1) Open Facebook. Type “Passenger Terminal” into the Facebook search bar. Like every passenger terminal page you can find. Get creative and try to find and like every single passenger terminal that you can find. This may take visiting the AMC terminal homepage and typing bases into the Facebook search bar with “passenger terminal” attached. Not every single base on the AMC terminal site will have a Facebook page. This is just your first stop for information. Keep reading for more…
Why did you just spend hours finding and marking or liking all of those pages? Because the 72 hour flight schedule of any of those places can be helpful in putting together information on a flight that is headed somewhere you do want to go. While you are at it, click on the about tab on those passenger terminal Facebook pages and record the contact information in your mobile device. Be sure to include the name of the terminal, flight recording phone number, front desk phone number, the email address and any other information you can fit in the contact section.
You are building a whole address book of information to have at your fingertips while traveling. This is soooo important! Successful navigation of Space-A flights requires solving a puzzle on the fly (pun intended). If you can adapt and put the pieces together you are good to go.
2) For all of the other Air Terminals that do not yet have a handy Facebook page follow the links from the AMC Terminal homepage or google them. Find the place on their website where they post their schedule and bookmark it, or put it in the URL spot in your contact list for quick reference in the future. For the bases that do not have a Facebook page or a schedule listed on their website (Oceana, Cherry Point, etc.) get their flight recording and customer service number to put in your phone.
Save the email addresses of the terminals to easily submit your information to multiple terminals at the same time to be placed on the outbound list. This can be HUGE when there are too many people for the available seats of the flight.
3) Spend some time before you are ready to travel studying your research. Familiarize yourself with the 72, 48, and 24 hour schedules. Pay attention to posting times, and note the difference in posting time and updating the call-in recording. Recordings seem to be updated most frequently. There are no routine flights that fly on a schedule – the closest is a “Rotator” flight that when needed completes a circuit around an area. When needed is the key.
4) Check out SpaceA.net as well – tons of great information there. I have used the contacts listed there many times when trying to confirm flights on the run!
5) Frequently the Passenger Terminals on Facebook will post a report about seat usage on previous flights. This is helpful to gage how popular a destination or route is and will give you a good idea of your chances of making it on a particular flight. They will also list the lowest category selected for any given flight.
