Did you know that as a dependent (18 years or older), you may be able to fly military Space-A without your sponsor? If you’re eligible, taking a “military hop” is a great way to visit family while stationed in a remote location or do a little traveling while your service member is deployed.
Use this guide to figure out your Space-A category, where you can fly, what paperwork you need, and how to sign up.
First time flying Space-A? Read this Quickstart Guide to learn how it works!
Contents (click to expand)
Information for All Unaccompanied Military Dependent Travel
To fly Space-A as an unaccompanied dependent, obtain the required paperwork from your sponsor’s command. You must keep the paperwork with you at all times while traveling.
If you are traveling with children 14 years or older, they need a military ID card. Children younger than 14 who do not have an ID card must have a federal, state, local, or tribal government issued ID.
| Related to Flying Space-A as an Unaccompanied Dependent: Tips for Flying Space-A With Kids
Before you travel, make sure you have enough money to cover commercial fare for your return trip, just in case you are unable to get a Space-A flight back home.
If it looks like you could get stuck somewhere for a few days, do the math to figure out the cost of lodging, meals, and transportation vs. buying tickets. Getting stuck in Hawaii, for example, becomes expensive very quickly, especially if you cannot get lodging on base.
The information in the next few sections is broken down by Space-A travel category. The Space-A Quickstart Guide explains what these Space-A categories mean and how they are used to prioritize passengers.
Note: Outside the Contiguous United States (OCONUS) includes international destinations as well as Hawaii, Alaska, and other U.S. territories. The Contiguous United States (CONUS) refers to the other 48 states.
Space-A Category 4
There are two main situations for unaccompanied dependents flying in Category (“Cat”) 4.
Deployed Sponsor
Your sponsor’s deployment orders are for between 30 and 364 consecutive days. If the orders are for 365 days or more, you are officially Cat 3, but you are last in line within that category; all other Cat 3s are higher priority. Other rules, restrictions, and paperwork are the same as Cat 4.
Where Can You Travel?
You can travel anywhere in the world to which there is a Space-A flight, and you can travel as frequently as you want for the duration of your sponsor’s deployment.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
You need a Deployed Sponsor Dependent Verification Letter. This letter is good through the entire deployment. Click here for a dependent verification letter sample.
When Can You Sign Up for Space-A Travel?
Once you get your letter, you can sign up as early as 10 days before your sponsor’s deployment. You can travel starting the first day of the deployment.
Unfunded Environmental and Morale Leave (EML)
You are stationed overseas and traveling without your sponsor on unfunded EML orders.
EML is available at certain locations where the government has determined that “adverse environmental conditions require special arrangements for leave in more desirable places at periodic intervals.”
Unfunded means the military won’t pay for your ticket, but you can use “DOD-owned or controlled aircraft.” In other words, you’re authorized to fly Space-A.
Where Can You Travel?
You can only travel from the OCONUS duty station to one of the authorized EML destinations and back.
If you cannot travel directly to the EML destination, you must travel via one of the authorized in-transit stations. Upon arrival at the transit location, you must register for onward Space-A travel within 6 hours and take the first available flight to your final destination. Otherwise, you may lose eligibility for EML travel.
Check with your sponsor’s command to confirm whether your location is eligible for EML and to obtain a list of authorized EML destinations.
Example: You are stationed with your sponsor on Guam and receive authorization for unaccompanied EML to CONUS. You fly Space-A to Travis AFB via JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam. From Travis, you must pay for your own transportation to your destination in CONUS. To return to Guam, you must pay to travel to the CONUS base from which you will fly back to Guam.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
You need an Unfunded EML Memo. Here are samples of the required forms for Pacific Command and Europe Command.
When Can You Sign Up for Space-A Travel?
You can sign up as soon as you have the required paperwork. The authorization is good for the earlier of 90 days or one completed round trip originating from the OCONUS duty station.
You can take a maximum of two unfunded EML trips per year. The trips cannot be during the first or last six months of your sponsor’s tour of duty at that location.
Space-A Category 5
There are also two situations for unaccompanied dependents flying in Cat 5.
Command-Sponsored Dependent
You are stationed overseas and you are a command-sponsored dependent.
