Amount of Clothing/Checking bags for non-revving to class date...

[pilot602]

If you're positive space, you're like another revenue passenger!

Tell that to the agents in CLD .. I had just finnished my last IOE trip, trying to get home (NRPS) and they tell me "Yeah the flight is over sold so we might have to bump you, we know you're positive space but ..."

Aroooooo!? FTW.

I got on but ...

 

[OldTownPilot]

Going to an assignment you are "positive Space", coming home I find that I get put at the top of the NRSA list by the agents in CVG. One night they said "no go home for you, tough shet" No seat on the plane, no food, no hotel .... nothing. Mind you I am on "company business".

I was not impressed.....

 

[wheelsup]

If I am deadheading/traveling PS on an oversold flight I offer to ride in the jumpseat provided no one else is using it. That being said, the few times I've been in the back on oversold flights I've never encountered a problem with getting a ticket in the US Air system. If it's not a company policy (ie bumping positive spacers) I'd bet it was a moody gate agent more than anything else.

 

[Seggy]

If I am deadheading/traveling PS on an oversold flight I offer to ride in the jumpseat provided no one else is using it. That being said, the few times I've been in the back on oversold flights I've never encountered a problem with getting a ticket in the US Air system. If it's not a company policy (ie bumping positive spacers) I'd bet it was a moody gate agent more than anything else.

Same here. If you are a must ride on a peak time shuttle flight, the gate agents LOVE it when you offer that to them, I just ask them to tell the captain what is going on.

One time deadheading from PHL-ALB I offered to do this the gate agent went down to tell the captain and he refused to have me ride in the jumpseat as a space positive rider to accomodate the extra pax. The Express Agent told me it was the first time she has seen a captain refuse this. He said that corporate will see this and start having must rides jumpseat around to get were they need to be instead of having them must ride the person. Very anal, but it was his ship so I took my seat in the back and bumped off the revenue pax.

 

[pilot602]

If I am deadheading/traveling PS on an oversold flight I offer to ride in the jumpseat provided no one else is using it. That being said, the few times I've been in the back on oversold flights I've never encountered a problem with getting a ticket in the US Air system. If it's not a company policy (ie bumping positive spacers) I'd bet it was a moody gate agent more than anything else.

We weren't short on seats .. we were weight restricted (CLD is a very short field) ...

And everytime I was on PS I'd offer the jumpseat if it looked iffy ...

 

[derg]

Just make sure you're the one that's offering as opposed to the agent moving you to the jumpseat.

I flew PS to the east coast once and the agent tried to 'move' me to the jumpseat on a 4+ hour flight.

Yeah right, baby.

 

[pilot602]

Just make sure you're the one that's offering as opposed to the agent moving you to the jumpseat.

I flew PS to the east coast once and the agent tried to 'move' me to the jumpseat on a 4+ hour flight.

Yeah right, baby.

But doooooooooooooooooooooood why wouldn't you want to ride up front with the pyrates and get that killer view ... dood, dood, dooooooooooooooooooooooooooood.

 

[wheelsup]

We weren't short on seats .. we were weight restricted (CLD is a very short field) ...

The offer to jumpseat wasn't directed at you. Just a "throwing it out there" kinda post.

Regardless of the problem, if there is only one seat available in the back and you are a positive space employee ("must ride" in the US Air system) you should get that seat. Is it company policy for you to come after "general" pax? In the US Air system it is not; but I don't know about UAL/DAL. If I was Oldtown I'd be on the phone with the company ASAP.

 

[OldTownPilot]

Unfortunately I can't Jumpseat and BGR is a popular destination in the summer. I'm not the only one that has been burned by POed agents in CVG either, it just seems to happen to me the most. In 2 years I have been stuck overnight in CVG 3 times on "Positive Space". The first time it happened was about a 3 weeks into my employment, and the gate agent made it seem like it was following the rules, got me plenty of food vouchers and a hotel right off. I was too stupid to know better. The next time the agent was soliciting for volunteers and called me up and basicly said "you're not going home" I demanded a hotel then she said "no bed for you". I'm like "arooo?! then you dont get my seat".
I got a sup. to come over He said youre not going but heres your hotel.

The last time was a couple of weeks ago. I hear my name paged, I had enough at this point, I stay in the bar, its paged again, I stay some more, Its paged again, I see her getting frantic, and I stay were I was. Finally I moved back to the hallway to prepare my march for the final boarding call. Go up to hand her by BP she says "where were you?"
"I just got out of class"
"the flights full and you are not going."
"Whhhaaattt!!! I am PS and you cant bump me, I am working tommorrow and travling to an assignment"
"You just said you were here for training you are not must ride"
"I am a must ride because I am ALSO travling to an assignment"
"Are you on TDY?"
"no"
"then you ate NOT must ride"
At this point I called my station manager at home and the agent told him I am not going back and he must cover my hours. Vern (the SM) reamed her a new one.
Well the story finished The gate agent spent the rest of the night making sure I didnt get a hotel from one of the Sups. following me around like a puppy dog and would barge into any discussion I had with anyone. So I went over to the A concourse "to go find a place to sleep" and talked to a DCI Delta Direct Rep over there. After hearing my plight and the name of the person I delt with (she didn't like her either) I got comped a room, dinner and breakfast at the Mariott.

