Nonrev

A Nonrev or Non-rev, in airline parlance, is short for a non-revenue passenger. Typically this refers to an airline employee, or family member of an airline employee, who is utilizing their travel benefits to fly on a standby basis at no cost, or at a substantially reduced cost. Subload (Short form of Subject-to-load) is another term used for Non-rev. Another term is interline travel, which is relevant only of the airline employees uses another airline (other than his own employing airline) to travel. All non-revs need not be interline travellers.

On nonrev tickets, passengers are not able to reserve a seat. As the nature of the ticket is "Space Available Ticket" or "Standby Ticket", contrary to revenue passengers whose tickets are often called "Positive Space Ticket" or "Confirmed Ticket" because the reservation can be confirmed by an airline, indicating that the airline holding the reservation is responsible for the carriage of the passenger to the said destination. However, "Space Available Ticket" or "Standby Ticket" are sometimes sold by the airlines or travel agents throughout the world at low price in order for the airlines to fill up the seats in attempt to generate last minute revenue. "Open Tickets" is also sold to revenue passengers in the same manner but it is bookable, often changeable and refundable. Due to its flexibility, it is often very expensive. Nonrev travel is important from an airline's perspective, as this is a unique incentive that only airlines can offer to their employees. This keeps employees' loyalty to the employer and the industry. The airline maintains a department (mostly under HR, Customer Relationships, Sales & Marketing) just to support this welfare initiative and in most cases, provide dedicated websites and reservation hotline to make, modify, and delete the "listing" (Letting the airline know of their intention to travel on a particular flight).

When there are more passengers on standby than there are available seats, free spaces are awarded based on priority: nonrev passengers have the lowest priority on a flight's standby list, as they will be competing with paying passengers on standby as well as other nonrevs. This usually leads to a situation where non-revs get "bumped off" of a flight.

Further, nonrevs are prioritized amongst one another, with airline employees prioritized by seniority or check in time, then airline employee family members, and then finally "buddy passes", which are neither.

Airline employees usually enjoy the freedom of flying any flight on a standby basis with little or no advance booking, as long as there is a seat available on the flight. As a result, there is a niche "nonrev" vacation industry that caters to airline employees. Travel agencies catering to nonrevs market surplus discounted vacations, and hotel accommodations at the last minute at deeply discounted rates, with the knowledge that nonrev travelers are able to travel to fill such accommodations with minimal planning.

Off-late airlines are becoming conscious of the fact that proper management of non-rev travel can save a lot in terms of cost and at times generate revenue. (A part of the standby tickets may be given to the employee at a small fee). Thus this becomes one way to utilise a seat which otherwise would have gone empty. Advance booking (even for a standby travel) is becoming a practice in many carriers.

Nonrevs also often get discounts at the cities they layover when they work. They generally receive discounts at restaurants, attractions and local tours because frequently visit these businesses in large groups. Nonrevs on vacations sometimes make others aware of these discounts by passing information to their fellow workers through word of mouth as well as company blogs or special-purpose nonrev websites.

See also

• Airline Staff Travel
• Interline Travel

References

• Whitepaper : Airline Staff Travel Challenges : Solving with Automation
• Whitepaper : Airline Staff Travel is no longer NonRev
• The Free Dictionary, Acronyms, NONREV

External links

• iFly Staff(offers management of non-rev travel, and booking facility for employees)
• StaffTravel.eu (All your Staff Travel needs in ONE place)
• InterlineTravel.com(offers non-rev travel discounts to airline employees/families)
• ID90 (offers benefits and information to nonrevs)
• nonrev.net (message board for non rev travelers)
• Non-Rev.com - Non-Rev tools, community and resources