Space A: Part One

-OR- how to understand WTF this chick is talking about.

When I left for the states I took the cheapest route available to me, which is Space A.  In the military world it has many names including hop and rotator, and for those of you who have no earthly idea what I’m saying, that’s OK.  I’m gonna break it down for ‘ya.

Space A makes more sense if you call it what it is; Space Available.  It’s a a free (or pretty darn close) extra seat on a flight already scheduled for a mission.  Sounds so simple.  And now that I’ve actually done it it makes sense to me, but trying to put it all together and then actually make it happen was not simple at all!

The first thing to try to explain is the schedule of flights… or lack there of.  For security reasons flight schedules are not released more than 72 hours in advance.  Some routes are flown regularly, but are always subject to change and cancelation at the last moment, or maybe some high ranking official says “Fuck it!  let’s just change it all up.”  No one’s sure.

Once you’ve decided what day you are going to TRY to fly out, you must take into consideration your category.  The military likes to categorize everything.  The categories are 1-6 but the traditional (and confusing to modern youth) roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V and VI are used.  The military also likes to look classy and sophisticated.  I don’t know much about these categories but here’s what I do know: Cat I is for emergencies, and while much could be an emergency it’s mostly for people trying to get to a funeral or have their last moments with a loved one.  Cat III is for active duty personnel traveling on leave.  Cat V was my category and it was for dependents traveling without their sponsor (AKA the person who is in the military)  Cat VI seemed to consist of vets and retirees.  You’re probably wondering why I skipped II and IV.  I really don’t know anything about II and IV and what I do know about all these categories is probably only a portion of it.  If you are just insanely curious and MUST know more feel free to Google search Space A or AMC.

“But Sarah, why do all these categories even matter?”  Because young padawon, it is the order in which the seats will be given to those who wait for a flight. I being the most important and VI being the least.  For example; a Cat III and a Cat V are both waiting for a flight.  If there is only one seat available then the Cat III get’s it and the Cat V waits for the next flight. Pretty cut and dry when only two people are waiting.  More often there will be more than that waiting.  And just when you thought all those Categories were confusing enough you also have to be organized somehow within that category. That’s taken care of with your sign-up date.  At each terminal you sign-up to take flights by presenting your documentation.  So, if two Cat III’s are competing for the last seat the one who signed up first will be chosen.

JEEZE this is a lot of information!  But it explains why I waited 4 days for a flight back to Germany.  You’re probably wondering why anyone would subject themselves to this particular type of torture. And I tell you; go search flights and look at the cost!  When you only have to pay $17.50 for a transatlantic flight, the craziness of waiting seems a small price to pay.

Stay tuned for what actually happened in my next post.

Until then, Tschüss!