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1. Galactic Budget Flights Mac Os X
2. Galactic Budget Flights Mac Os Catalina

Mac gaming refers to use of video games on Macintoshpersonal computers. In the 1990s, Apple computers did not attract the same level of video game development as Windows computers due to the high popularity of Windows and, for 3D gaming, Microsoft's DirectX technology. In recent years, the introduction of Mac OS X and support for Intel processors has eased porting of many games, including 3D games through use of OpenGL. Virtualization technology and Boot Camp also permit the use of Windows and its games on Macintosh computers. Today, a growing number of popular games run natively on Mac OS X, though most require the use of Windows.

• 1Early game development on the Mac
• 3Windows games
  • 3.4Emulation and virtualization

Early game development on the Mac

Prior to the release of the first Macintosh computer, a number of marketing executives at Apple were concerned that including a game in the finished operating system would aggravate the impression that the graphical user interface made the Mac toy-like.^[1] More critically, the limited amount of RAM in the original Macintosh meant that fitting a game into the operating system would be very difficult.^[1] Eventually, Andy Hertzfeld created a desk accessory called Puzzle that occupied only 600 bytes of memory. This was deemed small enough to be safely included in the operating system, and it shipped with the Mac when released in 1984.^[1] With Puzzle—the first computer game specifically for a mouse—the Macintosh became the first computer with a game in its ROM,^[2] and it would remain a part of the Mac OS for the next ten years, until being replaced in 1994 with Jigsaw, a jigsaw puzzle game included as part of Mac OS 7.5.

• MAC Flight Tracker.
• Mouse and keyboard is the preference of many when it comes to flight and space simulators, but nothing beats a joystick for realism and immersion. We've rounded up the best joysticks to use with games on PC, and our number one spot goes to the CH Products Flightstick because it's the best mid-range stick around.

During the development of the Mac, a chess game similar to Archon based on Alice in Wonderland was shown [1] to the development team. The game was written by Steve Capps for the Apple Lisa computer, but could be easily ported to the Macintosh. The completed game was shown at the Mac's launch and released a few months later under the title Through the Looking Glass, but Apple failed to put much marketing effort into ensuring its success and the game was not a top seller.

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By the mid-1980s most computer companies avoided the term 'home computer' because of its association with the image of, as Compute! wrote, 'a low-powered, low-end machine primarily suited for playing games'. Apple's John Sculley, for example, denied that his company sold home computers; rather, he said, Apple sold 'computers for use in the home'.^[3] In 1990 the company reportedly refused to support joysticks on its low-cost Macintosh LC and IIsi computers to prevent customers from considering them as 'game machine's.^[4] Game development on the Macintosh nonetheless continued, with titles such as Dark Castle (1986), Microsoft Flight Simulator (1986) and SimCity (1989), though mostly games for the Mac were developed alongside those for other platforms. Notable exceptions were Myst (1993), developed on the Mac (in part using HyperCard) and only afterwards ported to Windows,^[5]Pathways into Darkness, which spawned the Halo franchise, The Journeyman Project, Lunicus, Spaceship Warlock, and Jump Raven. As Apple was the first manufacturer to ship CD-ROM drives as standard equipment (on the Macintosh IIvx and later Centris models), many of the early CD-ROM based games were initially developed for the Mac, especially in an era of often confusing Multimedia PC standards.

Pippin

Galactic Budget Flights Mac Os X

The Apple Pippin (also known as the Bandai Pippin) was a multimedia player based on the Power Mac that ran a cut-down version of the Mac OS designed, among other things, to play games. Sold between 1996 and 1998 in Japan and the United States, it was not a commercial success, with fewer than 42,000 units sold and fewer than a thousand games and software applications supported.^[6]

Attempts by Apple to promote gaming on Mac

Apple has at times attempted to market the platform for gaming. In April 1999, Steve Jobs gave an interview with the UK-based Arcade magazine to promote the PowerPC G3-based computers Apple were selling with then new ATI Rage 128 graphics cards, and describing how Apple was 'trying to build the best gaming platform in the world so developers are attracted to write for it' and 'trying to leapfrog the PC industry'.^[7]

Original Mac games

Although currently most big-name Mac games are ports, this has not always been the case. Perhaps the most popular game which was originally developed for the Macintosh was 1993's Myst, by Cyan. It was ported to Windows the next year, and Cyan's later games were released simultaneously for both platforms with the exception of Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, which was Windows-only until a Mac-compatible re-release (currently in beta) by GameTap in 2007, with the help of TransGaming's Cider virtualization software.

