PhantomHawk

I was only referring to possible trade items for the useless SA passes. I live in a hub, btw.

GoCats67

AMEN!!!

If they want to keep vacation passes as a means to have a few "free" trips, then fine, but it should not change the boarding priority!

Not sure if we could ever get the company to loosen up the Employee discount 20% to employee discount 50%, but that would be something I think all pilots could really benefit from.

graybeard

Wow, some people have opinions and others, such as yourself, just can't wait to disgorge some of that toxicity fermenting down there.
I simply believe that retirees "at some point" in years of service to the company should be able to retain the seniority they have carried; and not have it summarily stripped because they have reached an arbitrary limit imposed by someone other than themselves.
Also, I have benefited greatly over the years with the nonrev benefits. Just as 1 example; when my son turned 12 and he was permitted in "Business", my wife and he and I took a trip around the world during his 8 day spring vacation from school. We did SFO DEL HKG NRT SFO. All in Business and all in 747's. You don't often have that kind of money in your pocket; well at least not mine.
I only worked till 60.
And I did look out my front door to see if there was anybody on the lawn but there are only the kids on their surfboards.

Regularguy

Just so you know those days of around the world first class on a pass are long gone.

Sounds like your career was pretty good and you have nothing to be bitter about.

graybeard

Oh boy, do I know they are long gone.
"IF" us old guys have fault it's called reminiscing.
That doesn't mean we don't remember with accuracy; it just takes a few minutes to get it up front.
And I have nothing to be bitter about, if anywhere I made it sound like that; then that's my bad.
See we can even use today's language.
The one thing I will point out; was, in my day, more promises were kept than were disregarded.
Today may be different, it doesn't mean it's necessarily better.

graybeard

Oh shoot I missed an LHR in there, between the SFO and DEL.

Itsajob

As long as employees of our regional carriers board their metal ahead of us, vacation passes are useful. When you commute out of a station that is mostly rj’s, being able to exercise your longevity is better than watching a regional new hire take the last seat. Just using simple years of service across the board would simplify the process. Personally I’d like to see all United employees listed as SA1 on all flights, and all regional employees listed as SA2 and eliminate vacation passes. Allow us a few deeply discounted tickets instead.

graybeard

I'm never quite sure when someone refers to "united employees" or to "our employees" whether they include in their own mind or in the structure of their thought; "The Retirees".
I have to guess; probably not.
For the sake of clarity, again. If I was a current employee I would think the whole vacation pass thing is ridiculous.
However because Retirees have been removed from the boarding group that is "current employees" and placed in a unique group BEHIND them for some reason, and have had their seniority frozen; practically the ONLY time we have a chance of getting on the airplane is using one of the ridiculous vacation passes. So it isn't something special for us it's just about the only way we get to use nonrev travel anymore. You guys don't hear much from us a group but I think if they took away"OUR" vacation passes without changing anything else, the company would sure hear about it.

Qotsaautopilot

Maybe I need perspective. However, the way I view retired, especially in an impersonal career where you are known as a number not a name, is that your employment is terminated and any ties to said company are severed. It was a job and just like any company in any field they owe the employee nothing when the relationship is over. Seniority is a way to deal work groups the size of thousands. After termination the seniority number means nothing. Seniority isn’t earned anyway. We are just simply there. You gain (hopefully) by simply not leaving. And quite honestly the company at some point would prefer you weren’t “loyal” that way they can recycle you with a lower paid new hire.

It may sound brash but this is how most corporations and especially airlines look at employees. If they really cared about you being there for decades and rewarding that “service” they wouldn’t constantly be trying to outsource jobs with weakened scope and also recycling regional pilots by moving the planes around every few years. Everyone would be united pilots and negotiations wouldn’t last years just on scope alone. Face it, they don’t like us (pilots) and you don’t work for the company anymore so in their eyes they owe you nothing. Better to just embrace that and enjoy retirement.

Itsajob

When it comes to the pilots, I don’t really think that like or dislike ever enters the equation. We (all employees) are just a line on a balance sheet that is to be had for the lowest possible cost. They’re not out to help or hurt anyone. They’re out to save a buck by all available means, and when it comes to labor cost, pilots are big bucks. I agree with the rest though. We are just a cog on a wheel and this is just a job.