Originally Posted by
ag386
It's not "positive space" unless you have a guaranteed seat. And A3 ain't positive space.
If it's 7am and Envoy needs you to deadhead up to ORD for a 12pm sign in, I can guarantee you'll be A1 and can walk up 15 minutes before departure and the agent will go as far as pulling a revenue passenger off the flight to get you on. Why? Because Envoy/AAG needs you there to operate that flight. Why A3 on the way home? Because they don't need you at home for any reason. Unless...there's a flight they need you to operate. Then you'll be A1 and get on.
A3 is NOT positive space.
I don't disagree about the differences between a1 and a3. But the term positive space doesn't imply a guaranteed seat. Not even paying passengers have that - people get bumped, cancelled, rolled over, etc. Positive space means you have been assigned a seat, a boarding pass. Yes, you could get bumped. Just like if I book a cheap ticket through Travelocity and check in last -- I'm gonna be first to get bumped.
Again, not disagreeing with the bulk of what you said, but by definition A3 is in fact positive space, albeit low priority amongst the revenue passengers -- it is not standby. You may feel it's about as valuable as standby, and in fact depending on your check in time you're exactly one spot above the first D1, but that's no different than some revenue pax.