This is kind of old news at Expressjet. We used to get them too and we were the exact same pass class as the mainline employees by date of hire. We lost them when ASA renegotiated our CBA and we were completely screwed by mainline employees listing on our own airplanes using those passes because they knew we didn't have them. Under the new system, we are the same pass class as a mainline employee using a vacation pass but it is DOH again. So most of the mainline employees who are 1980-1990 hires are still in front of express employees anyway.

I would much rather have the ability to book 6 round trip tickets a year where we are able to book a regular paying seat. None of this priority nonsense and you could actually take a vacation and not have to shell out a grand on tickets.

It is pretty embarrassing to be working for an airline and not have buddy passes, a reliable way to book a vacation, or any type of priority. Listing on mainline flights we are listed behind their unaccompanied pass riders which is a pretty big slap in the face considering we are trying to get to work. Moral of the story is that United treats its employees like garbage and no one wants to fight for anything better.