findark

To be technical, deadheading pilots and such are "non-revenue positive space" (NRPS), which means they get a confirmed seat in their specific class of service at booking, just like a normal revenue pax. In this case the "non-revenue" refers to the fact that they don't, in fact, pay for a ticket. However, in practical terms, they are just like any other business traveler, except United is their employer who bought their ticket. As this thread notes, the NRPS pilots are entitled to F at booking, and will be listed at PR-1 if the cabin is full (you can do this as a revenue passenger too, if you are willing to pay for full J).

Most employees commuting or taking other personal trips can fly standby ("space available" or NRSA) for minimal cost. They are also "non-revenue" in the sense of not buying a regular ticket, but they can only occupy seats which would otherwise go empty, usually in the highest class of service remaining (which is almost always Economy domestically, because any Premier member will get a free upgrade ahead of an NRSA).

Experienced NRSA tend to know when/where/how to fly so as to clear into premium cabins, and often plan their non-commute travel around this.

SFO1974

I somehow missed this thread but this explains why I have seen so many pilots up front lately. I fly in domestic paid first generally and on one flight last week 4 of the 12 seats were filled with pilots.

MatthewLAX

You can't get on a DEN flight any longer without there being pilots in F.

HNLbasedFlyer

I'm wondering - is that really bothersome?

Commuter pilots sit in the back - they chose to commute and live with being in economy. And the risks of non rev travel.

Versus - a pilot who is not commuting voluntarily - but put on a trip by UA that forces that person to be in a certain place.

You probably wouldn't get upgraded anyway to/from DEN.

WineCountryUA

Partially as DEN is the pilot training site?

fumje

It is bothersome when an upgrade doesn’t clear. This is an issue for which it is difficult to find real data, but my observation is that sub-1000mi flights have become much harder to clear upgrades after the change. It seems consistent with other very frequent flyers observations.

MatthewLAX

I still clear, but I take the 5:30am from LAX and the 7:30pm back to LAX...so my upgrades will clear.

I don't begrudge pilots for negotiating first class benefits.

UAFAM

Am I correct that THO,F is (most likely) a deadheading pilot???

Kacee

It's a no-cost perk that I'm sure UA was happy to offer in lieu of something that would have cost them money. On the scale of things UA has done to devalue the MP program, this rates pretty low in my book.

JimInOhio

UA is having to shuttle pilots all over the place lately due to having an acute shortage who are fully cleared to fly on any given day. Further, it’s a fluid situation and that only adds to the scrambling. No doubt that’s what some are seeing with the numbers of pilots sitting in F.

limey1K

4 of 20 seats had pilots in them today. Zero UG’s and plenty of GS/1K riding in coach.

AirbusFan2B

Hub-hub?

limey1K

DEN-EWR

LarryJ

Training does not qualify for booking in FC under the new letter of agreement. Only deadheads that are built into trips. Nothing changed about training travel.

New-hire, Initial, transition, upgrade, requalification, and landing currency training does not qualify for booking in FC. The only training travel that can be booked in FC is our recurrent qualification training.

All of the schedule changes, due to the current staffing problems, are generating significantly more deadhead segments as pilot's schedules are being repaired. My next trip had a mid-trip MSY-DEN leg cancel. My schedule repair has me flying MSY-EWR instead then deadheading back to ORD to finish the trip. That's typical of what's currently happening. The same thing happens when there are weather delays and cancellations though those deadheads are often created after FC is already full so we're back in economy.

Doppy

Well I got my comeuppance from joking about no upgrades higher up in the thread, 2/12 in first taken by pilots, and I died at #1 on the list.