Basically how it works is you call the flight desk and ask if they got a flight to where you want to go. They say to FAX your flight request, I never do that, being a Reservist you’re the LAST behind retirees on the pecking order, having a reservation doesn’t help you much from being bumped. In 3 years I’ve only been bumped twice. Your main problem will be getting the flight you want not getting bumped. The main secret to flying Space-A is stick to the big bases. If you’ve been waiting around it’s tempting to jump on a flight to get out of dodge. Careful, or you’ll be stuck in Lord Knows where!

The bases in the East you can count on are Jacksonville, Norfolk, Andrews, McGuire. Central you can always count on Scott. In the West it’s North Island, Travis, McChord. You’ll see many flights to many bases, it’s easy to get IN somewhere, the tricky part is EXITING. Or exiting somewhere close to YOUR terms. Let’s say you want to go from Robbins AFB, GA to Hickham AFB Hawaii. Best thing to do is case Robbins a few months ahead of time. Call them every week or two and see what they got going out. You need to get to the West coast to make the jump to HI. If they can’t accommodate your time frame you could get over to Norfolk and easily get a flight West. Another factor to consider is the different terminal facilities and your budget. I try to travel cheap, spend your money in Hawaii not here! Last thing you want is to have a "free" Space-A trip cost you 40-80 dollars cab rides, hotels, extra food, rental car, etc.. Soon you could just have gotten a commercial ticket and be right there for LESS money. In fact you should check Yahoo travel frequently to see, sometimes they have incredible deals. What if your perfect flight is the next day and your stuck in some base that closes early and they have no billeting available. A cab and a hotel bites your budget! Make a note of each terminals facilities. Norfolk for instance has a brand new facility that’s open 24/7 with snack bar, TV lounge, Showers! More places have nothing and kick you out at 10pm. Base lodging ranges from, Andrews Navy is 4 dollars, Jacksonville is $45(kitchenette) Hickham Air Force is $12, Navy is $7. Have that Plan B ready. Lodging at North Island is $8. The bus across the Coronado bridge to San Diego is $1.50. The bus from Hickham to Waikiki beach is a dollar.

So you get to the West coast. The best one for getting to Hawaii is Travis. They have flights to Hickham every week sometimes everyday! Most Space-A flights are not predictable and when you call the base they tell you only 2 days ahead flights. But there are some scheduled dependable routes. On the West coast you have a circular run 3 times a week from Los Angeles LAX military terminal to SEACORD military(Seattle commercial) to Elmendorff Alaska to Yakoda Japan back to LAX. And it runs the opposite direction twice a week. On the East coast you have a flight every Saturday from Andrews to Rosy Roads PR, returns on Sunday. And one from Norfolk to Rosy Roads every Tuesday returns on Wednesdays. Somewhat less dependable are the various "MEDI-VAC" runs. Don’t hold your breath for one of those.

A few of the bases have 800 numbers. They all have DSN. You can hopscotch your way across the country. Say you can’t get the flight to Travis but there is one to Scott(Illinois) So call up Scott and say "Do you have anything to Travis" I like it when he says he has TWO flights. That way when one flakes out you got the back-up. Or you should have a back-up that would get you to North Island or McChord. Lodging at Scott is $17 but it’s often full. Don’t count on a flight UNTIL your in the seat and the plane lifts off the runway! I’ve had many great flights in C-12, C-22 LearJets, C-9 Medi-Vacs that were completely empty, BUT learning the ropes I’ve gotten stuck more than once. If your careful it’s great and you’ll have no problems and you’ll meet some of the coolest people. Air Crews, crazy retirees, soldiers of every type. I sometimes take a flight into some offbeat little base and instead of getting a hotel I just take the train or rent a car and drive thru the mountains on the scenic route.

I recommend you build yourself a SPACE-A FLIGHT PACKET. In that packet keep your passport, keep a list of the latest base numbers, with DSN numbers. Keep a list of the 800 numbers for all the rental car companies, keep the number for Greyhound and Amtrak. Bring a notepad to write down numbers, local bus routes etc. Put it all in a carrying pouch.

Another trick I found is that if you make a reservation online it’s cheaper. For a rental car or flight. So its good to have a Yahoo account and use Yahoo travel to get rental cars or commercial flights. Sometimes I’m right at the rental counter at the airport, and I call my girlfriend Emily and she makes the reservation online. I sometimes save 20 bucks That’s dinner and beer!

To get the list of base numbers you need to go to the nearest flight desk and they will have the latest copy. Some lists are better than others. And the numbers sometimes change. You can always call a different base to get the other base numbers. Good Luck. Happy Trails.

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