From: www.unitedafa.org

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have achieved an unprecedented industry benefit as United Airlines has signed a Flight Attendant Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement with Continental effective July 15, 2009.  This is the first Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement signed by Continental Airlines and we welcome our sisters and brothers at Continental to join in access to the benefits on our airline.  We can take pride in our persistent and successful campaign that now boasts the result of the best Reciprocal Cabin Seat program among the major US airlines.  We appreciate the efforts of Senior Vice President Alex Marren and Onboard Service for working with us and recognizing the value of Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreements.

The addition of Continental Airlines and its express carrier, Express Jet, means United Airlines Flight Attendants have more access to seats on major airlines than any other Flight Attendant in the industry.

The agreement guidelines for using open cabin seats on Continental will be posted on our website on July 13^th.  Continental Airlines has certain requirements associated with the travel procedures for their employees’ free travel.  In summary, the agreement provides:

• United Flight Attendants in uniform with a crew badge will have access to free, space available economy seating on Continental and ExpressJet within the United States and U.S. Virgin Islands effective July 15.
• Continental Flight Attendants with a crew badge will have similar benefits on United effective July 15.
• Continental requires an on-line listing for travel and these procedures will be listed in detail when guidelines are posted on July 13^th.
• Priority on flights will first be given by each carrier to its own NRSA passengers (employees, retirees, buddy pass holders, ID 90, etc.).
• Next, crewmembers participating in Reciprocal Agreements will be awarded space available seats on a "first come, first served" basis.

The signing of this agreement is a milestone within our Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreement campaign.  We should recognize what we have achieved together even as we continue efforts to improve world-wide travel benefits for Flight Attendants. 

We encourage all Flight Attendants to thoroughly review the Reciprocal Cabin Seat Agreements with Northwest, American, Southwest, Delta, US Airways, JetBlue and Continental to ensure you are able to fully benefit.

In Solidarity,

Greg Davidowitch, President
United Master Executive Council