Where Can You Travel?
You can travel from OCONUS to CONUS and vice versa. You can also travel from one OCONUS destination to another. Your OCONUS travel must be within your assigned theater.
Command-sponsored dependents are not authorized to fly Space-A from CONUS to CONUS, except if you are manifested to the final destination of a flight that is flying to or from OCONUS and stopping in another CONUS location along the way.
Example 1: You are stationed in Germany and want to take the kids to Disney World. You fly Space-A on the Patriot Express to Baltimore. Upon arrival in Baltimore, you must make your own travel arrangements to Florida.
When you want to return to Germany, you can take a Space-A flight from anywhere in CONUS to anywhere in Europe. For example, if there is a flight from MacDill AFB to RAF Mildenhall in England, you can hop that flight. From Mildenhall, you can fly Space-A anywhere in Europe.
Example 2: You are stationed in Germany and want to visit family in Washington. You see a flight scheduled to JB Lewis-McChord that will stop in Bangor, Maine, and Pope AAF, NC along the way. You are eligible to take that flight, because you will be manifested all the way to JB Lewis-McChord.
For your return to Germany, if there is a Space-A flight from JB Lewis-McChord that has CONUS stops before going to Europe, you can take that flight as long as you are manifested to the final destination. Otherwise, you may have to travel to another base (probably on the East Coast) on your own dime to catch a flight back to Europe.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
You need a Command-Sponsored Dependent Travel Memo. Click here for a sample memo.
When Can You Sign Up for Space-A Travel?
You can sign up as soon as you have the memo. The memo is good for the earlier of 90 days or one completed round trip originating from the OCONUS duty station. There is no limit to the number of times you can fly Space-A unaccompanied, but you need a new memo each time.
Non-Command Sponsored Dependent
Your sponsor is stationed overseas on an unaccompanied tour and you do not have command sponsorship. Please note that Space-A travel is not authorized while your sponsor is on Temporary Duty (TDY/TAD) orders.
Where Can You Travel?
You can travel from CONUS to your sponsor’s duty station and back. You are not authorized to travel from CONUS to CONUS, and you cannot meet your sponsor at another location.
Example: Your sponsor is on an unaccompanied tour in Korea. The base authorizes you to travel to visit your sponsor. You pay for your own transportation to Seattle Tacoma airport and fly Space-A from the Seattle Air Mobility Command terminal to Osan Air Base. You reverse the trip on your way back and make your own travel arrangements to travel from Seattle to your home.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
You need a Non Command-Sponsored Dependent Travel Memo. Click here for a sample memo.
When Can You Sign Up for Space-A Travel?
You can sign up as soon as you have the memo. You can request these letters as often as you like, unless your sponsor is stationed in Korea, in which case you can only travel once per year. The letter is good for the earlier of 90 days or one completed round trip.
| Related Reading: 7 Things to Know About Flying Space-A to Osan AB, Korea
Signing Up for Space-A Travel
For all of the above situations, your Space-A signup is good for 60 days. Priority within a Space-A category is determined by signup date. A lower-numbered category has higher priority than a higher-numbered category, regardless of signup date.
For example, if you are a command-sponsored dependent (Cat 5), and you signed up 30 days ago, you have priority over another Cat 5 who signed up last week. But if the spouse of a deployed service member (Cat 4) walks into the terminal with three kids and signs up the day of the flight, that group has higher priority than you.
Understanding the Entire Space-A Travel Process
Now that you know where, when, and how you are authorized to fly Space-A, keep reading to get more signup tips and learn how the rest of the process works.
The best way to find out where flights are going is to follow the passenger terminals respective pages on the Air Mobility Command Travel Site. Each terminal posts slides with their 72-hour flight schedules. Here’s a guide to help you understand the information on those slides.
This Space-A packing list explains exactly how to dress and what to bring on a military flight.
You can join the Unaccompanied Dependent Travelers Facebook group to learn more about other travelers’ experiences, ask questions, and share information.
Finally, another Facebook group called SpaceAtheWorld is an excellent resource. It’s run by a spouse who took full advantage of every opportunity to fly Space-A while her husband was deployed. Group members exchange tips about Space-A and share other travel-related information.
Top photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