Another popular Mac game was the Marathon series of first-person shooters. These games were released in the wake of the popular DOOM, which defined the first-person shooter genre, but contained many innovations new or uncommon in similar games from the time, such as weapons with two functions, and the ability for the player to look and fire up and down, swim through liquids, fight alongside allied characters, and wield two weapons at once. Bungie Studios would port the second in the series, Marathon 2: Durandal, to the Windows platform, where it met with some success. They also ported their post-Marathon games Myth and Oni to Windows. At the 1999 Macworld Conference & Expo in New York, Bungie showed a demonstration of a new game entitled Halo, to be released for the Mac the next year; before this happened, Bungie was purchased by Microsoft. Halo was released exclusively for the Xbox video game console in 2001. The Macintosh and Windows versions of the game did not arrive until late 2003, almost four and a half years after its original announcement at Macworld. Today, there are many companies both large and small creating original games for the Macintosh; however, following a trend in the industry, these tend to be lower-budget 'casual' games with simple graphics that are easy to pick up and play in short bursts, as opposed to high-budget 'hardcore' games that are more graphically intensive and require large investments in time to play and master.

Windows games

A particular problem for companies attempting to port Windows games to the Macintosh is licensing middleware. Middleware is off-the-shelf software that handles certain aspects of games, making it easier for game creators to develop games in return for paying the middleware developer a licensing fee. However, since the license the Mac porting house obtains from the game creator does not normally include rights to use the middleware as well, the Mac porting company must either license the middleware separately or attempt to find an alternative.^[8] Examples of middleware include the Havok physics engine and the GameSpyinternet-based multiplayer gaming client.

Because of the smaller market, companies developing games for the Mac usually seek a lower licensing fee than Windows developers. When the middleware company refuses such terms porting that particular Windows game to the Mac may be uneconomical and engineering a viable alternative within the available budget impossible.^[8] As a result, some popular games which use the Havok engine have not yet been ported to the Macintosh.

In other cases, workaround solutions may be found. In the case of GameSpy, one workaround is to limit Mac gamers to play against each other but not with users playing the Windows version.^[8] However, in some cases, GameSpy has been reverse-engineered and implemented into the Mac game, so that it is able to network seamlessly with the Windows version of the game.^{[citation needed]}

In-house porting

Only a few companies have developed or continue to develop games for both the Mac and Windows platforms. Notable examples of these are TransGaming, Aspyr, Big Fish Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Brøderbund, Linden Lab, and Microsoft. In many ways this is an ideal situation: those creating the Mac version have direct access to the original programmers in case any questions or concerns arise about the source code. It also increases the likelihood that the Mac and Windows versions of a game will launch concurrently or nearly so, as many obstacles inherent in the third-party porting process are avoided. Another benefit of in-house porting, if carried out simultaneously with game development, is that the company can release hybrid discs, easing game distribution and largely eliminating the shelf space problem.

Among the Mac versions of popular Windows games that were developed in-house are Diablo, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Second Life, Stubbs the Zombie, Call of Duty 4, and World of Warcraft.

Third-party porting

Most high-budget games that come to the Macintosh are originally created for Microsoft Windows and ported to the Mac operating system by one of a relatively small number of porting houses. Among the most notable of these are Aspyr, Feral Interactive, MacSoft Games, Red Marble Games, Coladia Games, and MacPlay. A critical factor for the financial viability of these porting houses is the number of copies of the game sold; a 'successful' title may sell only 50,000 units.^[9]

The licensing deal between the original game developer and the porting house may be a flat one-time payment, a percentage of the profits from the Mac game's sale, or both.^{[citation needed]} While this license gives the porting house access to artwork and source code, it does not normally cover middleware such as third-party game engines.^[8] Modifying the source code to the Macintosh platform may be difficult as code for games is often highly optimized for the Windows operating system and Intel-compatible processors. The latter presented an obstacle in previous years when the Macintosh platform utilized PowerPC processors due to the difference in endianness between the two types of processors, but as today's Macintosh computers employ Intel processors as well, the obstacle has been mitigated somewhat. One example of common work for a porting house is converting graphics instructions targeted for Microsoft's DirectX graphics library to instructions for the OpenGL library; DirectX is favored by most Windows game developers, but is incompatible with the Macintosh.

Due to the time involved in licensing and porting the product, Macintosh versions of games ported by third-party companies are usually released anywhere from three months to more than a year after their Windows-based counterparts. For example, the Windows version of Civilization IV was released on October 25, 2005, but Mac gamers had to wait eight months until June 30, 2006 for the release of the Mac version.

