spirit employee travel benefits

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You agree to the storage of all personal information, applications, attachments and draft applications within our system. Your personal and application data and any attached text or documentation are retained by Sequoia Apply in accordance with our record retention policy and applicable laws.

This career site protects your privacy by adhering to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We will not use your data for any purpose to which you do not consent.

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This site may collect sensitive personal information as a necessary part of a job application. The data is collected to support one or more job applications, or to match you to future job opportunities. This data is stored and retained for a default period of 12 months to support job matching or improve the user experience for additional job applications. The data for each application is transferred to the Applicant Tracking System in order to move the application through the hiring process. \nYou have the right to view, update, delete, export, or restrict further processing of your job application data. To exercise these rights, you can e-mail us at [email protected] . \nConversion Tracking \nWe store anonymized data on redirects to the career site that is used to measure the effectiveness of other vendors in sourcing job candidates.

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This application protects your privacy by adhering to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Jibe will not use your data for any purpose to which you do not consent.\n

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\n This site retains personally identifiable information, specifically e-mail addresses, as a necessary part of user login. This data is retained for the duration of the user profile lifecycle and enables user authentication.\n

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You are about to enter an assessment system which is proprietary software developed and produced by Kenexa Technology, Inc. The content in this questionnaire has been developed by Kenexa Technology, Inc., Kenexa’s Suppliers and/or Yum Restaurant Services Group, Inc.’s (“Company”) third party content providers and is protected by International Copyright Law. Under no condition may the content be copied, transmitted, reproduced or reconstructed, in whole or in part, in any form whatsoever, without express written consent by Kenexa Technology, Inc. or the applicable third party content provider. Under no circumstances will Kenexa Technology, Inc. be responsible for content created or provided by Company’s third party content providers.

IN NO EVENT SHALL KENEXA, AN IBM COMPANY, KENEXA’S SUPPLIERS OR THE COMPANY’S THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMANGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, THE PERFORMANCE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS KENEXA ASSESSMENT SYSTEM OR THE CONTENT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

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Employee Assistance Program

\nSpirit is proud to provide our Team Members with Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits. Consultations are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to talk about practical solutions on issues that matter to you – in your life, health, family and work.\n  

Vacation Time

\nVacations, any kind of down time, relaxation time or enjoyable activities are an excellent way to increase our sense of well-being. Whether it’s with friends, family, or solo; across the state or across the world, vacation is one of the best things you can do for your mind, body, and soul. At Spirit, we encourage you to use your vacation time to reconnect and recharge. Vacation time is accrued and based on your years of service with Spirit. Vacation plans begin at 40 hours per year for all full-time Team Members. \n  

\nFeeling under the weather, but can’t put your finger on it? Or, are you needing that sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, sleep better to feel better medicine? Either way, we get it, sick happens and we want you to stay home when it does. Sick time is accrued and available to use after your 90-day introductory period. \n  

Flexibility

\nWith the wide array of positions we hire for, we are sure there will be a role that best fits with your lifestyle. Depending on the role and needs of the team you join, a wide variety of our positions offer flexible schedules and/or remote work options. \n  

\nOur commitment is to invest in our Team Members. Spirit U offers our eligible Team Members a destination for personalized and modernized leadership and professional development options. It includes hundreds of online courses, audiobooks, e-books, leaderships series, and much more.\n

Growth & Movement within

\nThere is no limit to how fast and how far you can grow within Spirit. We pride ourselves in the encouragement we give our Team Members to move around the company to increase their skills and knowledge. \n

Medical Coverage

\n When it comes to medical coverage, Spirit has you covered!  With multiple options to choose from including great savings options with a Health Savings Account (HSA), you can bet we have a plan to keep you and your family happy and healthy all year long.\n

Dental Coverage

\n We want to see those pearly whites, everyday! Spirit Airlines, Inc. offers our Team Members plush dental coverage for you and your family , including orthodontia. \n

Vision Coverage

\nSpirit is proud to partner with Vision Service Plan (VSP) to provide comprehensive vision coverage to our Team Members. With a large network of doctors to choose from, you can get the care you need virtually anywhere!

