlanta and hundreds of other destinations around the world will be able to use one pass to fly on any ZED airline with open seats.

Second, most nonrevs will be able to request ZED passes online by following the link and instructions in the Pass Bureau section of their company employee website. Initially, employees will still need to submit a paper form to the Pass Bureau for travel on ZED carriers. Once programming and agent training are completed, employees should be able to purchase ZED tickets at their airlines ticket counter.

Third, the system will offer consistent zone-based pricing, which generally means the fares will be dramatically lower than ID-90 pass agreements.

ZED fares will also bring an added benefit in reduced workload — ticket counter staff will no longer have to spend time issuing and refunding interline passes.

ZED fares will also bring an added benefit in reduced workload — ticket counter staff will no longer have to spend time issuing and refunding interline passes.

For example:

ZED will eventually replace a large portion of the current ID-90 pass agreements with nine mileage-based travel zones, each with a specific one-way fare. The zones and fares for travel are shown here. (additional fees and taxes will apply)

At the medium level, the one way ZED fare for a nonstop flight from Newark (EWR) to Beijing (PEK) on Continental would $97 USD before taxes and fees. Mileage between EWR-PEK is 6,831 miles, which is zone 9 or $97 USD. Using ID95, the same one-way trip would cost $130 USD before taxes and fees.