My wife went to Hawaii for a funeral and rather than spend extra $$ to fly back I thought I could attempt to fly space-a for the first time from travis to hickam and back to travis again when I pick her up. This seemed like the greatest idea in the world, however, I'm starting to get nervous about space-a travel.
As Active Duty CAT III, have there been many issues with catching flights?
When I was stationed in Hawaii and Guam I Space A'd at least twice a year on leave to and from the the islands through Travis. The Travis to Hawaii hops are some of the most popular and I spent many nights chewing up leave in Cali waiting to get on that flight until one day I met this old retired Gunny Sgt Marine who asked me where I was trying to go. Apparently this guy was single and just space A'd all around the world. He told me the best way to get to Hawaii from Travis without waiting forever was to change my chit and go to Elmendorf AFB AK and then catch a hop from there to HI. I did that several times after that and never again got stuck at Travis. Keep in mind that I was on EML environmental leave orders from OCONUS so was a little higher in priority. If the funeral was for a family member you might qualify for emergency leave giving you a higher priority? Hope this helps. Cheers!
If the funeral was for a family member you might qualify for emergency leave giving you a higher priority?
Many moons ago when I traveled on Emergency Leave the priority only applied on the outbound trip to the location of the funeral, not on the return trip to your unit.
UPDATE: Unless you are CAT 1 or 2, don't plan on flying this summer... I met CAT 3's who had been waiting two weeks burning leave to go ANYWHERE. I bit the bullet and paid the $$ to fly commercial. Won't be attempting Space-A again any time soon.
I am class six, and have flown into and out of Travis from Hickam and to March/Edwards/Miramar/NASNI, several times. I would not be afraid to fly to or from Hickam to Travis. Travis is a major hub, and I blieve is Hickam's most frequently flown-to destination, if this summer is any indication (I've been compiling data from Hickam, Travis, and all other California AFB or NAS's).
As a class 6 flyer, I have only waited two days to fly out of Hickam, and I was lucky to get out of Travis within an hour (!) of each time I flew in there. Keep in mind I am a single passenger, and always place myself on all relevant or possible AFB space A registers immediately every 60 days or after flying to my final destination. This is so important because it gives you a higher priority than other passengers. As a cat 1-3, you should never have a problem flying to or from Travis, especially from Hickam.
Hickam has many flights to Travis, including one day of the week (won't say which), in which they have three 40-passenger MedEvac flights to Travis. Trust me you will get on one of those for sure, plus they fly to Travis like every other day
Wow, wonder what has changed in past year or two - when I was stationed in S.F. 2000-2007, we would make the jump from Travis to Hickam about 1 once a year, and never had any long waits. Usually got on the first flight, definitely on the second. I think once or twice the mission got scrubbed, but we only got held up until the next day once. They used to have so many flights, I wonder what's changed if Joakes is having such trouble getting a flight.
Haven't done it yet personally but there are several guys in the mess who have sucessfully caught space a flight Hickam-Travis_hickam recently. You mileage may vary.
I flew from Mcguire AFB to Travis AFB then to Hickam AFB and then back to McGuire with no problems in September and I was cat 5 because we were on permissive orders. I was at Mcguire yesterday and checked on a flight going to travis and they had 72 seats available and only 10 were taken on the C5.
Wow I am late with this but in case anyone else is reading. Space A is a great way to save money and with today's economy is worth traveling.
For Active Duty personal going to the pacific region and depending on the time of your travel (Summer or Winter is really BAD), be ready to burn about 4-9 days of leave at Travis. Travis does have several flights a day headed to Hawaii and is fairly easy to hop on. But on your way back to Travis, you will be fighting with EML passengers. Those are Active duty personal station oversea and have a higher priority getting seat to the state so you may consider placing your name on the list but also have a back up plan of taking a commercial flight back to your home station.