Voluntary Products

\nEven with a solid health care plan, out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles, co-pays, and prescriptions can add up. Spirit is proud to partner with Aflac to provide supplemental coverage that helps cover what traditional insurance leaves out, filling in the gaps.\n

Spending Accounts

\nPre-tax savings on healthcare and dependent care expenses are available with a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). \n • Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) \n• Dependent Care Flexible Spending account (DCFSA)\n

Short Term & Long Term Disability

\n Life happens. Things don’t always go according to plan, and it can be a scary feeling to not be prepared. Spirit is here to help you get through those difficult times and help you jump those hurdles together. We provide a life and disability program to help you when it matters most. \n

Life Insurance and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance

\n Spirit provides Basic Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance to all full-time Team Members automatically at no cost. This benefit provides financial peace of mind for your loved ones and yourself. All Team Members are eligible to purchase Supplemental coverage for yourself and Dependent coverage for your spouse/domestic partner and children.\n

Better Spirits Fund

At Spirit, we are a family. The Better Spirits Fund was founded by us, for us! The fund provides monetary assistance to Spirit Airlines Team Members who may be experiencing an unusual and unexpected crisis. Thanks to the generosity of our Team Members, we have provided assistance to over 100 Team Members since the fund began in 2004.

Unlimited Travel With Spirit

\n Are you ready for that non-rev life? We hope so, because Team Members and their qualified dependents are eligible for standby travel benefits on all Spirit routes! After you have completed 6 months of service, your travel benefits get upgraded to include our agreements with other carriers! \n

Buddy Passes

\nIn addition to your eligible travel dependents, Spirit will also provide all Team Members with a certain amount of buddy passes for anyone they’d like! Buddy Passes become available upon your 6th month anniversary with Spirit. \n

\nSaving for Retirement is one of the most important things you’ll ever do. Spirit is invested in helping you build your future through our 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan provided in partnership with Charles Schwab.\n

Perks and More!

\nSpirit is proud to offer exclusive discounts and promotional opportunities to our Team Members. Examples include discounts on:\n • Car rentals,\n • Shipping services,\n • Cellular phone services,\n • Identity theft protection, \n • Pet insurance,\n • Pet Rx assistance,\n • Meal plans,\n • And much more!\n

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When it comes to medical coverage, Spirit has you covered!  With multiple options to choose from including great savings options with a Health Savings Account (HSA), you can bet we have a plan to keep you and your family happy and healthy all year long.

We want to see those pearly whites, everyday! Spirit Airlines, Inc. offers our Team Members plush dental coverage for you and your family , including orthodontia.

Spirit is proud to partner with Vision Service Plan (VSP) to provide comprehensive vision coverage to our Team Members. With a large network of doctors to choose from, you can get the care you need virtually anywhere!

Even with a solid health care plan, out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles, co-pays, and prescriptions can add up. Spirit is proud to partner with Aflac to provide supplemental coverage that helps cover what traditional insurance leaves out, filling in the gaps.

Pre-tax savings on healthcare and dependent care expenses are available with a Flexible Spending Account (FSA). • Healthcare Flexible Spending Account (FSA) • Dependent Care Flexible Spending account (DCFSA)

Life happens. Things don’t always go according to plan, and it can be a scary feeling to not be prepared. Spirit is here to help you get through those difficult times and help you jump those hurdles together. We provide a life and disability program to help you when it matters most.

Spirit provides Basic Life and Accidental Death & Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance to all full-time Team Members automatically at no cost. This benefit provides financial peace of mind for your loved ones and yourself. All Team Members are eligible to purchase Supplemental coverage for yourself and Dependent coverage for your spouse/domestic partner and children.

Spirit is proud to provide our Team Members with Employee Assistance Program (EAP) benefits. Consultations are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to talk about practical solutions on issues that matter to you – in your life, health, family and work.   

Vacations, any kind of down time, relaxation time or enjoyable activities are an excellent way to increase our sense of well-being. Whether it’s with friends, family, or solo; across the state or across the world, vacation is one of the best things you can do for your mind, body, and soul. At Spirit, we encourage you to use your vacation time to reconnect and recharge. Vacation time is accrued and based on your years of service with Spirit. Vacation plans begin at 40 hours per year for all full-time Team Members.   

Feeling under the weather, but can’t put your finger on it? Or, are you needing that sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, fever, sleep better to feel better medicine? Either way, we get it, sick happens and we want you to stay home when it does. Sick time is accrued and available to use after your 90-day introductory period.   

