Non-rev benefits UAL vs DAL vs AAG
 

At my current regional we get United travel benefits. Basically we get:

- Unlimited domestic coach and international free of charge (pay taxes on international flights).
- Unlimited domestic first for $12.50 per leg (nearly impossible to get).
- Unlimited international first or business ($90 - $150 plus taxes depending on destination and travel class).
- Discounted confirmed tickets via MyUADiscount
- No buddy passes
- Spouse/domestic partner, parents, one enrolled friend or two if no spouse/partner.

How does this compare to Delta and American at other regionals?

Delta and American blow United away. Delta has free first class (international too) and three SA2 seats per year for better priority. Delta also actually has open seats unlike united. American still gives people first class domestic. United and Delta will not give a non-rev first class domestic. All medallions are upgraded first.

United also gives their own employees vacation passes so they can bump you on your own metal. They're basically unlimited. I've had a United pilots grandma, wife and 4 kids bump me off of my own companies flight with ONE vacation pass when I was in uniform commuting to work. Delta and AA have much better priority systems for standby travel.

After having used all three and having been a commuter for 3 years I can rant about how bad United is compared to DL and AA for hours.

DL and AA will clear a non-rev in first/business as long as their is an open seat after all upgrades have been cleared.... United hands upgrades out like candy, but its pretty easy to get upgraded on DL.

UAL nonrev is nearly useless for a regional pilot. Flights are always oversold and mainline employees can bump you on your own aircraft using a loophole in their nonrev policy.

Nonrev benefits was a significant factor in the compensation package that I considered when I got into the regional business, and I got a lot of mileage out of it in years past.

But due to high loads and policy changes which favor mainline employees, the benefit is essentially worthless for regional employees. I would not factor that into your career decisions at all, unless it's for commuting purposes.

If it's just you, you can JS everywhere. But if you want to take family, plan on buying a ticket unless your schedule is very flexible and open-ended.

Loss of DL benefits (and DL jumpseat ability) is a significant factor in why I won't bid the 175 even though I live in one of the domiciles. Being stuck with just UAL is something I don't want to deal with.

Non-rev benefits UAL vs DAL vs AAG
 

on DL you would be able to get firsr class domestic. i have 3 times.
We have delta and united both and delta's non rev benefits are so much better then united.

I know United's isn't perfect but my family, even without me, has had little to no problem non-reving all over the country on United. I also have enjoyed business/global first to Europe and back. They do seem to have higher loads than Delta but I've found that the United standby list is often over exaggerated. Seems people will list for every flight to a certain city because, even on a clear day, I've been number 10 and the only person to be at that gate waiting.

"Vacation passes" will make any commuting and Nonreving difficult on UA travel especially if you're an RJ driver. Like someone mentioned mainline can bump you off your own metal. They do have that double travel companion option at UA. However UA still has a lot of RJ flying and still suffer from weight restrictions on some E145 equip. I definitely miss my DL bennies

At least DL S2 passes only work on your metal, so mainline guy can't S2 on a regional flight (maybe only 9e now). DL still has buddy passes for some even though I wouldn't give them to my worst enemy. Upgrading for free to first on any DL flight is great when you can get it. Overall great travel program.

AA don't know anything about it.

At AAG, the wholly owned carriers travel at the same priority as mainline and now it is all by checkin time. Check in first and you secure that location even if some 64 year CA shows up at the last minute. Time of check in was how LAA worked but LUS used seniority.

We also have a few "D1" passes which are similar to vacation passes. All it is though is just a higher boarding priority. Also, if you are connecting through a city, you travel at a higher priority among your group (ORD-DFW-SEA, in DFW you would be considered a "through" passenger and have a higher priority. This can be useful).

Buddy passes are kind of pricey that to use domestically almost makes more sense to just buy a ticket and skip non-revving in general, especially on heavy traveled markets. For instance, to travel a buddy from ORD-SEA-ORD it was about $160.

