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From: Jim White
Dated: February 10, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Agree that it is great for those with the time and patience. I used Space-A a couple of times between Japan and Taiwan while still on active duty--but twice I got as far as Okinawa and then had to shell out some dough for a commercial flight the rest of the way. I never tried to use it after I began teaching in 1974 because (1) I would have to travel to Yokota Air Base (by train--7 hours) first and (2) I was usually on a tight time schedule and I didn't want to spent the first half of a two-week vacation sitting in the Yokota Terminal. I suppose that after I retired from teaching in 2002 I could have started using Space-A, but by then I was used to traveling on a schedule and the money spent on airline tickets kept me from sitting around chewing my finger nails wondering if I'd ever get a flight. Having said all this, if you have the time and patience, it is a cheap way to travel.
Jim White
From: Paul Bottoms
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Ken, thanks. Looks like this might be of some use 100 miles from Richmond, in Norfolk but nothing in this neck of the woods.
From: Jim White
Dated: February 9, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Paul, officially it is called Space Available. Enter that into your browser's search line and you'll get lots of hits.
Jim White
From: Ken Kalish
Dated: February 25, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Paul, the best bet for taking a free flight is to check into your nearest Air National Guard or Reserve Air units. ANG does a lot of long distance hauls, and most of the pilots are commercial pilots as well.
From: Guy Slater
Dated: February 9, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Paul, as soon as I can (in just a few minutes) I will pass on to you the link for the hops. Yeah, us retreads can fly them, but we are tail end Charlie on the manifest, and liable to be bumped off at some distant outpost. But, if you have nothing but time on your hands, it can be fun. While I AD, I caught a lot of hops from the States to Europe and back. Landed in some of the dangist places!
From: Paul Bottoms
Dated: February 9, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Anybody know anything about the military "hop" system. Volunteering at the USO in Richmond, VA, I've been asked a few times about the system where military retirees can hitch a ride on a military plane if there's space available. Nobody seems to know much about it. I don't think it's very feasible here in Richmond because I don't know that Fort Lee has enough air traffic. I did find a reference to Norfolk Naval Air Station a hundred miles away. A big part of our job, besides feeding them hot-dogs and grilled ham sandwiches, is facilitating people to their destination and I don't know if this would have real possibilities here.
From: Tim Bodle
Dated: March 14, 2019
Subject: Space-A Travel
Forrest would probably have an answer to this one. Where best to get space-a flight information? Is there one central location or should I contact base ops for individual flights? I haven't a clue right now. Any help is appreciated.
From: Paul Bottoms
Dated: February 10, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Jim, it didn't register until now that we used to run psas on AFVN about space available. One started "sometimes space available ISN'T." It certainly sounds like something that wouldn't work if you had an appointment somewhere.
From: Bob Peetz
Dated: March 14, 2019
Subject: Space-A TravelThere is a lot to learn about Space A travel these days.
Military retirees are Class VI.
Here’s some links to help you on your way.
Poppin Smoke is an excellent source of info: https://www.poppinsmoke.com/space-a-flights/space-a-signup/
And: https://www.poppinsmoke.com/space-a-flights/
Another : http://militaryonlytravel.com/first-time-space-travel/
AMC Travel Page--source of the Space A Signup Sheet: https://www.amc.af.mil/Home/AMC-Travel-Site/
And don’t forget Space A Net: https://www.spacea.net/
And the Cat VI Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1672879316273906/
Plus the numerous Facebook pages for the terminals on any of the bases you can imagine flying to or from.
And then there are a couple apps to help you sign up for travel (which needs to be done awhile before you travel).
Ask questions on the Facebook Cat VI page, but visit the other sites first and introduce yourself to the basics.
Good luck and Safe travels.
Wind,
Bob
From: Paul Bottoms
Dated: February 9, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Guy and Jim, thanks for the info. I checked the above web site and Richmond isn't listed. I had an elderly man and his wife (who was on a walker) trying to get from Richmond to Andrews Air Force base and didn't have a credit card. That's a little more than a hundred miles away so the hop system wouldn't have worked for them. They had been told there was a shuttle from Richmond from Washington which isn't true.
AFVN Group Conversations
Space-A Flights
February 2015 and March 2019
From: Dennis Harper
Dated: February 10, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
You can buy a book on this; we have one but it's really old. Never got around to hopping tho.
Peg
From: Guy Slater
Dated: February 9, 2015
Subject: Anybody Know Anything about the Military "Hop"--
Go to this website: http://www.amc.af.mil/amctravel/ (Click Here) it's the home page. Good luck! And let us all know where you're going!