Buried in a deal between United Airlines and its pilots to avoid furloughs is a new threat to elite upgrades: deadheading pilots will soon outrank even top-tier frequent flyers on the upgrade waitlist.
United Pilots Ink Deal To Avoid Furloughs
Last month, United and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union which represents United pilots, tentatively agreed on a deal that reduced minimum hours (and thereby pay) for pilots in exchange for avoiding furloughs for eight months and tightening the scope clause on regional jets, setting the limit at 70 seats instead of 76. The agreement also gives pilots a 5% instant pay raise once United reaches a 5% profit margin and a generous new early buyout option for more senior pilots.
Todd Insler, Chairman of United ALPA, told Forbes:
“This deal provides for the long-term safety and protection of our pilots careers, while at the same time improving our contract…this is pilots helping pilots.
“This is us internally making the decision to allow our pilots to help themselves. At some point the company will grow and be successful again, but right now we have to help our people. We have each other’s backs. How we can turn our backs on them when they need it the most?”
Late last month, pilots overwhelmingly ratified the deal.
United Pilots Will Displace Elites On Upgrade Waitlist
As noted by View from the Wing, there was another concession buried in the agreement: easier access to first class seats for deadheading pilots.
You can read the previous agreement here. For in-line deadheading (meaning a pilot is flying to or from a duty assignment on United), it does not guarantee premium cabin seating on flights under eight hours and specifically states:
Regardless of the class of service booked, pilots may be upgraded to a higher class of service at the gate after the Company has accommodated all other passenger upgrades.
(bolding mine)
On flights of three hours or less, pilots were seated in economy class. On flights between three and eight hours, pilots were booked in business/first class if available, subject to the limitation above if the premium cabin was already full. Flights over eights hours were guaranteed business class.
Live and Let’s Fly obtained a copy of the 28-page new agreement and careful reviewed it. The pertinent language concerning upgrades is on page 14 under a section titled “Permanent UPA Changes.” (UPA is United Pilot Agreement). Section 5-C-1 states:
When On-Line deadheading on a Basic Flight, a Pilot shall be booked positive space in First Class, if available at time of booking. If First Class is not available, the Pilot shall be booked as outlined below, but shall be upgraded automatically (in seniority order within Status and ahead of all upgrading passengers) if a First Class seat becomes available. However, a Pilot shall not be eligible for such automatic upgrade if the deadhead booking occurs at or within three (3) hours of flight Departure, in which case upgrades will be processed in accordance with Section 5-C-1-d.
5-C-1-d states:
Regardless of the class of service booked and unless specified elsewhere in this Agreement, Pilot upgrades will be processed in accordance with Company Business Travel policy.
The “Company Business Travel Policy” places deadheading pilots behind company officers, board members, revenue passengers, managing directors, and directors in terms of upgrade priority (in that order).
To summarize: deadheading pilots traveling to or from a work assignment on United metal will be booked in first or business class no matter what the flight length is. If the front cabin is full, they will take waitlist priority over all revenue passengers, including MileagePlus elites, as long as they book more than three hours ahead of the flight. If they book within three hours, they will be ranked behind revenue passengers on the upgrade waitlist. This does not include commuters (those who live away from their base by choice), but would typically be for reserve pilots needed at another station.
What about when a premium cabin is oversold?
5-C-1-e In the event of an oversold situation (including an equipment substitution that results in fewer available premium seats), a deadheading Pilot booked in First or Business Class will not be downgraded until after all passengers who received a free upgrade (that is, passengers who used neither dollars nor miles for the upgrade) are downgraded and after all pass riders who received an upgrade are downgraded. Then, downgrades will be made in inverse positive space priority (and in inverse boarding date order among Pilots having the same priority). Revenue passengers (whether using dollars or miles) will not be downgraded before the Pilot. In no case shall a Pilot be downgraded to accommodate a passenger who would receive a free upgrade.
Note that United will downgrade MileagePlus elites who receive complimentary upgrades first, then pilots, then “revenue” passengers who paid for the upgrade with dollars or miles. The clause is silent on elites who use PlusPoints to upgrade.
United will also pay pilots a 50% bonus if they end up in a middle seat.
Why I’m Against This Change
As a top-tier 1K flyer on United, I certainly appreciate my upgrades. Indeed, that’s a huge selling point of loyalty and a top reason why I concentrate loyalty into one carrier over others.
I’m just going to be blunt and say that I want the upgrade over the pilot. Call me selfish…because that is selfish. But I also think it is reasonable. In fact, I don’t think it is ever reasonable for pilots to take upgrades from passengers who likely fly more than they do and pay their salaries by spending thousands of dollars per year in order to secure elite status. Upgrades are part of the deal…a reward for loyalty, not a “free” giveaway.
