Originally Posted by
JPL9869
I believe that depending on if they are commuting or trying to get to a flight, they are treated like a revenue passenger.
Originally Posted by
JDiver
Sometimes it may depend on whether they are going to work (commuting). There have been other posts and perhaps threads about this, so a Search might be in order.
A little terminology lesson here is in order. "Commuting" is never non-revenue positive space for AA pilots or FAs. Commuting is defined as voluntarily choosing to live somewhere other than your base. The commuting pilot/FA is on their own when it comes to getting from where they live to their base. This could be by flying on standby passes (non-revenue space available, NRSA) or the pilot/FA could just buy a plain old revenue ticket but in no case would they ever be flying NRPS when commuting.
Deadheading is a different story and what I believe the two posters above were referencing. Deadheading is travel as part of a trip sequence. Could be from base to somewhere else to pick up a flight; could be back to base from after a flight; could be in the middle of a trip sequence. But the key point is that it's part of a pilot/FA's actual work assignment as scheduled by the company. Big difference vs. commuting.
As far as I remember, all NRPS deadheading by pilots and FAs is only confirmed in coach and they must standby for F/J. If this is still the case, they would be on the Priority List as a UPGE (or UPGET) and should be upgraded after any category of revenue passenger requesting an upgrade. There are different A* business pass classifications behind the scenes (i.e. flying to cover a trip is higher priority than flying back to base after a trip) but that all takes place automatically behind the scenes - agents don't manually decide what subcategory of UPGE a crewmember is. Again, the key point here is that based on my fuzzy memory there is no A* pass category for
deadheading crew that jumps revenue pax requesting upgrades.
Originally Posted by
Science Goy
If they were in uniform, they were probably commuting or otherwise traveling on company business. Do pilot contracts allow for space-positive F/J travel in these instances?
See above. While I'm not certain, I don't believe that any deadheading crew is entitled to NRPS in the F/J cabin. They confirm Y and standby for F/J. If we are talking about
other official company business (not deadheading to/from a trip) then I am certain that no non-management crewmembers get to confirm F/J. They confirm Y and standby for F/J (UPGE/UPGET and after all revenue).
Originally Posted by
dayone
I believe some passes for business travel (A?) trump revenue passengers.
There's a select group of executives (Managing Director level and higher) that get confirmed F/J, even for personal travel. Not sure exactly how this plays into the upgrade game though because the key point about these A* pass categories is that they are confirmable. A2, A4, A6, etc. doesn't generally standby for F, it confirms it at time of booking!
Below the MD level official company business is still confirm Y and standby for F/J after revenue pax.
Originally Posted by
keeper22
I work with a women who is married to a very senior AA pilot. She said that whenever he flies it is in F.
Originally Posted by
MountainWave
Not true unless he is a senior managment pilot. The numbers holding that level is in the single digits.
What MountainWave said!