That’s rediculous... He’ll probably be the first one to vote yes to Kirby’s scope relief contract also...
He knows what side his bread is buttered on!
Chuck - this is what bothers me the most about your post. The UA Captain is obviously a douche but you're totally naïve if you think this Captain is doing a good thing.
There is only so much time to preflight with the turn around of aircraft between flights. This Captain is either rushing his preflight or depending on his FO to do it, which means the FO is rushing his. The Captain should be in the cockpit getting ready for the flight. Rushing leads to shortcuts and missed items. The Captain owes it to his passengers to conduct the flight in the most safe manner which means staying in the cockpit and doing his job, not socializing with first class passengers.
If the Captain showed up early and the plane was available at the gate for him to preflight early so he did not rush his preflight, then he is working for free. This undermines the entire pilot group and their contract. Professionals are compensated fairly for their time. When pilots work for free the company tries to lever this in contract negotiations as a precedence. Now it becomes an additional duty..."prior to leaving the gate, the Captain will..." which leads to adding time to the preflight. An early report with a longer crew day for which the pilot is not compensated.
If the company felt it was necessary for this to happen to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, then the company should either hire additional people to do it or pay the existing people to do it.
The pilot's job is to fly the aircraft in the most safe, efficient and cost effective manner possible. Period.
You seem to find a lot of these articles and post them here with glowing comments. This scares me since you seem to be considering getting into the airline game. Having a good attitude about your job and company is fine. Applauding this type of thing will alienate you from the other pilots due to it's undermining the contract and profession. Zippy's comment is absolutely justified. The type of pilot that does this or praised this will be the first to give the company unwarranted concessions or concessions that are not needed/justified by the company's economics. They are also the type that are more willing to cross a picket line. We don't need or want them in the profession.
Leave this shit to the flight attendants, customer service agents and PR employees. They get hired and paid to do it.