Originally Posted by tupues

Recently I (not a UA employee) was commuting with UA. As I was waiting for a seat, I was approached by a young pilot (one of them that grows a mustache to look older) who was there waiting along with his GF. He stated that I could have the JS and that he had been advised be the agent that he would be getting a seat in the cabin. This left me confused. Did the guy own the jumpseat i.e. does UA have some sort of reservation system. I understand that if the cabin is full he would get the JS first, but that he offered it to me as though it was his personal seat left me bewildered.

If its full its full, and surely that dude wouldn't have given up his JS offering it to me and I wouldn't have gotten on. It almost seemed as though I should be eternally grateful for the service he did to me... perhaps someone here can enlighten me on his train of thought...