Originally Posted by
airlinepilot50
You are on the bottom of the list on mainline flights. Even retirees have higher priority. On our own metal, we have higher priority than mainline unless they use vacation passes at the last minute to bump you off. UAL pilots are working hard to have priority on jumpseats for all express carriers.
The argument wasn’t over jumpseat, but the seats in the back. The issue is that passenger seats are sold by United Airlines and that a 30 year employee shouldn’t get bumped by a regional new hire. You can’t go to Mesa or Express Jet and buy a ticket from point A to B. That is through the parent company. Basically, those are United routes, the seats are sold by United Airlines, and often times the airplane itself is owned by United. The various regionals are simply subcontractors paid to cover certain routes. It would be a hard sell to demand priority on another companies jumpseat, but the seats in the back are United seats, and as such United employees should be listed SA1, and the subcontractors falling below that mark.