I wanted to let my fellow pilots know what happened to me this evening so you can be proactive if it happens to you. I am a CAL guy. I worked a flight to Denver today and I was supposed to sit for 2 hours and then deadhead home. I showed up for my deadhead flight and it turns out it was on Legacy UAL which seemed a tad strange but I didn't think much of it since we're merging. The agent informed me that she didn't have a listing for me so I called scheduling to have them create a listing for me. The scheduler passed me off to crew coordination where they informed me that they couldn't create a listing for me because it was a United operated flight. I had to ask him to repeat himself because of the absurdity of having a deadhead assigned to you on your pairing that you can't be positive spaced on. I got the UDO involved and he was able to get the Chief pilot to create positive space listing for me as I was in the jetway boarding as a jump seater.

I felt like I was getting punked or something. Can you imagine how ridiculous to fly to an outstation for your company and then be told that the only way you're getting home at the assigned time is for you to jumpseat?