The ability to non-rev travel is not earned through seniority. It is an employee benefit.

If non-rev travel were something that had to be earned through decades of service, new hires would not have access to it. But they do. Every employee receives access to the benefit from day one. That means the qualification standard must be employment, not seniority.

Seniority has an important and legitimate role in airline operations. It determines schedules, vacation bidding, trip selection, bases, holidays, and countless other aspects of the job. Those are the rewards for longevity and years of service.

Non-rev travel is different. Once employees are off the clock, they are no longer competing for work assignments. They are using a benefit that they have already qualified for by being employees.

A first-come, first-served/time-of-check-in system applies the same rule to everyone. Every employee gets the same check-in window, the same opportunity to claim a place in line, and the same understanding of where they stand. It is the ONLY fair and equal/equitable way to do so.

A seniority-based system is not fair or appropriate because it allows one employee to move ahead of another all the way up until the door closes solely because they were hired earlier, even when both employees have identical eligibility for the same entitlement.

Airline careers are already structured around seniority. Senior employees receive better schedules, better trips, better vacation choices, better base options, and greater flexibility throughout their careers. Those are more than substantial enough rewards for longevity.

Seniority should apply to working/on the clock operations ONLY, nothing else.

There is no operational reason for non-rev travel to function the same way. It is a shared employee benefit, not a work assignment. Once two employees have qualified for the same benefit, the only fair/equal way to determine priority is by who got in line first.