Non-wholly owned carriers get screwed. AA does not differentiate based on who operates the flights, just pass-classification. Ergo, a Republic person and their family (thus non-wholly owned) will get bumped by any AAG employee even on their own metal. Only time who operates the flight is for the JS (note to mods, this is not SSI) and then it is based on carrier and seniority. Also, AA treats the JS as just another seat therefore you cannot "just list for the JS." You have to list as non-rev and if no seats are open, they then go through the non-rev list again and see who are pilots and handle it accordingly.

All coach travel is now free and international you pay appropriate taxes. First domestic is usually not likely but have gotten it on many occasions. Just depends on how many aadvantage members are on and using their upgrades. Certain markets have a higher percentage and others have lower. For instance, my parents travel ORD-DCA a LOT and they almost always get first class. International First or Business is a lot more likely and worth it - especially on 3 cabin configurations since most upgrades are 1 class only. So First may have a few seats open but everyone upgrading is just coach to business. So business fills up, and then the non-revs get first.

All accurate except for this. Non-wholly owned nonrevs have priority above all others on their own metal, including D1s. However, the reservation system isn't capable of sorting the standby list this way, so it is the gate agents responsibility to figure this out.

Actually, that is not correct and this is straight from the TRIP book and the N*RSA-NRTP which governs the nonrev travel and reservation systems. All flights regardless of who operates them are considered "American Airlines Network" flights. All non-wholly owned regional carriers are considered "American Regional Affiliate Employees" (formerly called AMR regional Affiliates).

AAC boarding priority is after D3 (buddy passes) but before ONEworld non-revs or ZED tickets.

While a gate agent may have incorrectly boarding someone out of order, this manual directly says that is incorrect and that agent could get disciplined for it.

This rules now apply to the LUS system where PREVIOUSLY it was as you described, there was some priority based on whose metal it was. Now it is the LAA system.

Hope that clears it up some.

I've been at a USAir wholly-owned for a year and I'm very satisfied with the flight benefits. I travel a lot internationally with my other half and have always been able to get a seat. With the new time of check-in system at AA, I will greatly benefit. I can use a travel pass and move ahead of everyone else on the stand-by list by checking in within seconds of the 24-hours mark. I guarantee I'm lot quicker with key strokes than some old mainline FA or pilot. I've bumped non wholly owned pilots off the jumpseat of a USair flights several times based on my priority level and it has made a big difference when commuting on USair flights.

Interesting. The US Employee Travel Guide, updated 9/10/14 (includes checkin time boarding procedures, new priority codes, etc) says otherwise (section 02-02.). We LUS folks don't have access to the TRIP book and are told to refer to the ETG. I guess they still have some kinks to work out.

I think that's it right there - for the most part each legacy carrier is still operating under their own procedures. Some things have been mixed, like time of check in, fees, etc but some things remain and I seem to recall looking at a table where LUS gave priority to non-wholly-owned non-rev travelers on their own metal but LAA does not.

And tbh, I do not know/remember how it will be when the travel procedures are fully combined.

There are still a few kinks to work out until the merger is complete and we get a single operating certificate, but yes the LUS way is a thing of the past and as LUS and PDT gate agents are receiving training on the new systems, they will be taught the new non-rev policy which puts mainline and wholly owned at the top of the non rev list on ALL AA/US flights operating under the AA/US system. Additionally, new JS priority also states on AA metal JS priority is LAA/LUS then Envoy then PSA/PDT then all other airlines and on US metal priority is LUS/LAA then PSA/PDT then Envoy then all other airlines and obviously each carrier has JS priority on their own metal.

No way you're beating ehalo auto check-in, I guarantee it, no matter how fast you are ;)

People using ehalo auto check in have been getting caught and losing their travel benefits so I wouldn't recommend that...

thats weird they make that distinction between the wo's on js priority, also i thought js was first come first served unless it was your own metal then you could bump 'offline' out of js

Is that in writing somewhere?

It is specifically stated in the TRIP book that using third party applications for check in is against the rules and will result in getting your travel privileges permanently revoked.

Play by the rules just like everyone else.

I didn't know this was happening. I remember for a while that express employees were able to bump mainline employees through a loophole, but I believe that was fixed.

What is the loophole that allows mainline to bump express pilots on their own metal? Is it being fixed?