Not sure where M5000 works but based on his comments I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s UAL. At UAL it is written in the FOM that the first flight of the pairing the crew SHOULD meet in ops. This was a big cultural difference between the 2 legacy carriers. At one they always met at the airplane, and at the other always in ops (Again for the first flight of the pairing only). It still causes debate in which way is better. I came after the merger and have no dog in the fight but it is written in the FOM so I go to ops. It used to be a little annoying when you would be sitting there waiting and then find out the guy just went to the airplane and it sounds like that’s what M5000 is getting at. After a little while you get a feel for which guys will show up in ops based on the domicile.