I hate gate agents.....oh wait...except me.

 

[kellwolf]

One thing to be careful with on offer the JS is people trying to commute. You're on company business, you SHOULD have a seat in the back. At PCL, you CAN'T ride the JS if you're DH'd. Why? What if there's a guy that needs that JS to get to work or home? Your positive space category just cost him his ride instead of bumping a revenue passenger to the next flight. It's all fine and dandy to help the company out, but I don't think it should be done at the expense of a fellow pilot.

 

[ERfly]

One thing to be careful with on offer the JS is people trying to commute. You're on company business, you SHOULD have a seat in the back. At PCL, you CAN'T ride the JS if you're DH'd. Why? What if there's a guy that needs that JS to get to work or home? Your positive space category just cost him his ride instead of bumping a revenue passenger to the next flight. It's all fine and dandy to help the company out, but I don't think it should be done at the expense of a fellow pilot.

Exactly! Sure the flight's overbooked, but guess who's problem that is? NOT YOURS!! They company needed to deadhead you somewhere, so they got a PS ticket. The company also oversold the flight. The company needs to rectify the situation. It's not your job or your responsibility. One of these days they'll learn not to overbook flights.

 

[pilot602]

The offer to jumpseat wasn't directed at you. Just a "throwing it out there" kinda post.

Regardless of the problem, if there is only one seat available in the back and you are a positive space employee ("must ride" in the US Air system) you should get that seat. Is it company policy for you to come after "general" pax? In the US Air system it is not; but I don't know about UAL/DAL. If I was Oldtown I'd be on the phone with the company ASAP.

I know it wasn't No, if we are positive space we are supposed to get the seat.

 

[wheelsup]

It's all fine and dandy to help the company out, but I don't think it should be done at the expense of a fellow pilot.

I don't think any of us doing this 5-step process would ever bump another jumpseater (as we explained in our posts).

Step 1: Go to gate, get a seat.
Step 2: Ask if the flight is overbooked
Step 3: Say "I'm a must ride but will ride in the jumpseat if no one else is trying to use it, but I won't bump another jumpseater"
Step 4: Gate agent says "wow! thanks!" This is good kharma
Step 5: Stand by gate and watch for jumpseaters

Everyone wins - you get home, you make a paying pax (that pays your meager salary) happy, and you get to sit up front with a better view and have waaay more fun shotting the shizzle with the crew instead of explaining what that noise was at takeoff to the guy next to you.

Overbooking is an airline necessity - the only airline that did not do it to my knowledge was Indy Air. Look where they are (or aren't) now !

I'm not a big company guy but when you start messing up other peoples' lives (pax) that's where I draw the line.

EDITed later to add: I respect what the pinnacle pilots have in their contract; it's to prevent the company from using the jumpseat as a positioning tool. I'm just illustrating it's possible to ride the jumpseat PS while looking out for other pilots and the people that pay your bills (passengers ) .

 

[wheelsup]

This is good for the guys that are in training now or on the line as they will get some people below them but if the additional flying doesn't happen it could SUCK for the guys getting on now (sorry 150 ) because they will stop classes to allow for attrition to pick up the slack.

I hate quoting myself, but the prediction came true. Word from the top is last class for 2006 is the already scheduled one on 10/30. The next class is tentatively scheduled for early 2007.

 

[C150J]

I hate quoting myself, but the prediction came true. Word from the top is last class for 2006 is the already scheduled one on 10/30. The next class is tentatively scheduled for early 2007.

Thanks for the update (I'm sitting in PHL right now waiting for my connecting flight to MKE). This makes sense to me, seeing that training tends to take time off for holidays. Oh well!

J.

 

[wheelsup]

Thanks for the update (I'm sitting in PHL right now waiting for my connecting flight to MKE). This makes sense to me, seeing that training tends to take time off for holidays. Oh well!

J.

Maybe - last year they had 2 in Novemburr and one in December. All based on need.

Hope your first day was good. I'm not sure what other airlines do but I found they spent a lot of time during Indoc actually teaching us about benefits, retirement, employee travel, how to bid, etc. along with the other "flying stuff".

One thing - if you can afford it, start your 401k off at 15-20% because they take out ~$6/month for mx fees. They auto enroll you at something like 3% or 4% and that's only about $60 going into it per month, then take out the $6 and your loss is pretty hefty. It took a few months for me to finally figure that out. I finally bumped it up to I think 18% on first year pay, but the intial loss is still stinging.

 

[C150J]

One thing - if you can afford it, start your 401k off at 15-20% because they take out ~$6/month for mx fees. They auto enroll you at something like 3% or 4% and that's only about $60 going into it per month, then take out the $6 and your loss is pretty hefty. It took a few months for me to finally figure that out. I finally bumped it up to I think 18% on first year pay, but the intial loss is still stinging.

THANK YOU FOR THIS!!! Everything was fine today - people are awesome....