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Space A
DH and I are planning on trying to use Space A for our anniversary trip to Europe this October. He is taking a month of leave so we hope that gives us enough time to be flexible and play the game for a flight. This will be our first time trying Space A!
I'm not worried about the flight over since our itinerary is easily ammended & everything can be cancled with no issues......it is the flight back that has me stumped. We plan to be in Prague at the end of our trip before heading back to Ramstein. I'm just unsure of how many days I should allow in case of getting bumped a lot. DH has to be back in the states by the Oct 29th.....what day would you start trying to get a spot back from Ramstein?
Any tips or advice? We have a fully refundable for any reason ticket back on a normal airline for DH should something go wrong and he can't get back in time.
Re: Space A
We are thinking of doing space A for the first time in August or September to Europe as well. DH will be able to take 2 weeks off after he is done with training. We are not sure when that will be. His training should have been done, but everything is running late. I have no experience to share but I liked your idea of having a fully refundable ticket. It seems to me that you are well prepared. I heard that you can put your names on the list to get back, and that the fact that you guys will be there for a full month improves chances of getting back in time. Having said that, there's no guarantee of flights on the day you need.
Good luck on your trip and have fun.
Starlit, a lot depends on where you're trying to fly out from and back from. For instance, the PAX terminal closest to us in England doesn't fly to all the places Ramstein does, so at times it's better to hop to Ramstein, then on to your destination in the states. If you leave out of a larger PAX terminal (think Dover AFB) you'll have a better chance at getting back to Dover.
Ramstein's PAX terminal should be open pretty late hours, if you wake up at 7 am in the states it'll be 2 pm there. I would call and ask if the base you're trying to get back to is one frequently used or not. They can only give you a 24 hour flight schedule over the phone, but they can generally tell you if that base is a frequent stop or not. I did this when I was Space-A'ing from Mildenhall, UK to McConnell AFB, KS. HTH, and if you have any more questions you can ask. I haven't hopped a ton, but I've had good experiences each time I've tried.
Also, your timing is phenomenal. Right now loads of people are being bumped because it's a very busy season for Space A (school's out, vacations.) October is a good time to fly! If you do get bumped for any reason at Ramstein and your DH needs to get back on his own, I recommend calling Alex Shuttles from Ramstein. I think it was 35 Euro one way to Frankfurt (not Frankfurt-Hahn) airport.
The best bet is to use http://www.pepperd.com/vb/forum.php to track the flights (AMC terminals will only post (ie list on the voice mail message/phone, not online) two days out.
You can get a gist of the schedule, but its not really set in stone.
The way the priority works - there are Categories, 1 - 6. Traveling with your DH, gets you to Cat III, along with any deployed spouse from over here. The problem there, is that within the Categories, there is a priority based on who gets their letter of intent to travel first. A deployed spouse has a 90 day window of opportunity. So they can have there letter in 45 days or more in advance.
With your travel situation, you do not get on that list until your DH's leave starts.
I am NOT trying to turn you off. I LOVE Space A and use it 2-3 times a year. But even flying Cat III, out of the season, I have been stuck doing the US to Germany. Just be prepared.
My biggest suggestion is to have your letters of intent ready and send them to EVERY SINGLE AMC Terminal you can fly out of. So BWI, Dover, McGuire, Charleston, etc AND coming back, so that would be Ramstein, Spangdahlem (great for flying to the states, but they go to Charleston and McGuire, not BWI).
Then you send the letters to all, so you are ensured on the list.
Good Luck.
I've been stalking the flight info this month and it looks like we will either head out of Dover or BWI. We are going to take a commercial flight there & back because it is easier than trying to get a flight out of here (we are at Lackland).
I don't really care where in Europe we land (or where in the US coming home) as long as we get there! Haha! The only reason we are hoping for Ramstein is because it is looking likely that DHs next PCS will be there (yay!) and we kinda want to check it out for a day!
I'm trying to figure out what day we should start trying to get back to the states so we can get on the lists over there. Do you think 2 days before we have to be back is enough in October or should we give it 3 (hope this makes sense!). I'm hoping that since we are not picky we can get out easy...BWI, Dover, Charleston we will take them all!
DHs CO is awesome and even though his leave is over on the 29th he doesn't actually have to be back to work until the 2nd. We just have to catch a hop by the 29th!
And thanks for the shuttle rec! I'm hoping it doesn't come down to it but it is best to be prepared!
You should give yourself 3 days. Just because there are flights coming out of Ramstein or Spang almost daily (well daily for Ram), that does not mean that these flights have open seats.
And again, I really suggest keeping Spangdahlem in mind. It is the called the best kept secret for getting home for a reason.
Good to know!
I will start stalking their flight info and look into transportation from Prague to there as well! Thanks!