Originally Posted by
javabytes
I don't really care how unpopular of a position this is. Deadheading time is duty time, not rest time. Arguments that pilots need seats in the highest cabin to be well-rested to safely operate flights fall flat on that basis. Long story short - pilots just wanted it, and capitalized on the opportunity afforded by pilot shortages during contract negotiations, making this a relatively recent reality of air travel in the US. If there's a seat open in back to downgrade someone to, that same seat could seat a pilot without having to downgrade anyone. If the flight is completely full, downgrading a J pax to a seat that a Y pax is bumped from (displacing two customers), or completely bumping a J pax are poor outcomes. I'm curious how many more Jim Breuers it takes before AA and other airlines start to revisit this practice in future contract negotiations.
What I did appreciate about DL is that they very clearly spell out in their CoC the criteria they use for handling oversale situations. AA does not. And while DL's criteria won't really deal with downgrades, they do essentially provide a guarantee that Gold or higher elites, and a few other categories of passengers, will never to be IDB'd entirely from a flight, unless they completely run out of lower elites/non-status passengers to bump first.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I suspect I would be very unhappy if I were bumped for a pilot. That it is a more recent reality of US air travel does not make it any less of a reality at the present or moving forward. If AA were going to negotiate concessions from their pilots in the future, pay and hours would come far before flying deadheading pilots in F.
I do agree that AA's handling of these situations is subpar, and that they could do a much better job of handling these sorts of issues, whether they involve pilots, former SNL castmembers, or everyday civilians. That seems like a much more realistic path to pursue than frustration about AA pilots and the terms they've negotiated.