Originally Posted by treelark

I respect your opinion, however... As far as I'm aware, there has never, EVER been a requirement that sorts jumpseat priority by the reason for jumpseating. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've seen a regional pilot trying to get to work (for United branded flying) bumped out by a UAL pilot who maneuvered to check in hours early and was going on vacation. I myself was once bumped out by a mainline guy who used a vacation pass to get his son in the last available seat on a SkyWest flight ahead of me and then convinced the gate agent not to check me in so he could get the jump. Anecdotal, sure. But it doesn't change the fact that if we're going to get picky about who's service the SkyWest pilot is working under each particular trip, then we ought to start checking to make sure the the mainline UAL guy is in fact going to work and not fishing with his buddies before they're allowed to bump a working pilot.

Also, SkyWest owns every single airplane that we fly under your livery. Yes, you sell the cabin seats and they're "United's" passengers, but they are OUR airplanes. Kinda muddies the waters when United is trying to dictate how we allot our jumpseats. You already have priority on the cabin through the vacation passes. I'm mystified why UALPA thinks they are justified in dictating our jumpseat policy to give UAL an additional leg up there, too. Can you explain to me how UALPA is planning on handling the "Must-ride" tier 1? "United personnel" is pretty darn vague, but it's being put up with FAA in terms of bumping every other priority.