With the wide array of positions we hire for, we are sure there will be a role that best fits with your lifestyle. Depending on the role and needs of the team you join, a wide variety of our positions offer flexible schedules and/or remote work options.   

Are you ready for that non-rev life? We hope so, because Team Members and their qualified dependents are eligible for standby travel benefits on all Spirit routes! After you have completed 6 months of service, your travel benefits get upgraded to include our agreements with other carriers!

In addition to your eligible travel dependents, Spirit will also provide all Team Members with a certain amount of buddy passes for anyone they’d like! Buddy Passes become available upon your 6th month anniversary with Spirit.

Saving for Retirement is one of the most important things you’ll ever do. Spirit is invested in helping you build your future through our 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan provided in partnership with Charles Schwab.

Spirit is proud to offer exclusive discounts and promotional opportunities to our Team Members. Examples include discounts on: • Car rentals, • Shipping services, • Cellular phone services, • Identity theft protection, • Pet insurance, • Pet Rx assistance, • Meal plans, • And much more!

Our commitment is to invest in our Team Members. Spirit U offers our eligible Team Members a destination for personalized and modernized leadership and professional development options. It includes hundreds of online courses, audiobooks, e-books, leaderships series, and much more.

There is no limit to how fast and how far you can grow within Spirit. We pride ourselves in the encouragement we give our Team Members to move around the company to increase their skills and knowledge.

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Spirit Airlines

About Spirit Airlines

Fast facts updated 01/12/24.

Spirit Airlines is a travel and leisure company founded in 1964.This large company employs 11,107 people .See Spirit Airlines’s employee benefits outlined below. To understand the company’s culture and values, check out its careers website

Scorecard Updated 09/12/23

• Quality of Pay » 5
• Work Life Balance » 3
• Stability » 3
• Comfort » 5
• Belongingness » 5
• Professional Development » 5

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Questions to Answer as a Job Reference

Thanks for starting your application to {{companyName}}.

To complete your application you must do one of the following:

Forward an email from your mobile device with your resume attached to {{fromEmail}}

Reply to this email from your laptop or desktop computer with your resume attached.

Thank you for your interest, The Recruiting Team

Reply to this email from your laptop or desktop computer with your cover letter attached.

In order to create an account with us and submit applications for positions with our company you must read the following Terms and Agreements and select to agree before registering.

In the event that you do not accept our Terms and Agreements you will not be able to submit applications for positions with our company.

You agree to the storage of all personal information, applications, attachments and draft applications within our system. Your personal and application data and any attached text or documentation are retained by Jibe Apply in accordance with our record retention policy and applicable laws.

You agree that all personal information, applications, attachments and draft applications created by you may be used by us for our recruitment purposes, including for automated job matching. It is specifically agreed that we will make use of all personal information, applications, attachments and draft applications for recruitment purposes only and will not make this information available to any third party unconnected with the our recruitment processes.

Your registration and access to our Careers Web Site indicates your acceptance of these Terms and Agreements.

Dear ${user.firstName},

Thanks for choosing to apply for a job with ${client.display.name}! Please verify ownership of your email address by clicking this link .

Alternatively, you can verify your account by pasting this URL into your browser: ${page.url}?id=${user.id}&ptoken=${user.token}

Please note that your job application will not be submitted to ${client.display.name} until you have successfully verified ownership of your email address.

The ${client.display.name} Recruiting Team

Nice to meet you. 👋

Lets quickly set up your profile

to start having tailored recommendations.

You agree to the storage of all personal information, applications, attachments and draft applications within our system. Your personal and application data and any attached text or documentation are retained by Sequoia Apply in accordance with our record retention policy and applicable laws.

This career site protects your privacy by adhering to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We will not use your data for any purpose to which you do not consent.

We store anonymized interaction data in an aggregated form about visitors and their experiences on our site using cookies and tracking mechanisms. We use this data to fix site defects and improve the general user experience.

