FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Deadheading Pilots Will Have Upgrade Priority Over Elites

Feb 5, 2024 | 10:22 pm

#262

Lux Flyer

Join Date: May 2017

Posts: 2,344

Quote:

Originally Posted by CashN

This is my thoughts exactly. I wasn't debating upgrades (I have feelings on that as well) but displacing Business class passengers who can't find any F seats later in the day (I was 12 hours out) only to find 5 seats on the flight I chose utilized for pilots is an interesting message.

This viewpoint ignores the fact that the pilots being in F are unlikely to displace anyone who wouldn‘t have ended up displaced anyway. Those seats are „sold“ to the pilots weeks before any IRROPs has a chance of happening. If the seats weren‘t allocated to pilots weeks in advance, they would have been sold to passengers before any IRROPs happened, and the net result is the same. Its no different than the seats being taken by 5 revenue passengers in advance of IRROPs. Would it be any different if they wore plain clothes instead so no one knows whether they're UA pilots or not?

Quote:

Originally Posted by CashN

Looking at the accruals, it appears they change the D/C booking class to Y in order to not compensate financially the difference in fare. Fundamentally, the idea that fare adjustments use the current cost vs. the time at booking to avoid compensating involuntarily airline related downgrades is unique to this industry. If there was ever a need for a class action...

I think a more likely explanation is its far easier to rebook into Y because if that booking code is available there is a seat in the cabin, as opposed to messing with discounted booking codes which might be zeroed out. I‘m sure if we look at K fare IRROPs they end up in Y or something higher than K a good majority of the time too. The booking code one ends up with has nothing to do with how the refund fare differential is calculated. But I‘d prefer a system that just grabs the first booking code it can if it means I‘m getting the seat, as opposed to messing around trying to get the lowest booking code possible but risk losing the seat on the flight entirely. Especially when the booking code doesn‘t ultimately matter at that point.

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