But fine, it is what it is. Pilots had this benefit back in the “employee-owned” United days of the 1990s and lost it during the 2002 bankruptcy. It understandable they want it back and impressive they negotiated successfully for it.
However, if premium cabins on United start filling up with pilots, expect an elite revolt. I hope United has mechanisms in place to ensure that pilots do not abuse this new benefit for commuting or non-revving. I hope any pilot who is caught abusing this generous new contract provision will face immediate termination. (yeah right…)
CONCLUSION
Insler noted, “Through pilot unity and resolve, we will leave a lasting legacy for future generations of United pilots.”
Indeed, this is a great deal for pilot and I applaud pilots for coming together in a spirit of shared sacrifice (unlike flight attendants) to protect their more junior colleagues.
But those new upgrades perks…ugh. Make no mistake, this constitutes a devaluation to elite status in MileagePlus.
image: United Airlines
How often is this even relevant? Given that they were previously entitled to upgrade instantly when space is available on 3-8 hour flights, and they were already guaranteed business on 8+ hour flights, this would only matter for 3-8 hour flights that were full in business but something opens up close to departure. Out of the 1,000’s of United flights/day under normal circumstances, how many of them are within the 3-8 hour time frame AND have a deadheading pilot AND were completely full in business at the time the pilot booked the flight AND have a seat open up for the waitlist? I suspect that for all of your professed selfishness, it will rarely if ever happen that you lose an upgraded seat because a deadheading pilot takes it under this change. Sounds like just an opportunity to complain about a hypothetical that is fine with me (as a fellow 1K) if it helps improve the labor difficulties brought about by the pandemic.
I have no issues with pilots get ultimum sleep…especially doing trans con or long distance flights
Haven’t set foot on a UA plane in 20 years. Couldn’t care less. BTW, with this policy it shows how bad their economy is since not even their pilots want to seat there. I think Delta has this policy on international flights. It is very common to see one Delta One seat blocked with a special curtain and as soon as the plane takes off a pilot comes and take that seat, closes the entire curtain and stays there until time to land. However, the difference is that Delta One seas are not available for free upgrade so it doesn’t change much for the passengers.
Ha, ha….The curtained seat is for FAA mandated pilot rest on flights greater than eight hours. Three pilots would take alternating breaks between two and three hours and nobody is there for the entire flight.
Flights greater than eight hours requires three pilots, and flights greater than 12 hours requires for pilots with mandatory breaks.
Once again the unions place themselves above the consumers, in this case flyers who pay the salaries of airline employees, certainly FF’er’s who are most valued are being pushed aside for the benefit of a union employee.
My company starting 2021 will move to Delta. Period.
This is funny.
UA runs a $hitshow and is in trouble, pandemic or not.
We The People give them money to keep flying.
We The People give them more money to keep flying.
UA uses that money to “pay” incrementally more) their pilots to go from point A to point B to keep operations going.
Next step — UA will not accept passengers on their flights and only fly pilots, FAs, their dependents and other hangers on.
It’s not like they need passengers’ money.
They are getting it on the side from the Federal gubmint anyway.
Matthew… it’s really a narrow giveback as, even today, there aren’t many trips which include DH legs. They happen, but not with such regularity that it will cause a material diminution of benefits to United elites. The contract already provided for positive space first class travel for pilots flying to/from training, which is why you’ll often see multiple pilots seated in F cabins (both in uniform and plainclothes) on flights between DEN and hubs, usually studying on their company-issued iPads. This also restores a pre-merger United benefit.
I would also suggest revising the language of the post to clarify that this does not include *commuting* pilots, or those on non-revenue space-available travel. I could envision someone reading the sentence: “To summarize: deadheading pilots traveling to a work assignment will be booked in first or business class no matter what the flight length is” and concluding that this benefit covers pilots commuting to/from their domicile to begin a trip, which probably thousands of United pilots do. Your sentence is not factually incorrect, but it could lead a less-informed reader to believe something which is not the case.
Basically, this ensures pilots who are “on the clock” will be seated in premium cabins on all trips, not just long haul. As a frequent flyer similarly situated to you, I have no objection to this change, as the pilot is functionally the equivalent of a paid first class customer. I have no basis to complain if a paying customer lists ahead of me at the last minute and relegates me to my (paid) economy seat… this situation is no different. I’d also suggest the pilots are more than paying the price for this benefit, in the form of a fairly drastic reduction in take-home pay.
Thanks for your comment, Gene. I’ll be happy to clarify this in the paragraph you noted (and did mention further down in article that it does not include commuters/non-revs).