Boot Camp

In April 2006 Apple released a beta version of Boot Camp, a product which allows Intel-based Macintoshes to boot directly into Windows XP or Windows Vista. The reaction from Mac game developers and software journalists to the introduction of Boot Camp has been mixed, ranging from assuming the Mac will be dead as a platform for game development to cautious optimism that Mac owners will continue to play games within Mac OS rather than by rebooting to Windows.^[10][11][12] The number of Mac ports of Windows games released in 2006 was never likely to be very great, despite the steadily increasing number of Mac users.^[13]

Emulation and virtualization

Over the years there have been a number of emulators for the Macintosh that allowed it to run MS-DOS or Windows software, most notably RealPC, SoftPC, SoftWindows, and Virtual PC. Although more or less adequate for business applications, these programs have tended to deliver poor performance when used for running games, particularly where high-end technologies like DirectX were involved.^[14]

Since the introduction of the Intel processor into the Macintosh platform, Windows virtualization software such as Parallels Desktop for Mac and VMware Fusion have been seen as more promising solutions for running Windows software on the Mac operating system.^{[citation needed]}In some ways they are better solutions than Boot Camp, as they do not require rebooting the machine. VMware Fusion's public beta 2 supports hardware-accelerated 3D graphics which utilize the DirectX library up to version 9.^[15] Parallels Desktop for Mac version 3.0 has announced support for GPU acceleration, allowing Mac users to play Windows-based games.^[16]

Wine-based projects

TransGaming Technologies has developed a product called Cider which is a popular method among publishers to port games to Mac^{[citation needed]}. Cider's engine enables publishers and developers to target Mac OS X. It shares much of the same core technology as TransGaming's Linux Portability Engine, Cedega. Public reception of games ported with Cider is mixed, due to inconsistency of performance between titles; because of this, “Ciderized” games are neither seen as the work of cross-platform development, nor as native, optimized ports. Both Cider and Cedega are based on Wine. Electronic Arts announced their return to the Mac, publishing various titles simultaneously on both Windows and Mac, using Cider.^[17]

An open source Wine-based project called Wineskin allows anyone to attempt to port games to Mac OS X^[18] since 2010. It uses all open source components and is open source itself. Its technology is very similar to what TransGaming does with Cider, but it is free to use to anyone. Wineskin creates self-contained ('clickable') Mac Applications out of the installation. The 'wrappers' that can be made from this are often shared with friends or others. Legal versions of games can then be installed easily into the shared wrapper and then the final result works like a normal Mac app. Wineskin is mainly only used in 'Hobbyist Porting' and not professional porting, but some professional game companies have used it in major releases. Since the end of 2014, there is a PaulTheTall.com app called Porting Kit which automatically creates ready-to-use Wineskin wrappers for some specific games.

CodeWeavers' CrossOver products use a compatibility layer to translate Windows' application instructions to the native Macintosh operating system, without the need to run Windows. CrossOver is built from the Wine project and adds a graphical frontend to the process of installing and running the Windows applications through Wine. CodeWeavers is an active supporter of Wine and routinely shares programming code and patches back to the project.

PlayOnMac is a free version of the same technology, also based on Wine.

A list of Wine-compatible Windows software, including over 5,000 games and how well each individual game works with Wine can be found at appdb.winehq.org. 1,500 games are listed as 'Platinum', which means they work 'out-of-the-box', while 1,400 more are listed as 'Gold', meaning they require some tweaking of the installation to run flawlessly.

The 'shelf space' problem

One problem afflicting both porting houses and original Mac game developers is that of 'shelf space,' which refers to the amount of space a retail store allocates to stocking Mac games. Due to its small market share, Macintosh software as a whole receives very little, if any, shelf space in most major computer retail stores. Within that space, retailers are usually reluctant to stock relatively inexpensive games which may or may not sell well, as opposed to high-cost, top-selling products such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop. Because of this, most smaller Mac game companies release their products using a shareware business model, either exclusively or in addition to a more traditional retail 'boxed' version. All porting houses and larger game companies have stuck to the traditional model, but the recent rise in the digital download model may lead to some companies eventually releasing games as paid downloads in a model similar to Valve Corporation's Steam service. MMORPGs are largely immune to the shelf space problem, and NCSoft's Lineage was one of the first games made available for Mac OS X, in 2002^[19]Virtual Programming was one of the few porting companies to offer commercial games via digital download, although with the launch of Deliver2Mac and GamersGate in early 2006 other companies are beginning to move towards digital distribution. Aside from getting around the shelf space problem, shareware and digital download models also provide a larger percentage of profit to the company, as the wholesaler middleman is avoided and costs (and turnaround times) involved in media replication are eliminated. The latest player is TransGaming Technologies' GameTreeOnline.com which was launched March 2008 with a focus to offer the Mac gaming community digital downloads of major published Mac titles.

