Difference b/t United and Shuttle by United?

[Jetboy]

HI all,
I have a question about United: I understand that United's Shuttle flies only 737's, but is this a whole separate operation from United (like United Express)? Or are the Shuttle flights and the "regular" United flights worked by the same flight attendants? Do you bid separate Shuttle lines, or is it a junior thing to get?
Thanks, just curious!
Jetboy

[Jetboy]

Thanks for all the info, flyboydc!!! That definitely clears it all up for me---so the Shuttle bases are just SFO, SEA, LAX, and LAS, I'm assuming? I found it funny that you told me how exhausting it is, doing 5 or 6 legs a day......sounds exactly like what I'm doing now at my current airline--we even have 7 leg days (of course, only reserves get those since no one wants to work them)!!! It's very exhausting indeed---and we have only 2 or 3 minutes to clean the planes b/t legs (yes, we clean the planes!). I don't think I'd mind the Shuttle flights since it's so similar to what I'm doing now---but I'd definitely prefer longer legs! Thanks again! images/icons/smile.gif
Jetboy

[flyboydc]

The United Shuttle operation is managed as a seperate operation within United Airlines, "a company within a company," they're fond of saying.

However, any flight attendant can work those flights, and you'll surely be trained for Shuttle, even if you're based in, say, Boston. I'm based in DCA, and one time on reserve, I happened to be in SFO and they reassigned me to a Shuttle trip.

There are seperate bid lines for Shuttle at the Shuttle bases, so flight attendants there can bid Shuttle lines or mainline lines.

I think the seniority is a mixed bag. Some people love them, I flew on a Shuttle flight once out of LAS with a very senior gal who put it this way, "I don't fly 'A' and I don't serve meals." She was pleased as punch to fly the back of Shuttle the rest of her life. It just depends on the type of flying you like.

Personally, I hate it. You never get a moment to rest (flip side, you keep busy), it's five or six segments a day, as soon as the last person is off, they start boarding again. I'll take a DCA-ORD-PHX on a 757 any time over that.

Good luck to you.

[Sty00ard]

DEN is also a shuttle base. Senior F/A w/ kids/ family stuff love shuttle since the legs have no meal service. You do get the shuttle trips a lot due to vacations/sick & legalites. Great L/O & fun cockpits ( young) The only thing I hate about shuttle is that if you start early on day 1 you start early all 3 days. My last shuttle trip was check in @ 5am SFO-BOI, BOI-DEN, DEN-LAS, LAS-PDX Arrive arround 2pm Day 2 van pick up @ 6am PDX-SFO, SFO-LAX, LAX-SFO, SFO-SBA Day 3 pick up @ 8:20 SBA-SFO, SFO-SEA, SEA-SFO
Hope this helps