I don't think so. At my airline, commuters had their own priority codes and were given a seat upon booking. BUT they could be bumped in certain situations. Thus they WERE positive space, but it was almost like their priority was somewhere between NRPS and NRSA.

I was allowed to input my FF# from X airline on my Y airline ticket. The miles did not credit automatically but I faxed over my BPs to X airline and had them credited, since that's where most of my miles lie and X and Y airlines are partners.

For your third bolded point, it WAS the year. I agree, it was unfair. Even if you were a 20 year-old baggage handler, if you and the supervisor were hired in the same year, technically you could trump your supervisor if you checked-in before him/her. Doesn't matter whether you were hired in December or January.