I am sure that most of the people military, former military and spouses have an idea of what military space-a travel is but not everyone understands it. If you are one of the people that do not understand it, then I am here to help you.
There are 6 categories to determine your space-a status.
Category 1
Emergency leave unfunded travel. This is for bona fide immediate family emergencies only, intended to get the service member or dependent to their location as quickly as possible, as determined by DoD directive 1327.5. Travelers may not use this privilege in leiu of a funded travel entitlement.
Category 2
Sponsors in an Environmental Morale Leave (EML) status and their dependents traveling with them, also in EML status. EML is available to military members and dependents living in difficult or isolated conditions. In some cases, dependents may travel unaccompanied on Cat 2 status.
Category 3
Ordinary Leave, house hunting permissive TDY, Medal of Honor holders, and foreign military. Must be ON LEAVE to sign up for a Space-A flight.
Category 4
Unaccompanied dependents on EML and DODDS teachers on EML during summer.
Category 5
Permissive TDY (non-house hunting) students, command-sponsored dependents.
Category 6
Retirees, dependents, Reservists, and ROTC
For categories 1, 2 & 3 you must be on official leave to sign up for space-a travel. If there are seats available your chance of travel is high.
For categories 4,5 & 6 you must sign up to travel. There are different ways to do this. I prefer sending an e-mail, but others like to fax in requests. If you are close enough to the base to do it in person, that would be best. You sign up and are on the list for 60 days (only 45 days for some Navy locations). The longer you are on the list, the higher within your category you are. The higher you are, the better your chances of catching a flight. You can only be on the list for 60 days and then you have to sign up again.
While on the list you show up at the terminal and sign in with the clerk on duty. This tells them that you are there and waiting on a flight. They will look to see if you are on the list already. If you are not on their list, but you did send in a request, then just show them a copy of the e-mail you sent, and they will put you on the list as of the date of the e-mail.
You show up for the scheduled roll call (they will let you know when it is) and at that time they will let you know if you made the flight. It depends a lot on the number of seats available and where you are on the list.
Here's the thing that a lot of passengers think is not fair, but it is if you think about it. If someone that is in a higher category than you shows up for the flight and they are not on any list but just a walk-in, they get priority over you. That is if they show up and are present for the roll call. If they show up after roll call then it's too late for them for that flight.
Also there is a chance that you could get bumped from a flight, although I never have (knock on wood). The mission always comes first. If the mission changes and more space is needed for equipment or active-duty personnel, then they could be bumping people from the flight. Of course, category 6 travelers are the first ones they look at to bump.
Here is one of the posts I wrote last year: https://www.pcsgrades.com/cms/blog/space-a-travel-newbie/
Here is the link to my Space-A blog: https://ujspaceainfo.com/
I suppose that is enough for now. If you have questions, please be sure to ask here or on my blog. I will be happy to answer any questions I can and try to find the answer to questions I don't know or at least point you in the right direction to find your answer.