To be honest, I find the elimination of alcohol/food in domestic Y (so no complimentary snack or drink) and the close-in mileage surcharge to be far more meaningful cuts to the 1K/GS experience at United! From my perspective, this is rather innocuous, by comparison.
Thanks, Matthew… keep up the great work!
Another article by an “expert” who appears to have serious gaps in his knowledge of the industry.
First, business travelers who “likely fly more than the pilots”? Really? This is such an over used trope that it’s laughable. I flew 360,000 miles last year. Real miles. There’s very few business travelers who can say that.
Secondly, this whole paragraph:“However, if premium cabins on United start filling up with pilots, expect an elite revolt. I hope United has mechanisms in place to ensure that pilots do not abuse this new benefit for off-line deadheading (returning from a trip) and especially for commuting or non-revving. I hope any pilot who is caught abusing this generous new contract provision will face immediate termination. (yeah right…)”
So riddled with errors and misunderstandings that it’s hard to know where to begin. It simply isn’t possible to abuse this system. If you had bothered to ask someone at the airline, they’d have explained it to you. By the way, people are regularly terminated for breaking pass travel regulations, so the “yeah right” isn’t appreciated either.
Lastly, this is a benefit that United pilots had long before free upgrades, and afterwards as well. Just as elites prefer to travel in premium seats while on business, so too do pilots going to work for all the same reasons. Even though very, very few of them travel nearly as much as we do. Unlike other business travelers, we receive no other hotel points, upgrades etc for the approximately 6 months a year that we are away from our homes. This is a negotiated benefit that will have little impact on the public, as the vast majority of flights carry no deadheading pilots. Your job has benefits too, we aren’t complaining about yours.
By the way, “off-line deadheading” means on a different carrier, so not only does it virtually never happen, this contract provision would be irrelevant there.
Run your next story by someone in the industry.
What version of the article were you looking at? The “off-line deadheading” comment was removed shortly after publication.
As for flying more than pilots…well, I did last year. Doesn’t always happen…we can’t all be Tom Stuker…but it does happen.
Finally, congrats on your latest contract. I commend you for taking care of the junior pilots. Don’t mistake my griping over upgrades as a lack of admiration for what you do and what you and ALPA have accomplished.
The fact that you flew more than 360,000 actual miles last year (which I actually find doubtful) doesn’t change my point that the vast majority of business travelers don’t. As to the version I was reading, it was the one on the site when I came across it.
Next thing you will see is gate agents stiffing in their employee friends into First class. elite no longer means elite. I have seen the funny stuff going on at the gate. It was the best elite program till they started screwing out of every perk.
It happened to me over the weekend. Houston to McAllen Texas. I was next on the upgrade list in the pilot ended up getting a first class seat.
It’s not even in effect yet, Alan. Takes effect in December. The system hasn’t even been updated for it.
Dealt with this back in the 90’s before the rules changed. It was absurd. There would be sometimes 4 pilots in F and top tiers were in back…at least then economy was not so horrid.
Hoping AA will not follow suit. And, Matthew, this is reason enough to leave United. I remember the old days and it does end up taking a great deal of upgrades off the table.
Your are not being selfish. You are a loyal, paying customer. Once again, UA is putting their own employees over the paying (and usually higher gross margin) customers. Who do they think pays for this? Oh yea, taxpayer bailouts and not the remaining customers pay for this. Maybe the pilots will now get to enjoy Scott Kirby’s “service enhancements” in F?
The last time LUA pulled this stunt (when the pilots became “entitled” owners), they ended up going BK. Shame on them.
To be fair, the BK was triggered by another external event, namely 9/11 and the recession that followed. UA was not the only airline that filed bankruptcy.
Can you explain what the tightening of the scope clause to 70 seat jets means? Thank you.
There’s a HUGE difference between deadheading and commuting for work. Deadheading is a positive space, on-the-clock trip by paid crew members traveling to protect another flight. Positive space for that? Not happy, but can live with it.
Commuting is another matter. That’s a crew member traveling space available on their own time to REPORT TO WORK. Most everyone commutes these days by choice or not. It’s miserable, but it is what it is.
So has UA agreed to positive space deadheading or positive space commuting? Apples and oranges.
I think the more telling bit in their new contract terms is that if they end up in a middle seat, they get a 50% pay bonus.
Considering the number of times UA has bumped me out of a an Economy+ window (or aisle) to a middle seat and said that they don’t guarantee your actual seat (. . . because they’re all the same. . .) , it puts a nice spotlight on their two-faced lack of concern for paying elites.