Linux gaming and free software games

In more recent years, Mac gaming has become more intertwined with gaming on another UNIX-like platform: Linux gaming. This trend began when Linux began to gain Mac-style porting houses, the first of which was Loki Software and later Linux Game Publishing. Linux porters born from this new industry have also been commonly hired as Mac porters, often releasing games for both systems. This includes game porters like Ryan C. Gordon who brought Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004 to Linux and Mac; companies like Hyperion Entertainment, who primarily supports AmigaOS as well as Mac and Linux; or RuneSoft, a German publisher that has done ports for Linux Game Publishing. Recently Mac-focused porter Aspyr has also started releasing titles for Linux, starting with Civilization V. Feral Interactive has also released XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor for Linux.

Indie game development has also been conducive to intertwining, with developers like Wolfire Games (Lugaru, Overgrowth), Frictional Games (Penumbra, Amnesia), 2D Boy (World of Goo), Sillysoft Games (Lux), and Basilisk Games (Eschalon) supporting both platforms with native versions. id Software was also a pioneer in both Mac and Linux gaming, with ports of their games once done by Timothee Besset. Illwinter Game Design is also notable for supporting both platforms.

Open source video games have also proved modestly popular on the Mac.^[20] Although, due to the free software nature of the system, development of free software titles mostly begins on Linux; afterwards, major games are typically ported to Mac and Microsoft Windows. Mac has less mainstream games than Windows and as a result, free games have had more of an impact on the platform. Notable free games popular on the Mac include The Battle for Wesnoth,^[21]OpenArena,^[22]BZFlag, LinCity, and more.^[23]

Valve Corporation

A 2007 interview with Valve Corporation's (Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and the Source engine) Gabe Newell included the question of why his company was keeping their games and gaming technology 'a strictly Windows project'.^[24] Newell answered:

On February 23, 2010, after the release of a public open beta version of Steam,^[25] a member on the Steam forums found new files pertaining to Mac OS X in the program files of the beta.^[26] After several days of speculation by the gaming community, a series of six images were sent out by Valve Corporation on March 3, 2010, hinting at a Mac version of Steam. These pictures, each depicting characters from their games reenacting famous apple advertisements, were sent to major computer and gaming websites, both Mac- and PC-related, with iPhone-like page dots at the bottom of each. The six recipients were Eurogamer, MacRumors, MacNN, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Shacknews, and Macworld.^[27]

On March 8, 2010, Valve Corporation made the official announcement in a press release on their Steam website. In the announcement, Valve stated that they will be porting their entire library of games over to Mac when the client is released, and that they decided on native versions of their games, rather than emulations. Valve also announced that any games purchased over Steam for computers running Windows will be available for free download to computers running Mac OS X, and vice versa. What was also stressed was that Mac and Windows users will be using the same servers, will obtain updates simultaneously, and will be part of the same multiplayer environment, essentially promising a completely integrated Steam environment (SteamPlay).

In June 2010, Valve's Steam game-delivery platform was ported to OS X, along with Portal, Team Fortress 2, Half-Life 2 and a variety of other Source-engine-based games over a succession of weeks. With the release of Steam for Mac OS X the award winning game Portal was made free for both users of PC and Mac to download. The first game to be released simultaneously for Mac and Windows by Valve was Portal 2 in April, 2011.^[28] A small portion of games available through Steam are now marked as being compatible with both Windows and OS X, and can be downloaded for either platform once a customer has purchased the game.

