What exactly is a Military MAC flight, and how does it work?
My husband is in AIT for the Army right now to be a blackhawk mechanic. He got his first set of orders to South Korea at Seoul Air Base for his aviation unit. I’ve heard about MAC flights that save you money, but what are they, how do you “get” them, etc? Any info would be helpful.. We’re new to the whole Army thing, and saving money would be helpful with an E-3 pay rate! Thanks!
So if he wanted to catch a flight home for, let’s say Christmas (or any other time), or I wanted to go visit him, how do we go about doing that?
July 19th, 2010 at 11:06 am
MAC flights are space available military flights. Most Air Bases and NAS’s have a 24-48 hr flight schedules and availble seats. But be aware, most of the time these flight are not authorized for dependents and if they are you may want to expect long delays, diversions and very uncomfortable and loud flights. Certainly not reccomended for young children
July 19th, 2010 at 11:57 am
That is a flight that is military sponsored that flies to Korea, or anywhere overseas. If he is on orders to Korea, he will go for free because he was told to go there. If however you want to visit him, it’s called Space Available Travel, or Space-A. To get to Korea, you will have to most likely make your way to Los Angeles and be put on standby. If there are any seats on a flight leaving for Korea after anyone required to go boards, you will be able to have one.
It should be of little or no cost to you.
July 19th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
The first answer is correct. Do some research. You’ve got to get on a list and then hang around one of the MAC terminals. There is no guarantee that you’ll get on any particular flight. The nice thing is that you can sign up on the internet. You can then call and find out what flights are scheduled for the current date and the next day. There are priorities for each class of traveler which determines who gets first shot a any space that is available.
July 19th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
MAC flights are only good if you have plenty of flexability and cash for your timetable options. While the MAC flight itself is often really inexspensive, there are a lot of issues that go with it that make the cash cost not the only thing to consider.
The biggest problem is that unless you are active duty on orders or family members on orders for a move, you can be bumped from the flight at any point along the way. In fact, you may find yourself in the terminal, without a flight because there were no seats available for your category. Anyone flying MAC should have enough money to pay the cost of the more exspensive last minute ticket they would need if no seat are available, if they get bumped or if the flight is diverted 3000 miles in the opposite direction (all known to happen with get frequency) and to pay the costs of needing a place to stay for a few days until another flight is available or until you can purchase seats on a commercial flight. Anyone on leave should use commercial flights..they must be back at a certain time and commercial flights will have more options to get you there if something goes wrong. You can consider using the MAC system to get to your husband, but plan on being in transit at least three days. Also, as you are dependent, you can not take MAC flights with in the US, so you would have to get to the international terminal which handles MAC flights to the Pacific..LAX I believe or SeaTac in Seattle. I did MAC from Japan to the States once..only once..in the 7 years we lived there. It was a pain, we got bumped and had to spend two days in Seattle (luckily we had friends there) and then we got bumped in Tokyo and I ended up paying for a commercial flight for myself and two kids to make it the last hour and a half of flight time. Save up, buy the commercial tickets…
July 19th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
While the first answer is the most correct, their is no such thing as a MAC flight anymore. MAC (Military Airlift Command) and TAC (Tanker Airlift Command) disbanded in the late 80’s or early 90’s and were combined as AMC (Air Mobility Command). The correct name for what you want is a space A flight. I’m the dayshift supervisor at Andrews AFB Passenger Terminal. If you have any questions you (or anybody) can call us at DSN 858-1854 or Commercial at 301-981-1854 between 0600 and 2200.
March 9th, 2011 at 11:16 am
MAC flights are only good if you have plenty of flexability and cash for your timetable options.