Originally Posted by
Fatigued Flyer
"Vacation" benefits are cool, but is it really that serious? I mean as a regional pilot how many "vacations" do you really plan on taking.
Everybody on here dogs the ERJ. I dont see anything wrong with picking the CRJ in hopes of upgrading quicker or it having the base you want, but theres also nothing wrong with enjoying the plane you'll be spending 60-90 hours a month in. It's almost like your saying if United called to hire you, you wouldn't fly for them because its hard to non-rev on your "vacation".
The most expensive part about travel is the airfare. Everything else can be done cheap. We have the benefit of cheap or free airfare. When I started my first regional job I had never been out of the US. By the end of just my first year I had been to 5 countries. My wife wasn't working at the time and we were doing that all on my income. If travel is what you want to do then you'll find a way to make it work. If you're unwilling to find a way to make it work then it's probably not that important to you.
I flew to Narita recently on United first class, then flew back on Delta first. It cost me $290 to list for United, and $47 to list for Delta. The Delta benefits are a huge cost savings over United if you fly international at all. Having two or three options is also great. I flew out on one airline and back on a different one because the other was full.
Originally Posted by
WaterRooster
What priority are we at that passes are bumping us?
United vacation passes put them at SA0 priority on Skywest flights. That means they can bump you off of a Skywest flight by date of hire, and UAL date of hires are usually senior to ours. They also can put their entire family on SA0 priority by just using one single vacation pass. I've been bumped from a Skywest flight by a United pilots parents and 4 kids when the pilot wasn't traveling with them.
They also changed the travel program last year so that now our family members are below ALL United employees on Skywest flights unless they're traveling with you. My wife was trying to come out to meet me while I was on a trip and got bumped by about 15 United employees on our own flight. Had I listed with her she would have been #1.
United benefits are terrible compared to Delta, American and Alaska.