I wish I knew who Staller was or what he did to scare you so bad.

Ok Slick, it has nothing to do with the cost or class or no class of service. It's about who should get on an airplane. The "vacation pass" has been abused by commuters on both sides of the airline/issue. As far as cost go, over 25 years there is no charge for either class of service. Why don't you lobby for "no charge" for all employees, regardless of years of service, instead of trying to justify a system that was designed to be a rewards system.

You must have been one of the people that opposed retiree's from getting DOH for boarding priority. Guess what, they get enough vacation passes that allows them to board at a higher priority than most of the active employees. You should work on a system that's fair for all instead of justifying a system that tries to limit. You'd be a lot happier and you and your wife could travel more.

 

Sorry if I was not clear. It doesn't need to be changed from RJ to mainline. It's all about the listing. If an Express employee lists a round trip, and the outbound is an RJ, but the return is (and was always scheduled to be), there is a glitch which keeps the SA0X code on the entire reservation. Thus, the SA0X priority gets the Express employee ahead of all United employees even on the mainline metal, unless they use the vacation pass. The flight does NOT need to be a swap from Express to mainline. Many many city pairs have both express and mainline service, so it occurs frequently that you could be listed one way on express and one way on mainline the next

 

disregard...

 

The glitch actually changes when they open the flight at the gate. It changes basically an hour before departure. It does the same thing for us in reverse as well...ie mainline to RJ

 

What I'm not sure if they have fixed or not, but if a UAX guy is listed on one of our UAX flights and gets rolled to the next one, and it's mainline it will stay SA0X and I think this may have been what happened. However nobody is dancing away in your seat. If it happens to me I tell the agent and most guys do the same and go back to the end of the list.

 

Abused with vacation passes? Perhaps sometimes. It's happened to me 3X in 13 years. Each time all I did was burn my own vacation pass. One time I was able to tell the dope thanks for being an idiot and causing us both to waste a pass. I'd be all for a free pass travel system, but you and I both know Jeff won't give and a whole lot of 25+ guys would scream of wasted negotiating capital if it was attempted as a contractual issue.

When I retire the last thing I ever want to do is non rev esp if my DOH is needed just to think about making the flight. But since you want a far system, sure restore their DOH. In the meantime glad they got vac passes. My wife and I travel all the time. Never really found myself cursing our system as unfair. I do agree the SA0X issue is BS that needed to be stopped before it started.

Just priced ORD-NRT-BKK roundtrip in BF costs $1556 for two people. From what I recall, fronting the cash would have been the only choice under the prior UAL system. Getting it for zilch by using a vac pass sure seems like a better deal for the vast majority of UAL employees that lack your distinguished 25+ years.

 

We can agree. The UAL system had it's problems but one thing for sure was the order the employee got on the airplane was DOH. For the most part business travel was covered by DOH. There was no pay before you go ever that I can remember. You were never charged until you got on the flight and the fee was modest(mostly taxes). Except for international travel, I think it changed a little under Tilton but the fee was eventually dropped. Current system of pay before you go could tie up a credit card for some time before the refund occurs. Hurting newer/younger employee. I've heard it can take a billing cycle plus to get a refund. It probable cost the company more to administer the pass charges than any perceived gain in revenue or to pay for admistering the system.
The pass system is company wide - there has never been any pilot negotiating capital expended for the system except maybe company business travels.
The old UAL management gave parameters for pass travel but employee groups basically administered the program. The system worked and may a good direction to take for the new United. Jeff won't be around much longer, why not start working on a system that's fair to all employees, ramper to the Captain.

 

What do you mean the glitch changes? It does NOT move the SA0X down the list to their appropriate place in the order. I sat there and watched the agents screen and the SA0X stayed at the top of the screen. This employee was listed the day before, so it was not a bumping situation. I took pictures of the entire process, and the Express employee and his family of 4 were listed, checked in, and assigned seats ahead of all mainline employees.

They TOLD us the glitch changes when the agents start assigning seats, but I have proof this isn't true

 

You are wrong. Sorry to say. But I watched an Express pilot walk up and procure 4 seats for his family ahead of every mainline employee standing around. After he had his tickets, I approached him and asked if he was aware of what had happened.

I appreciate that you tell the agent and have the situation corrected. Apparently some do not, either out of not knowing about the problem or, well... the other possibility.

 

I don't know why it did that. I have seen myself go from 0X to 5X when they do the seat assignments. The whole system is a mess anyway. If we want C or F class, we have to pay upfront with a credit cars. If you don't get it, it takes weeks to get a refund and half the time even that is wrong. That's in addition to the opt in fees and rumored segment fees for ALL flights.