Rant: AA non revs seem to regularly take the good seats and overheads on my flights
#16
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,761
People around here don't like it when other people have nice things because it makes them feel less special. You see, AA employees using a perk that they get through the job (non-rev seats) degrades the value of their ability to use a perk that they get through their jobs (employer-paid seats or award seats with points from employer-paid travel). What's not to understand?
#17
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: En Route
Programs: Many
Posts: 6,798
I don't know how all of this works exactly, but it seems that non-revs should always be put in Y and if they need to fill seats further forward they should "reward" AA elites for their loyalty by bumping them up rather than giving the seats away to employees traveling for free, no?
#18
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: Does Non Rev count?
Posts: 586
Ok, so those darn, condescending non-revs at it again, eh? Let me be clear, as a frequent non-rev guy on both AA and my own airline, WE ONLY GET A SEAT ONCE EVERYONE ELSE HAS BOARDED. NON REVs DO NOT TAKE SEATS FROM PAYING PASSENGERS. If there is an employee who boards before any other zone, he/she is traveling on official business and therefore is positive space. PERIOD. I'm sure some of you will argue, but I have never seen anything other than this take place.
In 25 years of working for both CO and now United, and 10 years for my fiance at AA, never once have either of us been able to board non-rev at the expense of a passenger. Not once! Further, in all the years on non-reving, I think I was in Business First/Polaris exactly twice. Twice in 25 years. Most of the time I'm sitting at the gate, watching the plane leave, because it was sold out, and hoping the GA rolled me over to the next flight with an empty seat/jumpseat.
(Sorry for the caps, but good lord, this issue comes up way too often, and very few seem to understand the process, or insist it is always circumvented)
In 25 years of working for both CO and now United, and 10 years for my fiance at AA, never once have either of us been able to board non-rev at the expense of a passenger. Not once! Further, in all the years on non-reving, I think I was in Business First/Polaris exactly twice. Twice in 25 years. Most of the time I'm sitting at the gate, watching the plane leave, because it was sold out, and hoping the GA rolled me over to the next flight with an empty seat/jumpseat.
(Sorry for the caps, but good lord, this issue comes up way too often, and very few seem to understand the process, or insist it is always circumvented)
#19
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Aspen, CO
Posts: 792
People around here don't like it when other people have nice things because it makes them feel less special. You see, AA employees using a perk that they get through the job (non-rev seats) degrades the value of their ability to use a perk that they get through their jobs (employer-paid seats or award seats with points from employer-paid travel). What's not to understand?
#20
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: DCA/IAD
Programs: AA EXP; 1W Emerald; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold; UA dirt
Posts: 7,779
#21
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: DFW
Posts: 309
<redacted>
Fixed that for you. Once the door closes, everybody that has an boarding pass with an assigned seat in a particular cabin has just as much right to be there as anybody else. That is official airline policy. If you think the travel policy is too generous, then either work for or marry somebody that also works in the industry.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Fixed that for you. Once the door closes, everybody that has an boarding pass with an assigned seat in a particular cabin has just as much right to be there as anybody else. That is official airline policy. If you think the travel policy is too generous, then either work for or marry somebody that also works in the industry.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Last edited by JDiver; Jun 3, 2019 at 10:01 pm Reason: Not acceptable to alter a quoted post
#22
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: Does Non Rev count?
Posts: 586
Fixed that for you. Once the door closes, everybody that has an boarding pass with an assigned seat in a particular cabin has just as much right to be there as anybody else. That is official airline policy. If you think the travel policy is too generous, then either work for or marry somebody that also works in the industry.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Very well put, thank you...!!
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,712
Let me be clear, as a frequent non-rev guy on both AA and my own airline, WE ONLY GET A SEAT ONCE EVERYONE ELSE HAS BOARDED. NON REVs DO NOT TAKE SEATS FROM PAYING PASSENGERS. If there is an employee who boards before any other zone, he/she is traveling on official business and therefore is positive space. PERIOD.)
Remember the rash of anecdotes about UA "Employee Class," a decade ago, where it seemed elites with ready upgrade instruments were told the front cabins were full, so sorry, only to find them chockablock with partying United people? That phenomenon seems to have seeded the delusion around here that all airlines' employees are commandeering seats and resources for themselves. Not true. Non-revs fly with chronic uncertainty, get last pick of available seats, and are never certain they're going anywhere until the plane pushes back.
I've said it before: there are two kinds of frequent travelers. The kind that sees the airport / lounge / cabin as a shared community improved by generosity, and the kind that sees the environment as a death-match competition for perks and special treatment. For some of the latter, it is not enough merely to get the elite treatment; they must also observe others not getting it.
#25
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Aspen, CO
Posts: 792
Fixed that for you. Once the door closes, everybody that has an boarding pass with an assigned seat in a particular cabin has just as much right to be there as anybody else. That is official airline policy. If you think the travel policy is too generous, then either work for or marry somebody that also works in the industry.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Now, if any passenger (non rev or not) is legitimately disruptive or rude, by all means alert a flight attendant. Otherwise, stop being jealous of others and count your own blessings in life.
Regardless, I still have my views on non-rev's in upper cabins, solely based on past experiences - for the longest time I didn't even know non-rev's were able to snag open seats in F/J!
#26
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AA LT Gold
Posts: 3,635
#27
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Midwest USA
Programs: BA SIL, WN A, UA SIL, Marriott TIT (LT), Hilton DIA
Posts: 1,968
I don't know how all of this works exactly, but it seems that non-revs should always be put in Y and if they need to fill seats further forward they should "reward" AA elites for their loyalty by bumping them up rather than giving the seats away to employees traveling for free, no?
#28
Join Date: May 2005
Location: PHX
Programs: AA Gold, WN A+ & CP, HH Diamond, Hyatt Platinum, National Executive Elite
Posts: 3,238
I don't know how all of this works exactly, but it seems that non-revs should always be put in Y and if they need to fill seats further forward they should "reward" AA elites for their loyalty by bumping them up rather than giving the seats away to employees traveling for free, no?
Certainly even an elite who may not have flown int'l J or F might like it so much that they will pay in the future but the odds are that many elites are bought with business money and if the business allowed J or F purchases then the flier would be in J or F anyway. So if they're not and they aren't buying the ticket, there's pretty much zero chance that rewarding them will have any type of substantial ROI for the airline.
#29
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Australia
Posts: 6,332
Originally Posted by GetSetJetSet;31166707[b
]I don't know how all of this works exactly,[/b] but it seems that non-revs should always be put in Y and if they need to fill seats further forward they should "reward" AA elites for their loyalty by bumping them up rather than giving the seats away to employees traveling for free, no?
#30
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX
Programs: AA PLT / 2MM
Posts: 2,113
Well.... from this thread alone you should have deduced that non-revs CAN and in fact by POLICY (and employment agreements presumably) ARE given seats in whatever cabins are available AFTER paying pax have been allocated seating. If you think that "seems" to be the wrong way to do it I suggest you write to the airline (and the employee unions) and make your case for change.