Originally Posted by
Aquaticus
I have a hard time throwing a fellow pilot under the bus on this one. These airlines will screw a pilot without a second thought if it makes sense to them financially. This guy is making life altering decisions that will impact his family for a long time. I would hope that United does the right thing and offers him another class date if he explains the cold feet and apologizes to the proper people. I can see the people in charge having a heart if he was graceful and showed respect on the way out.
I can definitely sympathize with this person, assuming it actually happened. I was in the same situation as them, and anguished over the decision for weeks. At the same time, I felt the right thing to do was to notify United with at least two weeks notice that I was withdrawing from my class date and appreciated the opportunity. I’d imagine that also means I will never be considered at UAL again, but the response I received from UAL was actually quite professional and cordial.
I know that United could and has furloughed several times in the past. But the professional course of action in my mind was to give proper notice. I would not have been comfortable making the choices that this (still theoretical) person made.