Friday, January 25, 2019

100% Total & Permanent Disabled Veterans Can Now Fly Space A(vailable)



Disabled Veterans Can Now Fly Space-A

Space-available passengers board a C-17 at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, bound for Andersen AFB, Guam. (U.S. Air Force/Cohen A. Young)
Space-available passengers board a C-17 at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, bound for Andersen AFB, Guam. (U.S. Air Force/Cohen A. Young)
7 Jan 2019
Recent legislation makes it possible for many disabled veterans to fly Space-A on military aircraft.
The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act allows veterans with a permanent and total service-connected Department of Veterans Affairs disability rating to travel space available on military aircraft.
Veterans will be assigned a travel priority of Category 6, the lowest priority available, along with retirees and their dependents.
Dependents of disabled veterans are not eligible for Space-A travel.
Authorized disabled veterans can travel in the continental United States (CONUS) or directly between CONUS and Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa.
Disabled veterans must have a DD Form 2765, Defense Department ID Card (Tan), in order to fly Space-A.

The Space Available Program

Space available flights, better known as Space-A or military hops, allow eligible passengers to fill unused seats on DoD-owned or -controlled aircraft. Space-A passengers can fly only after all the space-required passengers and cargo have been accommodated. Space-A passengers are then loaded in priority groups, with emergency leave being the top priority and retirees and disabled veterans rating the lowest priority.
Space-A passengers can take up to two pieces of luggage at 70 pounds each; pets are not allowed.
Not all Space-A flights originate from military bases. Commercial airports such as Baltimore-Washington Marshall International and Seattle-Tacoma International also offer Space-A flights.
Long gone are the days of having to show up in person at the passenger terminal to register for a flight. Now, Air Mobility Command, which runs the Space-A program, lets you register for flights via email, and all Space-A terminals have Facebook pages where you can see what flights are coming up and how many seats are available.

1 comment:

  1. I was the XO of the Transient Company at Oakland Army Base 2 Jan to 07 July 1969. One of my duties was accompanying various flight manifests to Travis Air Force Base, to ensure that the passengers embarked on their scheduled flight to RVN. A side benefit to this eas that I became very familiar with the personnel at Travis and managed several weekends in Hawaii Courtesy of MAC charters and hopscotched my way across the was my time to report for duty and Vietnam, on 08 August 1969 to the Big Red One. Ironically, I’m 100% disabled and permanent, and now I could hop on MAC flights Again. L O L

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