Notable current porting houses

Notable current original game developers

Notable Mac gaming websites

http://macgamecast.comhttp://macgamerhq.comhttp://controlcommandescape.com

References

1. ↑ ^1.01.11.2Andy Hertzfeld (2004). Revolution in the Valley, O'Reilly. ISBN 0-596-00719-1
2. ↑Mace, Scott (1984-05-07). 'In Praise of Classics'. InfoWorld. p. 56. Retrieved 6 February 2015.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
3. ↑Halfhill, Tom R. (December 1986). 'The MS-DOS Invasion / IBM Compatibles Are Coming Home'. Compute!. p. 32. Retrieved 9 November 2013.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
4. ↑'Fusion, Transfusion or Confusion / Future Directions In Computer Entertainment'. Computer Gaming World. December 1990. p. 26. Retrieved 16 November 2013.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
5. ↑CSE/ISE 364 Lectures & Recitations (2007). A Brief History of Hypertext, Authoring, and Multimedia, Centre for Visual Computing, Stony Brook, State University of New York
6. ↑Owen Linzmayer (2004). Apple Confidential 2.0, No Starch Press. ISBN 1-59327-010-0
7. ↑Shepherd, Carrie (April 1999). 'Profile: Steve Jobs'. Arcade: 42–43.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
8. ↑ ^8.08.18.28.3Peter Cohen (2006). Middleware messing up Mac game development, Macworld
9. ↑Arik Hesseldahl (2006). Apple Needs to Get Its Game On , Business Week
10. ↑Neale Monks (2006). Has BootCamp squished gaming on the Mac? MyMac.com
11. ↑Tuncer Deniz (2006). Developers React To Apple's Boot Camp Inside Mac Games
12. ↑Apple Inc. (2007). Apple - Boot Camp
13. ↑Peter Cohen (2006). Mac games: What to look for in 2007 Macworld
14. ↑Neale Monks (2004). Review: Virtual PC 6.1 for Mac, AppleLust.com
15. ↑VMWare.com
16. ↑Inside Mac Games Interviews Parallels Inside Mac Games
17. ↑AppleInsider EA's new Mac games will demand Intel-based systems
18. ↑Wineskin official website
19. ↑'Lineage online RPG now available as Mac OS X beta'.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
20. ↑Open Source Mac Gaming: 10 Free Games Reviewed - TidBITS
21. ↑Battle for Wesnoth Review - Inside Mac Games
22. ↑OpenArena: Pure, Fragilicious Fun for the Mac - MacApper
23. ↑Six Free and Must Have Games for Your Mac - Softpedia
24. ↑'Gabe Newell Valve Interview - Orange Box'. 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-10-02.<templatestyles src='Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css'></templatestyles>
25. ↑Steam announcement of Public Beta
26. ↑http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1157656
27. ↑Valve's Big Fat Hint: Steam For Macs?
28. ↑Valve to Deliver Steam & Source on the Mac

External links

• Mac gaming at DMOZ

Military Space-A flights have been a major element of our strategy for saving money on our frequent travels since my husband retired from the Army in 2015. We’ve flown Space-A to Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, Korea, and many places within the continental U.S.

I estimate that during our last 4+ years of world travel, we’ve saved more than $20,000 by taking military hops. Our experiences have been overwhelmingly positive, and whenever it’s a viable option, Space-A is my preferred way to fly.

Talking with others about our travels, we were surprised to realize how few military folks knew about Space-A travel, let alone had used it. Even those who knew it was an option were reluctant to give military flights a shot. They heard you have to wait around too much, the aircraft have too many maintenance issues, or the flights are canceled at the last minute.

The bottom line is yes, those things do happen. Flying Space-A requires patience and flexibility, and it’s not a good choice for all circumstances. But if you’ve flown a civilian airline lately, you know all those inconveniences happen with regular flights, too. The difference is, Space-A flights are free!

This Quickstart Guide explains everything you need to know about how to fly Space-A. After reading it and following the related links within the article, you should be all set to take your first Space-A journey!

If you’re NOT new to military Space-A travel, you should still read these lessons learned from our experiences and our recommended strategies for having a successful journey when using military hops.

This page contains affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure.

How Space-A Flights Work

Space-available flights, a.k.a “MAC flights” or “military hops,” are military operational flights that have extra seats. The military mission is the priority, and the Space-A passengers are essentially cargo.

Galactic Budget Flights Mac Os Catalina

Eligible travelers may “hop” the flight (free of charge), but the system is based on priority.

Space-A Travel Categories: Who Can Fly Space-A?

Travelers are divided into six Space-A categories or “Cats:” 1 is the highest and 6 is the lowest.

Available seats on the aircraft are first offered to travelers in lower-numbered categories. Any remaining seats can be used by travelers in higher-numbered (lower priority) categories. Priority within a category is based on signup date, as discussed below.

In the context of leisure travel, active duty service members traveling with or without dependents on accompanied environmental and morale leave (EML) are Cat 2 and on regular leave are Cat 3.

Unaccompanied dependents are Cat 4 or Cat 5, depending on the circumstances.

Military retirees, veterans with a permanent service-connected disability rated as total (100% disabled veterans), and surviving spouses of deceased service members/retirees are Cat 6.

Certain travelers within Cat 6 have restrictions on where they can fly Space-A. “Gray Area” retirees (retired Guardsmen and Reservists who served 20 years but are under the age of 60) and 100% disabled veterans are not eligible to fly Space-A to foreign countries. They can take military hops within the continental United States (CONUS) and to U.S. states and territories outside the continental United States (OCONUS). Surviving spouses are only eligible to fly within CONUS.

Please note that the list above is not exhaustive. Other passengers may be eligible to use military space-available travel under various circumstances. For a complete list and more information on eligibility by category, view Table 3 in Section 4.11 of DOD Instruction 4515.13.

Military Dependent Space-A Travel Eligibility

Dependents of active duty service members are eligible to fly Space-A without their sponsor under certain circumstances explained here.

A retiree’s dependents are eligible to fly Space-A, but only when accompanied by their sponsor.

