You're (Still) Being Bumped By UAX
 

Heads up to all United employees... Remember about a year ago when UAX employees could list outbound on an RJ and return on a mainline jet but due to a programming error keep their SA0X priority instead of their rightful SA5X? This would vault them straight to the top of the list, above the most senior of us, even though it was on our own metal? Well, despite claims by the company that had been fixed, it hasn't. I got bumped down the list on a 757 by a 2005 hire United Express pilot and his family of 4. The company claims that it will show up wrong on the list, but is fixed in Shares before the seats are given out.

WRONG. The ONLY way to get ahead of these guys is to either burn a vacation pass, or point out to the agent that the glitch exists and have them bypass assigning the United Express employees and hope that they will be wiling to do so.

If you are on mainline metal, check the list, and if you see an SA0X priority, you and your family are about to get hosed. The SA0X priority should only show up on the RJ's. Pass the word, and file IOR's and PDR's with picture documentation. I can't IMAGINE how many United employees have been left behind this summer on our own jets while the UAX employees just dance away in our seats.

This has happened to me as well. It really, really ticks me off. Here's my question: If a SkyWest employee lists roundtrip and the first leg is on SkyWest (SA0X) and the return leg is on a different United Express carrier (Mesa, etc..), does the SA0X priority still carry over on the "offline" return leg as well? Or, does this anomaly only occur when the subsequent flight is mainline. Either way these occurrences need to be brought to the attention of ALPA and PDR'd immediately. The company claimed this was fixed. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Hmm.... That's a great question. My guess would be that it does still give them SA0X because it appears the computer only looks a the first leg. But I'm not sure. I'll include that scenario in my IOR and PDR. Thanks for bringing that up. Hadn't thought of that.

I'm an express guy. I can say with certainty that it only happens when we get bumped from a flight and it automatically rolls is over. The system knows when we're booking 2 flights (round trip) which priority to book us under.

So your saying that if you are traveling on a pass as an SA0X on your own metal and you are bumped from that flight then your SA0X carries on to the next flt? And, this is the ONLY time that this anomaly occurs? The 2 or 3 times that I've seen this happen this was not the case. I have seen an SA0X on the stby list several hours before departure time on a mainline flt. Granted it's been a few months since I've seen this happen. A HUGE stink was raised about this at United last year and we were told that it was remedied.

It's not just rollovers. If the original reservation is booked at SA0 and then the flight is changed to mainline on the same route, it'll be SA0. They put a band aid to fix only one part of it. They'd have to completely redo the programming to permanently fix it. For Express, if the first flight is mainline and then Express, it'll be booked SA5 all the way. It's working against the Express people too.

Amazing what other repercussions appear when scope is given away.

That is correct. It's not just for bumps. It's anytime the reservation is made that way. The solution is going to be to fix the programming, or force Express folks to only list 1 way. Somehow, I'm guessing that is what most Express employees do when it works against them.

I'm going to explore the following, since clearly the company has no interest in fixing the problem. Next time I see an SA0X on the list, I'm using a vacation pass to ensure that I'm ahead of them. Then I'm going to file a grievance to get my vacation pass back. It's the only way that I can assure I'm getting my rightful place ahead of United Express employees.

To the express folks... How well is this glitch known? Has the word been spread at your carriers?

Well honestly this was an issue before this contract. It's been going on since Shares took over. Even if Express was limited to 19 seat turboprops, we would have the same problem

It's a shares problem. We didn't have it before we shares was forced on us.