Hello all. My brother is graduating MP training in San Antonio on Friday. The family has plans to stay in the area until Sunday. We assumed our sailor would be able to purchase and schedule his own flight home.
He informed us yesterday that the powers that be schedule his flight and he has no power over when it leaves Texas for home (PA). He says he might have to leave as early as the day of the ceremony.
I also heard on another forum, that this ticket they are issuing him could be his flight to his duty station. But that is in Japan and he isn't scheduled to be there for 10 weeks.
I would just like to know if he can reschedule his flight home and if the ticket they are giving him is indeed to come home for leave before going to Japan.
Thanks for any info!
Regina
Replies
They give them tickets home before deployment. They change them to come home and then go to the base for deployment. He shouldn't have to go back to Lackland unless they have told him he has to. The way it worked for our MA is he changed his ticket, came home, left from home to the base in Virginia and then they fly them to the deployed base. Your brother has a couple of days. He needs to go in and ask them more questions to make sure he knows what he is doing and his options. He will need to make sure everyone attending the graduation is on the list given to the gate. If he leaves a name off there will be a delay at the gate to take care of that. Some of the gates at Lackland are not 24 hours so the two gates that are open are the one on Luke Blvd and one on Valley HI.
Thank you for the correction. Wow. Now I am really confused hah! So the flight they are giving him, is it to come home before he goes to his duty station? Also, if I am reading your post correctly, he has to fly back to Lackland so that they can send him to his duty station?
Regina, MA "Master at Arms" is what they are called in the Navy. It was two years ago but if I remember correctly they can change their flight home and then to the base that is deploying them. They are allowed up to the price of the ticket and if it comes to more than that they have to pay the difference. MA graduation can see some of the MAs leave right away and they might get back before the family. They can also have a delay sometimes because their orders aren't official yet. Our MA had to wait almost a week before he could get out of Lackland. He did reroute his flight. One thing. If he reroutes his flight he should make sure that he allows extra time to get to the base for deployment. Our MA had a weather problem here in Colorado and the flight was delayed. Luckily, the air line, Delta, got him on another flight. However, he almost didn't get to the base in time for the Navy flight out to his deployment. In addition, he needs to carry on anything he might need for a week or two. Our MA had his bags left at the base in Virginia because the Navy didn't get them on the plane. It took two weeks for the Navy to get his bags to his new base. Dale