The 50% middle seat bonus pay already existed, but was included in the language of the new contract for clarity.
I really don’t care and as crappy as tbe UA pilots pay is, at least ita gives them something. Does not happen often enough that I would be bothered by it.
I see both sides. Presumably pilots gave up compensation or benefits up elsewhere for this. The only airline I’ve ever had top status with is Air France and they offer no free upgrades so this is one area where American carriers do a better job. I see the problem arising especially on transcontinental flights where even very high status customers don’t always clear the upgrade list. It seems customer unfriendly. Couldn’t United just have offered a guaranteed once year round trip in business for anywhere United flies that has bookable seats for the pilot and a companion? This would be recognizing the pilots giving them an amazing benefit, and would seem lees likely to cause a loyal customer not to get upgraded.
We had this benefit and gave up pensions as well as it in the bankruptcy. Just getting it back. Honestly, the amount of times it will even affect anybody are so entirely rare, this change will be pretty invisible to any paying passengers.
I genuinely doubt that there are many “passengers who likely fly more than they do”. Probably only a tiny sliver of GS passengers hit 400,000 miles per year.
I can’t get over how entitled it sounds, both here in the article and in the comments section.
You are not paying for that First Class or Business Class seat when you get a complimentary upgrade. The pilot holds one of the most stressful and focus-intensive jobs in the world, and needs to be as sharp as possible for the flights that they operate. For your safety as a passenger. They have very difficult jobs and have very valuable crew fatigue mandates in place by the Federal Aviation Administration to protect that.
The vast majority of mainline UAL pilots are veterans, too. Military aviators. The amount of dedication it took for them to get to where they are today is admirable.
They deserve all of the comfort they can get during this stressful time, when they risk losing their job. When they are responsible for hundreds of lives on a daily basis. Your entitlement is laughable when you consider how, to get your benefit, you are putting your life in the hands of the same people you think shouldn’t get the benefits. United is recognizing the importance of their pilots, and the hard, stressful, and critical job they perform.
To quote the former Vice President, that’s malarkey.
Elites “pay” for upgrades just like pilots do. It’s part of the deal…part of the overall compact of loyalty…part of the package. Now pilots will get the upgrade instead of elites in certain situations. They also didn’t “pay for it” under your narrow and absurd definition. Look, it is what it is…I said very clearly that I am impressed the pilots negotiated this and I’d certainly be seeking it too if I was a pilot.
Oh please. I love my upgrades as much as the next guy, but the whole “elites paid for it” argument is grasping for straws and over-entitled. There is no “overall compact of loyalty” that legally binds UA to offer elites upgrades. Its a benefit not a right; there is no guarantee that the upgrades will be given all the time.
I kinda sense you are ruffling feathers over something that in reality (or execution of) will have minimal effect on those precious upgrades that we all seek out. Just the very notion of “pilots get priority over elites” is clickbait because its not as if all of a sudden there is going to be a huge surge of F seats going to deadheads, just an opportunity that they will have a seat and have priority for it should it open up. And the fact is that right now with fewer people flying or buying F, there is an abundance of F seats that the deadheads will most likely end up confirmed in at the time of booking.
If you want a guaranteed first class seat, pay for it. Stop crying that your not getting as many freebies. Do you even know what it’s like to spend up to 6 days straight, up to 14 hours per day in an airplane. It’s exhausting. So why don’t you think of someone other than yourself and have some sympathy for the people who are busting their asses to get you to your destination safely. With the furloughs that just happened.. my airline has lost 2/3 of our pilots and I’m getting deadheaded everywhere. God forbid I show up to operate a flight well rested.
As others have posted out, this only applies to Deadheading pilots, who are being moved in the middle of their “shift” because they’re needed in another city. Pilots do not request deadheads. Deadhead flights are assigned by the company to help prevent cancellations in a different city.
I think its important to understand why this upgrade for pilots is reasonable. These pilots are traveling to a destination where they will then get on another plane as part of a working crew. As a passenger I want the pilot. 1st officer, etc to be well rested and alert. No explanation required for that!
I always fly business on United and always wonder the front row on either side is vacant. I was told by the flight attendant that it’s reserved for pilots. So what’s the difference of Elite status if even the revenue passengers can’t buy those seats. United has excuses for everything
Sounds like you were misinformed. Lately seats have been blocked near the flight attendant jumpseats so they can social distance.
Correct.
United no longer recognizes or rewards loyalty.It is all about getting $$$$$ and making them think you are going to get something special for your loyalty.
It’s a mixed blessing… for frequent flyers, it being slapped for your loyalty, but for a regular passenger in the back, I’d rather have the deadheading pilot closer to the cockpit for emergencies.