We request use of your data for the following purposes:

Job Application Data

This site may collect sensitive personal information as a necessary part of a job application. The data is collected to support one or more job applications, or to match you to future job opportunities. This data is stored and retained for a default period of 12 months to support job matching or improve the user experience for additional job applications. The data for each application is transferred to the Applicant Tracking System in order to move the application through the hiring process. \nYou have the right to view, update, delete, export, or restrict further processing of your job application data. To exercise these rights, you can e-mail us at [email protected] . \nConversion Tracking \nWe store anonymized data on redirects to the career site that is used to measure the effectiveness of other vendors in sourcing job candidates.

Consent and Data Privacy

This application protects your privacy by adhering to the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Jibe will not use your data for any purpose to which you do not consent.\n

We request use of your data for the following purposes:\n \n User Authentication \n

\n This site retains personally identifiable information, specifically e-mail addresses, as a necessary part of user login. This data is retained for the duration of the user profile lifecycle and enables user authentication.\n

\n \n Usage Analytics \n

We store anonymized usage data to measure and improve the effectiveness of this CRM application in filling job requisitions and managing talent communities.\n

\n \n E-mails to Candidates \n

We collect your personal information such as name and email address. This information is used when you send marketing or contact emails to candidates.\n\n

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You are about to enter an assessment system which is proprietary software developed and produced by Kenexa Technology, Inc. The content in this questionnaire has been developed by Kenexa Technology, Inc., Kenexa’s Suppliers and/or Yum Restaurant Services Group, Inc.’s (“Company”) third party content providers and is protected by International Copyright Law. Under no condition may the content be copied, transmitted, reproduced or reconstructed, in whole or in part, in any form whatsoever, without express written consent by Kenexa Technology, Inc. or the applicable third party content provider. Under no circumstances will Kenexa Technology, Inc. be responsible for content created or provided by Company’s third party content providers.

IN NO EVENT SHALL KENEXA, AN IBM COMPANY, KENEXA’S SUPPLIERS OR THE COMPANY’S THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDERS, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMANGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF, THE PERFORMANCE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE THIS KENEXA ASSESSMENT SYSTEM OR THE CONTENT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

By clicking below, you are also confirming your identity for purposes of the questionnaire. You may not receive assistance, refer to any written material, or use a calculator (or similar device) while completing the questionnaire.

Unless otherwise directed by the Questionnaire Administrator, you are only authorized to take each requested questionnaire once. Failure to comply may result in disqualification. All Kenexa SelectorTM questionnaires are monitored.

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It's important to have the latest version of a browser. Newer browsers save you time, keep you safer, and let you do more online.

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Total Rewards

Spirit offers a comprehensive Total Rewards program for its employees, providing coverage, resources, and support for a better work/life balance.

Rewarding Benefits

The benefits of working at Spirit extend well beyond pay. As an employee, you will have access to the Spirit AeroSystems’ Total Rewards benefits program. Your health, financial security, professional growth and work/life balance are important to you, so they are important to us. Spirit’s Total Rewards program offers coverage, resources and support to help employees live better, more rewarding lives.

It’s our goal to provide you with flexible coverage that works for your specific needs. For U.S.-based employees, that means providing comprehensive medical, vision, and dental coverage and the ability to enroll in flexible spending accounts (FSA) and invest in a health savings account (HSA). For employees outside of the U.S., we offer comprehensive medical coverage, a welfare contract and coverage for critical illness.

Your health and well-being are a top priority for Spirit AeroSystems. We offer a range of programs designed to provide you with the tools and resources to maintain and improve your overall physical, emotional and financial quality of life. U.S. employees have access to subsidized gym memberships as well as employee assistance programs that offer resources and support in times of need.

Life Insurance

Peace of mind and a plan for long-term benefits is important to you and your family. Employees can choose from a range of life insurance options at no cost with the ability to buy up in coverage as desired. We also offer a selection of short- and long-term disability insurance coverage that can be either company or self-paid.

Paid Time Off

Employees at Spirit are dedicated to their work and are just as committed to activities outside of work with friends and family. Spirit observes several paid holidays throughout the year and offers competitive time off that allows you to recharge, reconnect and rebalance your life.

Savings and Retirement

Planning for the future can sometimes be cumbersome. Spirit’s retirement program is designed to help build personal wealth by providing flexible investment options that support the needs of you and those of your family upon your retirement.

Recognition and Incentives

Recognition is a vital part of Spirit’s culture, and we have formalized a program to recognize employees for exemplary performance, commitment to our values and delivering for our customers. We offer short- and long-term financial incentive plans as well as employee gain sharing and profit sharing and an employee stock purchase plan.