The following dependents and family members are NOT eligible to fly Space-A at all:

• Ex-spouses of service members or retirees
• A service member’s or retiree’s parents, siblings, or any other family members who are not the sponsor’s dependents

Dependent children can fly Space-A with their sponsor or eligible unaccompanied parent. They are not authorized to travel with other military families.

Pets may not fly Space-A unless they are registered service animals.

The Space-A Flying Process: How to Take a Military Hop

Here is a summary of how to fly Space-A. For more details and links to the required forms, visit the Air Mobility Command (AMC) website.

1. Space-A Signup

Sign up with every military passenger terminal from which you might originate travel (including your destination). Keep in mind that you are not signing up for a particular flight. You are signing up to compete for any flight with Space-A seats at a given terminal.

You can sign up in one of several different ways:

• Via e-mail
• Using the Space-A travel app, Take-a-Hop (the app has a one-time cost of $6.99)
• Through the AMC website’s online form
• In person at the terminal

E-mail and the Take-a-Hop app allow you to sign up with multiple terminals at once.

If you sign up via e-mail, you must include all of the information listed in the Space-A Sign-Up section of the AMC website’s Space Available Travel page (see screenshot below).

You can find a link to a document containing current e-mail addresses for all military passenger terminals at the bottom of the Space-A Sign-Up Section where it says “Contact your nearest Passenger Terminal for more information.”

Many terminals will not reply to confirm receipt of your signup. Remember to retain and print copies of the e-mails you send, because they serve as proof of your signup date.

Priority within a Space-A category is based on signup date, so the earlier you sign up (maximum 60 days before your travel date at most locations, 45 days or less at some Navy locations), the better. Active duty cannot sign up for Space-A travel until they are on leave.

Visit SpaceA.net for more information about signup.

2. Tracking Space-A Flight Schedules

Track flights (also referred to as “missions”) from your desired departure base(s). Flight schedules and tentative seat counts are available up to 72 hours before a flight.

If you monitor flight schedules out of your departure base for several weeks or months prior to travel, you may see patterns in how often they have missions to particular destinations and how many Space-A passengers get seats.

Most military passenger terminals maintain a Facebook page on which they publish flight information for the upcoming 3 days. A Space-A flight schedule lists the destinations, anticipated number of Space-A seats, and the “Roll Call” time, which is the time at which passenger terminal staff announce the names of passengers selected for the flight.

Many passenger terminals also publish data on recently-departed flights, including the number of Space-A seats released.

You can obtain information on Space-A seats by calling the terminal directly, but if a passenger terminal has a Facebook page, Facebook is an efficient way to monitor flight schedules.

Click here for a detailed explanation of the information on passenger terminal Facebook pages, including a guide to understanding the Space-A flight schedules.

3. Check-In or “Marking Yourself Present”

Within 24 hours of your target flight’s Roll Call, go to the terminal and speak with the staff to mark yourself present.

Bring your military ID, passport (if traveling to/from a foreign country), and any required paperwork, such as your leave form if you are active duty or the memo from your sponsor’s command if you are a dependent traveling unaccompanied.

You should also bring a copy of your signup e-mail in case the terminal does not have you in their system. Most terminals will accept your e-mail as proof of your signup date and time.

You must mark yourself present before Roll Call starts. As long as you have signed up in advance, there is no advantage to marking yourself present earlier than other passengers. Arriving one or two hours prior to Roll Call is usually sufficient, but in the 12 hours or so before your flight, check the schedules frequently to ensure Roll Call hasn’t changed.

Many passenger terminals have a screen or printed document near the terminal desk that displays a list of passengers who are marked present and are “competing” for the flight. Make sure your name is on that list along with the accurate number of dependents traveling with you and your correct date of signup. If not, speak with the terminal staff.

4. Roll Call

The time listed on the Space-A flight schedule on Facebook is usually the Roll Call time. When Roll Call begins, terminal staff announce how many Space-A seats are available and read the names of the passengers selected. They begin with the passengers in the lowest-numbered (highest priority) category and work their way down the list.

When they call your name, go to the desk and confirm that you and any dependents traveling with you are present. Show your and your dependents’ military ID cards along with the aforementioned paperwork.

ID cards are required for all passengers over the age of 10. If you are traveling with children younger than 10 who do not have an ID card, bring their passport or a MilConnect printout that shows their DOD ID number.

After Roll Call, you might go directly to luggage check, or you may wait several more hours, but you won’t know the schedule in advance.

At the time of Roll Call, you must be in the terminal with all of your luggage. Don’t plan on waiting until after Roll Call to go back to your hotel or return your rental car, because you might not have time.

Note: If you’re not selected during Roll Call, stay in the terminal, at least until the flight boards. Sometimes additional Space-A seats are released at the very last minute.

