Interline travel

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Interline travel refers to airline employee discounts for travel. Interline is a term used in the airline industry indicating travel between airlines [1]. Often these discounts are for employees, spouses, parents, dependent children and retirees of the airlines.

Airline employees often travel on discounted airfare with other airlines. These benefits are often negotiated by a select department at the airline, called the pass bureau. The discounts can range from free to a percentage off of the full coach or first class airfare. A new development for these discounts is called ZED fares [2]. These are mileage based prices that various airlines have agreed will be the cost for any airline employee with one of the participating airlines can purchase for travel.

The ZED program [3] was designed to make it easier for airine employees travelling on other carriers with their leisure travel arrangements. The old system of ID discounts (ID90, ID50, etc.) was based on a percentage discount off the published full fare price (either coach or first class) for a route given a specific origin and destination for each ticket. To allow for more predictable fares, easier trip planning and ticketing for employees and their families, the ZED program created travel zones with specific pricing.

Interline travel discounts on other suppliers varies by the supplier and travel time. Interline discounts on cruises and hotels can be booked by the employees, parents and retirees thru select interline travel agencies which are authorized by the various suppliers. To qualify for these discounts the employee, parent or retiree must provide proof of eligibility such as a copy of their airline ID badge or letter of employment on airline letterhead.

There are only a handful of fully qualified interline travel agencies in the world and most are in North America.

Some interline agencies also offer military travel discounts for active and retired military.

Usually defunct airline employees, (Ozark Airlines, Braniff Airlines, Hughes Air West, etc) do not qualify for any discounts. The exception is typically TWA as they were merged with American Airlines before they went out of business.

Interline discounts are typically offered close in to departure dates, however some vendors (hotels) will offer them farther in advance, sometimes as much as a year in advance.

When airline employees are flying on their interline travel discounts, they often are flying "standby" which means they only get on the plane if there are any seats left after all paying passengers and those flying on frequent flyer miles have been boarded on the plane. For this reason in the recent years this benefit has become less valuable as many flights run full and thus employees cannot get on the plane.