Learning and Development

At Spirit, we’ve designed our professional growth and development process to help you continually improve your skills, and in doing so, prepare you for the next step in your career. We offer on-site and on-the-job training opportunities and tuition reimbursement programs and will work with you to create personal development plans to help elevate your knowledge, expertise and level within the organization.

Employee Ownership

Employee ownership is valued at Spirit where employees are prioritized as shareholders with voting rights. Employees in eligible locations are provided the opportunity to become a shareholder of Spirit Common Stock by purchasing shares through Spirit’s ESPP with a lookback and the maximum discount of 15% (for a qualified plan). Purchased shares are property of the employee, who can continue to hold them or sell them at any time (tax implications can vary). Current eligible locations include Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas in the U.S., sites in the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and France.

This site provides a brief summary of benefit options for Spirit AeroSystems employees. In case of any discrepancy between this site and the plan documents, the plan documents will govern.

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Spirit Airlines

Staff travel information

Please do not pre-board with the crew.

Spirit Airlines allows 1 free Check-in and 1 free Carry On baggage apart from a personal bag for travellers flying Non-Rev. The baggage allowance for Check In luggage is capped at 40 lbs or 18 kgs which is less than the usual industry standard 52 lbs (23 kgs).

All travelers utilizing employee non-rev benefits are expected to look the part and meet personal appearance guidelines outlined in the Spirit Team Member Handbook. Sign in using your Spirit RA credentials. Some airlines that Spirit has agreements with may have slightly different dress codes therefore it is recommended that you dress business casual.

Please list yourself.

Non-rev status for Spirit Airlines is awarded by system seniority. Not first come first serve. First come, first serve is ONLY for the Jumpseat on the A319s and A321s.

Spirit Airlines flight loads

Download the StaffTraveler app to get accurate, reliable seat availability for Spirit Airlines flights.

Non-rev tips

Flying on a stand-by ticket can be challenging. We have gathered invaluable insider information and tips to help you to get on board.

Submit your notes

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Please note that this form is  not intended to ask staff travel related questions .

Only use this form to add Spirit Airlines tips & notes to the StaffTraveler Airline Notes database.

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Making staff travel easy and stress-free, like it should be!

What it's really like to fly standby as an airline employee

Free travel is one of the most enticing perks of working in the airline industry , but there's a major asterisk involved. Airline employees have access to non-revenue travel, meaning you'll only get a seat if there's space available. For those who like a good gamble, showing up to the airport without a confirmed seat can be thrilling yet incredibly nerve-wracking.

Back in summer 2019 — also known as the golden year for air travel — I was an intern at JetBlue Airways . One of the perks was standby travel, and during those 10 weeks, I wanted to take full advantage of my (short-lived) benefits. Overall, it was a success, as I flew more than 30 times that summer, with seven of those flights on the coveted JetBlue Mint business class .

During my internship, I learned a lot about standby travel and the airline industry as a whole. While standby travel is certainly not for the faintest of hearts, there are ways to get good at it and mitigate stress from all of the uncertainty.

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How standby travel works as an airline employee

Whether you're a pilot , flight attendant , gate agent or even an intern, you may have standby travel privileges that get you free flights on the airline you're working for and (potentially) on partner airlines. While you can travel for free within the 50 U.S. states, any international taxes and fees will apply if you're flying out of the country.

While most airlines rank employees based on seniority and role, JetBlue full-time and part-time employees were ranked on a priority list based on their check-in time. Occasionally, JetBlue employees could get one-time priority passes and jump to the top of the standby list, bypassing other employees on the ranking.

However, as an intern, I was on the same priority level as seasonal employees, which meant that we were grouped under all full-time and part-time staff but above partner airline employees. Regardless of your place on the list, all non-revenue travelers must show up at the gate and wait to be issued a ticket. If the flight was considerably empty, the gate agent may go ahead and ticket you at the start of the boarding process. But if the flight only had a few seats left — or was completely full — all non-revenue passengers must wait until the end of the boarding process for standby seats to clear.

With this much uncertainty, it's essential that you only travel with a carry-on or personal bag, as you never know which flight you'll end up taking that day. Since I only had free time to travel on weekends, this wasn't a problem as I never needed to check a bag in the first place.