Virtual Roll Call

Some passenger terminals offer Virtual Roll Call (VRC) for select missions. In theory, having VRC means passengers do not have to be present at the terminal for Roll Call. When there is a VRC for a particular flight, that information is noted on the Facebook slide.

With VRC, you must still go to the terminal within 24 hours of Roll Call to mark yourself present (and verify that they have your e-mail address). About an hour before the in-person Roll Call, the terminal sends you a “Roll Call Notification” e-mail.

If you don’t respond promptly, they take you out of the running. If you do respond, they eventually send you one of two e-mails: a “Flight Selection Notification” with instructions to go directly to the terminal to check your bags, or a “Non-Selection Notification,” which means you should activate Plan B (always have a Plan B when flying Space-A!).

In our limited experiences with VRC, it has not worked quite as planned. We had to go to the terminal for Roll Call anyway. VRC is a relatively new process, so they may still be working out the kinks. In the meantime, showing up in person is the best way to ensure you don’t miss any communication.

5. Bag Check

When it’s time to check bags, you, your dependents, and all of your luggage must be present.

On most Space-A flights, each passenger can check two bags of up to 70 lbs each. You can also check car seats, which do not count towards your baggage allowance.

Weight limits on some smaller aircraft may be as low as 30 lbs. If you cannot meet those requirements on the weight-restricted aircraft, you are not eligible for the flight.

The AMC website has more information about baggage for Space-A travelers in their FAQs starting with question #24.

You cannot access your checked luggage during the flight, even though you may see it strapped down right in front of you. Make sure you have everything you’ll need in your carry-on bag.

During baggage check, you can request a meal, (if meals are offered — usually a box lunch with sandwich, chips, cookie, and drink), which costs $5 – $10, depending on the base.

After you’ve checked your bags and have your boarding passes, you are “manifested” on the flight. Terminal staff will tell you the estimated boarding time, but keep in mind that it often changes without notice, so stay in the terminal.

6. Boarding

When boarding begins, all passengers go through security. Military passenger terminals follow TSA regulations, so you have the same restrictions for carry-on items as on civilian planes.

You sit in a secure area of the terminal until it’s time to board. At most locations, a bus takes you to the aircraft, and you board the plane from the tarmac.

If you are on a Patriot Express flight, your boarding pass will list your assigned seat. On other military aircraft, you select your own seats on a first-come, first-served basis. The crew may allow passengers with small children to board first, but not always.

7. Flight

Unless you are on a Patriot Express, which has full in-flight service, most Space-A flights are “no-frills.” The crew provides foam earplugs, water, and sometimes chips or cookies, but you must get those refreshments yourself.

Depending on the type of aircraft and how much space there is, you may be able to stretch out across a few seats or even sleep on the floor (see the section on Military Aircraft below).

8. Arriving at Your Destination

After landing, you take a bus from the aircraft to the terminal, where you collect your checked bags. Passenger terminals generally have information and phone numbers for local rental cars, base lodging, and other resources. You can also use UJ Space A Info to quickly search for local information related to any base in the world.

If you’ve flown to a foreign country, you may pass through customs, or you may have to go to an off-site location to have your passport stamped. The process varies by country and base.

Use Poppin’ Smoke’s Space-A Location Guides to research the customs and immigration process at your destination. The Guides also have detailed information about lodging, ground transportation, and other logistics for major Space-A hubs worldwide.

When (and When Not) to Fly Space-A

So now you know how Space-A travel works when all goes smoothly. Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way.

There are many situations when flying Space-A is not the best option. If you are going on a short vacation (less than 2 weeks) with little flexibility or you are traveling during major holidays, relying on Space-A is risky.

Most experienced Space-A travelers also avoid flying Space-A during summer PCS season (late May through early September), particularly to OCONUS destinations.

In those situations, it’s better to plan ahead and try to find cheap military flights from airlines that offer discounts or use a site like Skyscanner to find the best commercial fares.

If you are traveling solo, you have a better chance of getting a seat, even during busy periods. Many other Space-A travelers are couples or families, and even if those groups are in a higher category, when there is only one seat left, a solo traveler will get it.

Packing light also increases your chances of getting a seat. Some flights have baggage weight restrictions that will take most other passengers out of the running.

You can take some of the risk out of flying Space-A and boost your chances of having a successful trip by following these strategies and tips and monitoring the Space-A flight schedules on Facebook to make informed decisions about what flights are most promising.

How to Prepare for Space-A Travel

Knowing what to expect at the passenger terminal and on the planes can help you have a more comfortable journey.

What to Expect at Military Passenger Terminals

Passenger terminals vary widely in terms of their hours, services available, and rules. Some have a USO, a snack bar, a children’s area, and showers, while others have little more than a check-in desk and a few chairs.

