Traveling to Europe “Space A” on a Military Aircraft
Until last month, my husband Bill and I had wanted for years to try flying space available on a military aircraft to Europe. We’d talked and talked about this military privilege, which allows active duty military members, military retirees, certain government workers, and their dependents to fly super cheaply on military airplanes flying on missions both abroad and in the United States. I grew up knowing about “Space A” because my father is an Air Force retiree and he and my mom have successfully flown to Europe several times on military aircraft. Despite hearing about my parents’ successes, I think Bill was afraid to try flying Space A. He’d heard a lot of horror stories about people who flew to exotic locations, only to find themselves unable to find a Space A flight back home. When that happens, the hapless Space A traveler often has to purchase an expensive one way commercial airline ticket, which can end up negating the great savings one can achieve flying on a military aircraft.
I thought we’d never cross Space A travel off my bucket list. Then one day last month, Bill sent me an email informing me that he’d taken ten days of leave and booked our dogs in the kennel. We would finally be attempting a Space A trip to Europe. I was instantly excited. Then I wondered where we were going to end up going. That’s when the planning– or as much as we could plan under the circumstances– began in earnest.
The first stages of our Space A travel plans
Bill and I live in North Carolina. Our location puts us within driving distance of several military passenger terminals on the east coast. Pope Army Airfield, Charleston Air Force Base, Andrews Air Force Base, Dover Air Force Base, and Norfolk Air Mobility Command are within a day’s drive. Additionally, Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport also has an Air Mobility Command passenger terminal. We knew we wanted to try to fly to Europe, but we would have settled for a trip to the West Coast of the United States as well. The next step was to find out which terminals had flights with seats available, going tone of the places we wanted to go.
Bill signed up for a couple of very helpful online forums, Dirk Pepperd’s Space A message board and John D’s Military Space A Travel Pages. Both of these sites offer free information for the would-be Space A traveler including links to appropriate official information, flight schedules, and trip reports from those who have been there and done that. Both sites are highly recommended, but I personally found Dirk Pepperd’s site to be the most useful. For a couple of weeks before our trip, Bill and I logged in daily to Dirk Pepperd’s site and watched the trends of flights going in and out of the passenger terminals closest to us. Each day, forum members post the scheduled flights from the terminals and the number of seats available, if there are any. These members call the passenger terminals for recorded information and then post it on the forums. Flight schedules are generally available up to 72 hours ahead of time. However, even with our diligence in watching for flight trends, our plans still ended up changing at the last minute.
We were certain we would fly out of Charleston Air Force Base for a flight to Rota, Spain. For several weeks, Charleston had flights going out with seats available. Charleston is also relatively close to where we live and we wanted to visit the city anyway. But on the weekend we planned to depart, Charleston didn’t have any flights going anywhere we wanted to go. On the other hand, BWI had a 747 scheduled to fly to Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany on Saturday, May 19th, 2012. There were 195 seats tentatively available for this flight. Suddenly, instead of driving to Charleston for a flight to Spain, we were driving to BWI for a flight to Germany!
Before we could attempt to travel Space A, Bill had to email proof that he was “on leave” to the passenger terminals we were interested in traveling from, even though we were going to drive to BWI. At midnight on May 19th, Bill sent his information to the terminals closest to us. After getting some sleep, we dropped our dogs off at the kennel and started our drive to BWI. Retirees can sign up for Space A travel up to sixty days before they actually want to travel. However, because they are no longer in the military, they have the lowest status when it comes to being selected for a flight and are most likely to be “bumped” in favor of a passenger with a higher priority status.
Once we knew which passenger terminal we were going to try to fly out of, we needed to get there before show time, which was 8:05pm. We drove all day and got to BWI at about 6:00pm. We entered the passenger terminal and immediately got a look at a huge line of service members, many of whom were in uniform. It turned out this flight to Ramstein would be carrying troops headed to Afghanistan as well as their weapons!
Bill got in line to be marked present for Space A purposes and was surprised when he and I were both immediately accepted for a flight. There are six categories of Space A travelers. Because Bill is an active duty member of the Army, he is considered a “category 3” traveler. A retiree, by contrast, is a “category 6” traveler. The lower the ranking, the higher the likelihood a traveler has of getting on a flight. Active duty service members always have priority over retirees. Nevertheless, we saw quite a few retirees in line that evening and they all scored seats to Ramstein!
After we checked in, Bill and I got in line behind the troops headed for Afghanistan so we could drop off our luggage. Space A travel differs from commercial flights in that in most cases, Space A travelers can have up to 70 pounds of luggage. However, they will also ask you how much you weigh when you check in. They keep track of the weight slated to go on the flight. We also had to pay a “head tax” of $16 each. Bill and I both flew to Germany for just $32!
Taking off
Our flight to Ramstein from BWI was on a regular 747 aircraft operated by Atlas Airlines. These flights are also sometimes chartered by Delta Airlines. The flight was just like a commercial flight in that food and beverages were served and we received hot towel service. They also had earphones, blankets, and pillows and on the seatbacks, there was a video monitor that showed movies, television shows, and our progress toward Europe. After an uneventful seven hour flight, we landed safe and sound at Ramstein.
As soon as we disembarked and cleared customs, Bill went to the Space A sign up desk to sign up for our trip home. It’s very important to remember to do this, since priority for Space A flights is partially determined by how long you’ve been on the sign up list.
