Having Uncle John and little Timmy get on a flight prior to an active employee trying to get to work is beyond me.. Active employees should very well go ahead of retirees. They're trying to get to work, to a job, and make a living. If they can't get to work, how is that done? Then if they can't, that causes an operational disruption as crew members are out of place, or positive space tickets are issued. Let's not overthink this..