I thought I had read somewhere that US employees are given upgrades after Preferred Members. There were two US employees (w/shoulder boards) that got on a flight yesterday and took the last two seats in F (on a 757), long after several CPs had taken seats in coach. Has this policy changed or was it always like this?


Thanks

NO that's wrong. They might 'trump' standby passengers if they're going into a city to bring a plane back with PAX in it but not FC upgrades. Someone did this on the sly thinking that no one would notice.

They COULD have been on paid tickets. With the new security requirements (no liquids) MANY crew members are traveling in uniform so they could bring these items on.

Crew members flying positive space can ask for an upgrade and if the agent doesn't do it properly, they will be accomodated before ANY US1-5's for upgrades.

Are you sure they were a US crew? Some airlines, mostly corporate, buy their employees full fare FC tickets to put them into position to fly a trip. Were you on the upgrade list and got denied? If it was a US crew, and you were on the upgrade list, then the agent was wrong to put them up there in front of you. Jumpseat riders are put into f/c if there is a seat available, but only after all of the FF's on the upgrade list have cleared.

Back when I was a lowly Silver flying PHX-LAS, I was told at the gate no upgrades were available. Twenty minutes later, as I was sitting in 11F waiting for our departure, the gate agent asked the uniformed pilot in 10F if he'd be more comfortable in 1C. I wish this wasn't as common as it is.

Yes, I was on the UG list, did OLCI about 23 1/2 hrs. before the flight. I even called a few days before, since I didn't get the email upgrade notice, and was told that there were several CP on the list with me.

I'm not 100% sure the crewmembers were US, I just assumed since they were spending a good amount of time chatting with the GA.

When I did the first step of the gate dance, the agent told me I was "number one" on the list if one of the F pax didn't show.

I'm kind of wondering, if they were paid tickets, why did they board about 5 minutes before the door closed?

I was on a flight last week where the crew moved a uniformed flight attendant to FC. When a CP politely asked the crew about it and explained that he was a CP and thought the rules were that he should be upgraded, the FA's apologized profusely, moved the FA back to her original seat and moved the CP up. They had apparently never recieved the appropriate list from the gate.
The experience has certainly made me think that if I miss an UG and see a crew member in F, that I would certainly ask the crew about it.

First, one possibility where everything was kosher. As someone mentioned, many of the corporate charter/fractional ownership outfits move their pilots around via paid commercial tickets, and consequently many of these pilots are members of airline FF programs. If this was the case, these pilots may have been upgraded properly. Additionally, a few of these outfits do provide their crews with F/C transportation although that is a fairly small number.

Everything else seems to hinge on the GA not giving you your proper upgrade. Either a US or other airline pilot riding jumpseat is able to sit in F/C if there's a seat available. Since the working crew gets no list of coach passengers (much less their status), they have no way of knowing that there are FF's sitting back there who weren't upgraded. Departure time comes and there are empty F/C seats, any jumpseating pilot (or FA as someone mentioned) can be put in F/C by the crew.

If there were two pilots sitting in F/C, my guess is that it was one of these situations. If they appeared to be a crew (captain & first officer), it's more likely they were one of the charter/fractional crews being positioned by their company and were on a paid ticket.

Jim

Jim,

That's why I didn't push the issue too much with the FA or GA. Since I'm on this flight every week, I didn't want any black marks against me.

Thanks for all the feedback.

One thing you can look for to tell if a pilot is jumpseating - at the podium a small form is filled out by the pilot. They'll keep a pink copy when they board, which is generally handed to the F/A along with their employee ID. The F/A then checks with the Captain, and finally the jumpseater will go in the cockpit to introduce him/herself and officially ask permission to ride the J/S.

If you're in a position to observe any of those things occur, the jumpseating pilot should never be in F/C with FF's not getting an upgrade. If you see any of these indicators, by all means say something to someone - you FF's deserve the upgrade and a jumpseating pilot (or F/A) should never ever get it before you.

OTOH, if none of those things happen - the pilot checks in like everyone else (doesn't fill out a form at the podium), boards with just a BP and no pink slip, and goes directly to a F/C seat - it is 99.99% sure that pilot is traveling on a paid ticket who either upgraded as a FF or is on a paid F/C ticket. Because of the scheduling flexibility that these charter/fractional companies must maintain, their pilots are almost always on upgradeable fares if not F/C tickets.