SpaceA.net has information on specific services available at each terminal.

Most terminals discourage passengers from getting too comfortable and falling asleep. The chairs generally have fixed armrests that prevent you from stretching out across the seats. Also, there are often signs requesting that you not lie on the floor. Be prepared with a good book and plenty of activities for the kiddos!

Many military passenger terminals have WiFi, but it’s not always very strong, so remember to download any books, movies, or activities you may want ahead of time.

I recommend saving the contact information for the passenger terminals you anticipate using so that you have it handy if you need to call or e-mail with questions.

Finally, keep in mind that most passenger terminals are NOT open 24 hours, so you cannot spend the night there. Even if you arrive on an aircraft that has an overnight layover, staying in the terminal is not an option. Click here to read tips and tricks for reserving base lodging.

What to Wear and Bring on Military Aircraft

Depending on the type of aircraft and how it’s configured, you have different considerations for comfort. If it’s a Patriot Express (a.k.a. a “rotator”), it’s simply a regular passenger plane. Most other Space-A flights will be “organic aircraft,” a.k.a. military planes.

For all organic aircraft, three tips apply:

• Dress in layers. It can be very cold or very warm, depending on the type of aircraft, where you’re sitting, and pilot preference. We use this layering system so that we can easily adjust to the temperature. I occasionally see passengers (especially children) wearing shorts, but I don’t recommend it unless you have a pair of sweatpants handy.
• Bring a small, inflatable mat and a blanket or sleeping bag. You can use an inflatable mat like this one to lie on the floor or stretch out across multiple seats. The blanket/sleeping bag is important for warmth.
• Bring hand wipes. The lavatory sinks generally don’t have running water. Instead, there is a pile of antiseptic wipes, but often not enough to last for the entire flight. Bring your own stash of hand wipes.

Click here for a full Space-A packing list.

While you could fly on one of more than a dozen different types of aircraft, the ones below are the most common:

C-5: This is the largest aircraft in the Air Force. If the Facebook slide indicates there are 73 seats available, the aircraft is probably a C-5. Seats are configured just like a commercial airplane, but they face the rear of the aircraft, and you have more legroom. If the plane isn’t crowded and you are lucky enough to have your own row, you can stretch out (unlike in the passenger terminals, you can raise the armrests!).

C-17: The first time we traveled Space-A on a C-17, all passengers were sitting in jump seats along the sides of the aircraft (facing the middle). With this configuration, you can lie down after the plane reaches altitude if there is room on the floor and the crew authorizes you to do so. On our first Space-A flight from Andrews AFB to Germany we didn’t plan ahead and had to sleep on a wool blanket provided by the crew (it was still more comfortable than sitting in the economy section of a commercial flight).

The next time we flew in a C-17 with that configuration, we were prepared with a couple of inflatable pool rafts. The rafts provided much more cushion than the wool blankets and were pretty inexpensive. Unfortunately, they were exhausting to blow up and nearly impossible to drain and fold down to an easily-transportable size.

Now we have this small easily-inflatable sleeping pad. It weighs only 18.6 oz, inflates with 10 – 15 breaths, and easily deflates to fit back in its carrying bag.

We also flew in a C-17 configured with regular passenger seats filling most of the bay. Some passengers chose to sit along the sides anyway, but we preferred real seats to jump seats. With that configuration, there was very little space to lie on the floor.

C-130: This a prop plane, so it is noisier, slower, and bumpier than a C-17. It has the same open bay configuration with web seating along the sides. If there is room on the floor, you can lie down like on a C-17.

KC-10/KC-135: These are tankers used to fuel jets while in the air, and they may perform that mission with Space-A passengers aboard. The KC-10 usually has regular airline seats and about twice the passenger capacity of the KC-135. The latter generally has web seating along the sides of the aircraft.

Click here to read about our Space-A journey from Japan to Germany. We flew in KC-135s the whole way!

“VIP” aircraft (C-9/C-12/C-21/C-40): These aircraft have regular passenger seats and generally do not have space to lie on the floor. The baggage weight limit may be much lower (usually 30 lbs. for C-12 and C-21, 50 lbs. for C-9 and C-40) due to aircraft baggage storage limitations and/or fuel requirements to the destination.

Final Advice

Think of Space-A travel as an adventure. Along the way, you will meet other travelers who remind you how helpful and supportive the military community can be.

Hitching a ride with a military mission is a privilege and, for dependents who have never flown in a military aircraft, a very unique experience. If you think of your journey in this way, you will be better-prepared to handle any parts of the process that don’t go as planned.

Recommended Reading

If you’re looking for more information about flying Space-A, these articles are good reading: