What is ZED travel? ZED fares explained

ZED stands for Zonal Employee Discount. It's the most widely used framework airlines use to price reduced-rate, standby staff travel on each other's flights. If you work for one airline and want to fly standby on another, there's a good chance you'll be traveling on a ZED fare.

How ZED fares are priced

Instead of a percentage discount, ZED fares are set by distance zones. The flight distance falls into a band (for example, short, medium, or long haul), and each band has a fixed fare amount. Most agreements also offer different fare levels:

• ZED Low — cheapest, lowest standby priority.
• ZED Medium — a middle option.
• ZED High — costs more, often higher clearance priority.

Because the fare is based on distance rather than the commercial ticket price, ZED can be remarkably cheap on routes that would otherwise be expensive.

ZED agreements

ZED only works between airlines that have signed a bilateral ZED agreement. Hundreds of carriers participate, but your access depends on the specific agreements your airline holds — so two colleagues at different airlines can have very different ZED networks. Bookings are usually made through a staff-travel platform such as myIDTravel.

ZED vs. ID fares

You'll often hear ZED and ID fares (ID90, ID75…) used in the same breath. Both describe reduced-rate interline standby travel; the main difference is how the fare is calculated — ZED uses distance zones, while ID fares are a percentage off a reference fare. We break the comparison down in ID fares vs. ZED fares.

Still standby

However the fare is priced, ZED travel is still standby: you only fly if a seat is available, and you clear in priority order. Always check the loads first.

Planning a ZED trip? myIDBuddy shows you who else is flying your route and how the loads look. Join the waitlist.