NetJets, based at CMH, is one of the biggest of these companies. It's unusual not to have at least one of their pilots on board when I go to/from CMH, sometimes sitting in coach and sometimes in F/C.

Jim

This is one area where US not taking after UA has been a good thing. UA Crew & companions for whatever reason--routinely fill premium cabins--and have prevented one SFO-IAD upgrade to this once Premier Executive traveller. They lost thousands of dollars in business from me in response--until I got tired of US kicking me in the teeth and went back. UA is shameless and unapologetic about it too. The UA forum has dubbed it "Crew Class" or "Employee Class". :td:

I have not had that problem ever on US. From what I understand US Crew have to pay extra out of their pocket for F Class where on UA it is carte blanche for employees.

As someone mentioned, many of the corporate charter/fractional ownership outfits move their pilots around via paid commercial tickets, and consequently many of these pilots are members of airline FF programs. If this was the case, these pilots may have been upgraded properly. Additionally, a few of these outfits do provide their crews with F/C transportation although that is a fairly small number.
But it's getting to be more common as this is an attractive benefit to corporate / fractional crews. Also, this is a bargaining factor in some union negotiations for pilots.

A friend of mine in PHL is based in Prestwick Scotland flying for a cargo carrier. His contract stipulates they pay his commute to his base, in an F seat. However, the airline has a special F fare that his employer pays (in return for trade) that takes upgrades and waitlists out of the question. However, he is unable to collect miles on that fare.

While I've been aware that many airlines long allowed their own and other airlines employees free access to F/C when traveling non-rev, I'm surprised it's done at the expense of FF's. Just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. After all, employee's free travel benefit is called "space available" for a reason.

You're right about one thing though - we've been able to "enhance" the J/S policy for pilots as part of the concessions. The number of J/S riders is no longer limited to the number of actual J/S's installed on the aircraft - it's only limited by the number of empty seats in the cabin. And J/S riders can sit in F/C - but it's only supposed to be when there are empty seats there. They're not supposed to "bump" FF's out of the upgrade.

Jim

This is one area where US not taking after UA has been a good thing. UA Crew & companions for whatever reason--routinely fill premium cabins--and have prevented one SFO-IAD upgrade to this once Premier Executive traveller. They lost thousands of dollars in business from me in response--until I got tired of US kicking me in the teeth and went back. UA is shameless and unapologetic about it too. The UA forum has dubbed it "Crew Class" or "Employee Class". :td:

I have not had that problem ever on US. From what I understand US Crew have to pay extra out of their pocket for F Class where on UA it is carte blanche for employees.

This has been discussed ad nauseum on the UA board. Without getting into the issue of whether GA's upgrade their buddies, one fact that may apply here is that UA pilots who are deadheading, under certain circumstances, are entitled by their union contract to travel in first.

I was just on a US Air flight CMH-Las Monday 08/28. I got my Platinum upgrade no problem, and I noticed a NetJet pilot, in uniform, walking back to coach. just fyi. :)

One thing you can look for to tell if a pilot is jumpseating - at the podium a small form is filled out by the pilot. They'll keep a pink copy when they board, which is generally handed to the F/A along with their employee ID. The F/A then checks with the Captain, and finally the jumpseater will go in the cockpit to introduce him/herself and officially ask permission to ride the J/S.

If you're in a position to observe any of those things occur, the jumpseating pilot should never be in F/C with FF's not getting an upgrade. If you see any of these indicators, by all means say something to someone - you FF's deserve the upgrade and a jumpseating pilot (or F/A) should never ever get it before you.

OTOH, if none of those things happen - the pilot checks in like everyone else (doesn't fill out a form at the podium), boards with just a BP and no pink slip, and goes directly to a F/C seat - it is 99.99% sure that pilot is traveling on a paid ticket who either upgraded as a FF or is on a paid F/C ticket. Because of the scheduling flexibility that these charter/fractional companies must maintain, their pilots are almost always on upgradeable fares if not F/C tickets.

NetJets, based at CMH, is one of the biggest of these companies. It's unusual not to have at least one of their pilots on board when I go to/from CMH, sometimes sitting in coach and sometimes in F/C.

Jim