Letting Eagle walk all over American Pilots
12-22-2025 | 03:58 PM
#41
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Joined: Mar 2024
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Just wanted to highlight an item to anyone considering coming to AA. American Eagle regional wholly owned pilots have the same non rev (D2) priority as mainline AA pilots. Everything is priority by time of check in. We have priority for the jumpseat on our own aircraft of course, but a PSA/Piedmont/Envoy pilot or employee can beat a 35+ year AA captain for a non rev (D2) seat in the back on their own metal! This would be laughable to Delta pilots who protect their own. Delta Connection pilots do not receive any benefit to this level, not to mention they also never receive profit sharing. I find that AA/APA has a total push over attitude towards fighting for their own pilot group. This is not an attack on the regional folks, just an observation that we readily allow our benefits to be diluted compared to other legacy pilot groups.
12-22-2025 | 04:46 PM
#42
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Joined: May 2012
Posts: 687
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Dude,
I wish priority went by mainline metal and some respect for seniority, but that ship sailed decades ago, probably around the time the last B727 was built.
I can say that you haven’t lived until you’ve been assigned a lower priority than a AMR computer programmer working on a project for a French Railway (circa 1990’s for those who weren’t watching Barney episodes during that time)
I wish priority went by mainline metal and some respect for seniority, but that ship sailed decades ago, probably around the time the last B727 was built.
I can say that you haven’t lived until you’ve been assigned a lower priority than a AMR computer programmer working on a project for a French Railway (circa 1990’s for those who weren’t watching Barney episodes during that time)
12-22-2025 | 04:49 PM
#43
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Joined: Sep 2021
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What i want the readers to take from this thread is that I and other AA pilots have lost rides home to regional pilots for seats on our own metal due to it all being based on time of check in and Eagle pilots get the same priority outside of the jumpseat. And alot of my fellow pilots just say, “eh who cares”. Talk to your friends at Delta and ask if they would ever lose a seat to a Connection pilot. The AA pilot group is toothless when it comes to stuff like this.
12-22-2025 | 07:44 PM
#45
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 2,242
Likes: 98
And again, there are several solutions to this, 1) move to base being the most important thing, 2) check in more proactively, but I realize as a commuter myself that’s not always possible, or, 3) fill out an app for delta. Just understand at places like delta, you will be junior for quite a long time which means lots of senior dudes could easily bump you last minute. Something to think about. I’ve talked to several delta guys that say they wish they had what AA has for non rev privileges.
12-23-2025 | 05:39 AM
#46
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Joined: Sep 2021
Posts: 397
Likes: 82
From: CA
I commute from a notoriously rough place to MIA and never have any issues with “check in time”… just bid your schedule accordingly. If an eagle guy beats me to it on my own metal when I forgot to list, that’s on me. It’s fair system. What’s not fair is the AA people who list for multiple JSs at one tim and then come to find out they are listed as a D1 on an eagle flight.
12-23-2025 | 06:12 AM
#47
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,550
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The seniority system at usairways was brutal. Resulted in senior people never even listing in advance. They would just show up 30 prior and a seat or a jump seat that seemed like you'd get to work or home ... Gone. No way to plan. The time of check in is fair. Sucks if you can't check in, but that's what wives are for.
12-23-2025 | 07:07 AM
#48
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 3,199
Likes: 42
From: Gear slinger
Just wanted to highlight an item to anyone considering coming to AA. American Eagle regional wholly owned pilots have the same non rev (D2) priority as mainline AA pilots. Everything is priority by time of check in. We have priority for the jumpseat on our own aircraft of course, but a PSA/Piedmont/Envoy pilot or employee can beat a 35+ year AA captain for a non rev (D2) seat in the back on their own metal! This would be laughable to Delta pilots who protect their own. Delta Connection pilots do not receive any benefit to this level, not to mention they also never receive profit sharing. I find that AA/APA has a total push over attitude towards fighting for their own pilot group. This is not an attack on the regional folks, just an observation that we readily allow our benefits to be diluted compared to other legacy pilot groups.
12-23-2025 | 07:11 AM
#49
On Reserve
Joined: Oct 2023
Posts: 157
Likes: 67
When I’ve flown with people that lament that we should return to a seniority based system for the JS, I always counter that it should be longevity based since our seniority list is such a mess. The conversation stops pretty quick after that since the only group that really brings it up are LAA (non-TWA) folks. Usually the groups that got the seniority rocket ship are pretty quiet about it.
12-23-2025 | 07:14 AM
#50
On Reserve
Joined: Feb 2023
Posts: 176
Likes: 58
Conversely those pilots can beat out 40+ year retired rampers or gate agents, or their kids, etc.. it’s actually a pretty good system. As a commuter I really like it.
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