Coming back home
Bill and I spent a lovely week in Germany, Austria, and Luxembourg. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. We needed to get back to the States because Bill’s leave was scheduled to end at 11:59pm on May 28th. We had been watching Dirk Pepperd’s site again, as well as the Facebook page for Ramstein Air Force Base. We rose early in the morning and took two trains to get to Ramstein, which was absolutely packed with people hoping to get a flight to the United States that day. Three flights were scheduled. One was going to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, but there were no seats available for Space A travelers. Another was going to Andrews Air Force Base with ten seats available. There was also a military aircraft with hazardous cargo going to Charleston Air Force Base that had fifty seats available.
Even though the terminal was packed with people, some of whom had been waiting for a flight for days, Bill and I lucked into two seats on the Charleston flight. This flight would be very different than our flight out had been because instead of a chartered 747, we would be flying in a cargo plane! And the flight would be free, except if we wanted to purchase box lunches, which were priced at $4.55. So we ended up paying $9.10 to fly back to the United States by way of Gander, Newfoundland, where we stopped for thirty minutes to refuel.
From what I’ve read, some of those hapless travelers at Ramstein are still having trouble getting out. There are not as many flights coming back from Germany as there are going to Europe. That’s why any Space A traveler must have a plan B, which means either trying another passenger terminal or having the ability to purchase a commercial plane ticket.
What it’s like flying on a cargo plane
I was a little nervous as I approached the C-17 bound for Charleston, but as it turned out, our flight on the military cargo flight was surprisingly comfortable. The seats were arranged along the sides of the aircraft with the cargo secured in the middle. I liked this arrangement because it meant there was no one kicking the back of my seat or reclining into my lap. The seats also had space between them so no one was spilling over into anyone else’s seat. Some people actually brought sleeping bags and air mattresses. Once the plane was in flight, they set up a spot on the floor and napped, fully reclined!
There was one lavatory with no running water, but the airmen running the flight had supplied plenty of hand wipes. The box lunches were of excellent quality, with plenty of food that actually tasted good. There were also free cereal bars and bottled waters available to anyone that wanted them.
We did have to wear earplugs because the aircraft was not particularly well insulated from noise. But right next to our seats were electrical outlets, which were handy for charging up our various electronics! There were only a couple of windows, but that didn’t matter, since we were so high in the air there wasn’t much to see. By the time we landed in Charleston, I became convinced cargo planes are nicer than commercial flights!
The one snag…
You’ll recall that Bill and I flew out of BWI, which was also where we parked our car. Charleston is not all that close to BWI, so that meant we had to purchase a commercial plane ticket going north. Sometimes Space A travelers can get lucky and score another Space A flight going closer to where they started. We weren’t that lucky and did have to buy two one way tickets on US Airways and spend the night in Charleston, since we arrived too late and were too exhausted to catch a flight north.
We ended up flying to Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA) and taking public transportation to BWI. We chose to fly to DCA instead of straight to BWI because flights to Baltimore required a layover in Atlanta. In retrospect, we should have just bought the ticket to Baltimore. We didn’t save much money or time flying into DCA and getting to BWI on metros and buses proved to be an inconvenient ordeal. We could have also rented a car to get to BWI, but we didn’t want to spend all day driving from Charleston to Baltimore, only to have to turn around and drive back to North Carolina. Despite having to buy expensive one way tickets on a commercial airline, we still saved significant money by not having to purchase tickets to Europe and back.
All in all…
I would pronounce our first Space A trip a resounding success. Bill and I were very happy with our experiences flying Space A and would definitely try it again.
Here’s a list of things we learned for any readers who qualify for Space A travel and want to give it a try:
* Don’t try to travel during the peak travel times. May 15-September 15 are considered “summer rush” periods. People are moving to new assignments and going on vacations. Likewise, December 10-January 10 is peak holiday travel time. If you can wait for the shoulder seasons, you’ll likely have more success with Space A travel, especially if your priority is less.
* Sign up for travel as soon as possible. If you’re active duty, you can sign up by email for Space A travel at midnight on your first day of leave. As soon as you get to your destination, be sure to sign up for your trip home. That will get you in the system and give you seniority on your preferred travel day.
* Make sure you have ALL your paperwork and travel documents! I saw one soldier and his family get turned away because his daughter had turned ten and didn’t have a military ID. Make sure you have your passport, military IDs, and leave forms completed.
* Get to your preferred passenger terminal before “showtime”. You can find out when “showtime” is by either calling the passenger terminal, watching the forum on Dirk Pepperd’s Web site, or “liking” the passenger terminal’s Facebook page. All three of these resources will also give you other valuable information about Space A flights.
* Be very flexible. Your chances of getting a flight are reduced if your heart is set on just one location leaving out of one passenger terminal.
* Be prepared to be “bumped”. Sometimes a person with a higher priority will be given your seat, even if they show up at the last minute. And sometimes aircrafts get delayed or break down.
* Be prepared to fly to any terminal reasonably close to where you want to go.
* You will be asked how much you weigh.
* Have room on your credit card to buy a commercial plane ticket if you have to.
* Try to travel light. Your chances of getting a flight are better if you don’t have much luggage.
* Have fun! Get to know your fellow travelers! You might just make a new friend!