Since JetBlue only offers paid upgrades to its passengers, it was easy for non-revenue flyers to snag Even More Space (EMS) seats or even Mint seats on qualifying routes. Interns only had access to JetBlue-operated flights, but full-time employees could fly standby on partner airlines as well, widening the opportunities for international trips.

Finally, in terms of dress and behavior, you're supposed to blend in with the rest of the crowd while looking neat and polished. For example, you're not allowed to wear flip flops or sweatpants as a non-revenue passenger.

Your standby benefits extend to immediate family

At JetBlue, your standby benefits as a full-time employee extend to your immediate family (spouse, dependent children and parents). Airline employees will also get buddy passes throughout the year, handing them out to extended family or friends.

As an intern, I could extend my travel privileges to my parents and one designated travel companion. I brought my mom with me on several trips that summer, and I think she enjoyed the standby privileges as much as I did.

How to work the odds in your favor

Now that I've given a brief rundown, here's how you can work standby travel in your favor. While some of it's luck, there's actually more strategy involved.

First, I had access to a separate website where I'd book non-revenue tickets and monitor flight loads in real time. For example, my new intern friend, Peter, and I wanted to start easy. That means we weren't interested in flying a competitive route such as New York (JFK) to Los Angeles (LAX) from the get-go.

Instead, we picked New York (JFK) to Nantucket on the first flight of the day — 7:10 a.m. We checked the flight loads the night before, and since there were 60+ empty seats, we knew we could hop on this flight with no issues. We were ticketed as soon as we arrived at the gate.

A perk of standby travel that I hadn't considered before is that you have flexibility in your travel plans. We did a quick day trip in Nantucket, and there were plenty of flights going back to New York that day (JFK and LGA). While we were initially intending on leaving around dinnertime, we decided to hop back on the flight around 4 p.m. so we could get back to Manhattan earlier.

On my way home from San Diego, I wanted to try out Mint for the first time, but there were only a few seats left and a long list of standby passengers. Instead, I decided to book a flight to Boston-Logan International Airport (BOS) to snag a Mint seat and then jumped on a flight from Boston to New York (LGA).

Related: The Mint experience from London: What it was like flying JetBlue's inaugural flight from London to New York

What happens when there's not a seat available

Out of the 30+ flights I took that summer, I was denied boarding only once. Those are some pretty good odds, especially since the summer is the busiest travel season and full of bad weather delays .

My mom and I wanted to fly to Los Angeles, so we picked the first flight of the day that had about 15 seats the morning of. With other higher priority employees on the list, there was only one seat left. My mom took the last seat while I hopped on standby for the next flight that left just an hour later, and we finally met up at the airport.

There are several other instances where seats may fill up last minute. For example, delays and cancellations can lead to rebooking on later flights during the day — so that flight with 30 seats available might be snatched up by revenue passengers. That's why it's important to monitor the flight loads religiously, check the forecast and see where the aircraft is coming from or going since numbers can change last minute.

Standby travel is also a game of exercising patience, as gate agents are often overworked when it comes to delays and cancellations . We were advised to never go up to the gate until boarding has finished, as you'll want to stay out of the way as much as possible.

Several interns and I flew to St. Martin at the end of the summer. To ensure that we'd all get back to New York, some of us took the earlier flight home while the others took the later flight. No matter how many seats are available, it's always stressful not to have a confirmed ticket, so splitting up helped us travel together without leaving one of us stranded.

Spontaneity is the spice of life

Thanks to JetBlue offering free in-flight Wi-Fi, I could then plan the rest of my trip once I got a confirmed seat and was en route to my destination. Depending on where I was going, I would only bring enough clothes for a day trip. I would look at last-minute hotels or Airbnbs on the flight.

On the ground, I would spend most of my time walking, spending time on the beach or exploring restaurants in the area. Standby travel is an entirely different way to travel than I've ever experienced.

Bottom line

As someone who's quite spontaneous already, I loved the thrill of non-revenue travel and exploring a new destination for a fraction of the cost. However, as I returned to a "normal" paying passenger, I also enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a confirmed booking and the ability to earn points and miles and work toward elite status .

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Spirit Airlines employee travel benefits ?

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