Space-A Travel

JessC28 · December 2010

Has anyone (dependents) traveled by military hop before? Have you done it with kids? What was your experience? I'm considering doing it next year with our baby who'll be approximately six months.

plumerialost · December 2010

I've done it once from Travis AFB to Hickam AFB, but we didn't have kids then. You need the active duty member if you're traveling within CONUS. But the flight itself was ok. It was on a C-17 and sitting sideways threw me off and I got a little nauseous. But other than that....wasn't a bad flight. Good luck!

candiland2003 · December 2010

I did it last year from BWI (Baltimore International) to Aviano, Italy. I didn't do it with kids, but there were many that were traveling with kids. Once you understand how things work it is really easy. Don't be intimidated it is well worth the effort. I flew on a commercial airliner and it was fantastic. Are you trying to do CONUS or OCONUS?

JessC28 · December 2010

candiland2003:
I did it last year from BWI (Baltimore International) to Aviano, Italy. I didn't do it with kids, but there were many that were traveling with kids. Once you understand how things work it is really easy. Don't be intimidated it is well worth the effort. I flew on a commercial airliner and it was fantastic. Are you trying to do CONUS or OCONUS?

I forgot to add we're OCONUS and it'll be just after school starts again, so hopefully it won't matter that I'll be Cat VI. It'll be RAF Mildenhall to McConnell or Offutt; they had been having weekly flights between the two, if that continues, I'll do that. I have about two months of time to play with and family nearby so I can be very flexible on both ends.

Did you sign up for your return trip at the same time that you signed up for the trip over? What was the customs/immigration process like?

candiland2003 · December 2010

JessC28:
candiland2003:
I did it last year from BWI (Baltimore International) to Aviano, Italy. I didn't do it with kids, but there were many that were traveling with kids. Once you understand how things work it is really easy. Don't be intimidated it is well worth the effort. I flew on a commercial airliner and it was fantastic. Are you trying to do CONUS or OCONUS?
I forgot to add we're OCONUS and it'll be just after school starts again, so hopefully it won't matter that I'll be Cat VI. It'll be RAF Mildenhall to McConnell or Offutt; they had been having weekly flights between the two, if that continues, I'll do that. I have about two months of time to play with and family nearby so I can be very flexible on both ends.
Did you sign up for your return trip at the same time that you signed up for the trip over? What was the customs/immigration process like?

I signed back up to be put on the list when I arrived at my destination. It worked out perfectly. Just make sure to keep multiple copies of your email to the PAX terminals you sign up to because some places are shady and will claim you haven't signed up and will put you at the bottom of the list, this happened to my friend and she got stuck in Naples for about a week.

Customs was very simple to and from the states. If you had certain items you had to fill out a declaration form. When I landed in Ramestein for my layover, we were taken to a bay and given instructions on what was and wasn't allowed to bring in country. On my way back to the states we were given the same declaration form, then we had to go through customs which included handing our passport and ID card. They were scanned and that was it. Good luck!

hales.21 · December 2010

Accidental double post.

hales.21 · December 2010

I hate Space-A with a passion right now. But I had a bad experience. We were traveling to the states and back to Korea (where we're stationed) and I swear that Korea has to be one of the busiest OCONUS hops ever. We actually ended up having to buy our own plane ticket back after being stuck in Seattle.

But, that being said, I'm sure it's different for OCONUS areas that aren't Korea. Korea is like, the armpit of all OCONUS hops. lol.

coconutbug · December 2010

We flew the Patriot Express from Seattle to Japan last year when I was pregnant with DS. We didn't travel with kids though. We had a good experience, though we knew we had to be flexible and have funds available in case we got stuck. We did end up not getting a flight back all the way - we had to buy one-way tickets from Elmendorf AFB back to Seattle - but it was still worth it. We would try Space-A again.

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