How jumpseating is supposed to work

CaptBill

CaptBill

Well-Known Member
Example of the week:

Calcapt offers a brand new Skywest captain a ride from ORD to IAH after said new captain was down to his last chance of getting home. Skywest captain is extremely grateful and offers to spread the word at how well he was treated at CAL.

TWO DAYS LATER:Calcapt is beginning a two leg commute to his posh future retirement spread in the Pacific Northwest for some needed rest. First leg on Expressjet is oversold (what's new?) and an Expressjet pilot shows up as well looking for a ride. Expressjet pilot has priority so it looks like calcapt is going to have to find another way home. Captain appears and says "No worries calcapt, you guys (CAL) bailed me out of a bad situation last week and I won't leave you today." Other pilot willingly sits in FA jumpseat leaving yours truly a cockpit jumpseat home. I was really glad the captain had been well taken care of the week before by CAL.

LEG TWO: Calcapt approaches Skywest podium to inquire about the jumpseat and is told by gate agent that the flight is oversold and weight restricted. Captain working the flight appears and I introduce myself. By an amazing coincidence, his best friend was the Skywest captain I had offered a ride home to out of Chicago just a few days earlier. He tells me how appreciative he and his friend are and how nice it is to have this opportunity to pay back the favor. He applies a little weight and balance magic and suffice to say that I arrived at my humble abode on schedule. I had a great day meeting new friends and talking about a variety of issues that pilots typically talk about, including women. As an added bonus, the Flight Attendant was a hottie and was very nice!

MORAL OF THE STORY: What you give and don't give to this industry will typically come back full circle. What if I had denied the new Skywest captain the jumpseat out of Chicago because of some ill conceived reason I had dreamed up? I can almost assure you that I would have spent many more hours in an airport that day and less time enjoying my dog and the beautiful sunset.

As a more seasoned pilot, I see young people coming into this industry who need a little guidance and coaching from time to time on hot issues including, who should and should not expect to occupy our jumpseats. Rather than trying to provide that guidance through hate talk, threats, unprofessional behavior and useless banter, I think we need to step up and lead by example. Be someone who after a trip the new guy will go home and say " I want to be that kind of captain in a few years".
We all have differing opinions (as well we should) on issues. That fact should not keep us from treating each other with civility and respect.
This business is brutal enough as it is!
 
Hottie FA?

No way!

Oh yeah, jumpseating. . .that's what this was about. Good story, and it's nice to see people treating each other like professionals.
 
You young'uns really should heed the advice offered by wise ol' Calcapt. :rawk:
That's the problem with kids today, they never listen to us old farts!
:p :D ;)

Seriously, I've found that the saying "what goes around, comes around" are words to live by! OK, lecture for the day is over. :)
 
Calcapt, that is a GREAT story. EVERY jumpseat experience should be like that. When I was at Eagle, I had really mixed luck. My favorite was trying to get on a full AA flight while some AA pilot was trying to do the same. Obviously, he was going to get the jumpseat and I was fine with that. The agent called me up to the podium and the AA guy comes up hot on my heals. He lays into the agent, telling her that he was ENTITLED to the jumpseat, which we obviously all knew. She told him, "ok, so you want the jumpseat on this flight, right?". He rolled his eyes and sarcastically said yes. She punched a few keys prints a couple of tickets and hands him the 1W jumpseat ticket. He literally sneared at me and turned to walk down the jetbridge. The agent got a big smile on her face and said, "Here is your ticket. The only other seat was in First Class. I was going to give it to this other guy but he insisted on the jumpseat". The AA guy started trying to say something to the agent but she just held up her hand and said, "you wanted the jumpseat, you got it. Now you need to get onboard, the flight is ready to go". It was AWESOME!

I tried to take a United flight home once after getting stuck overnight in the airport. The agent told me there was already a jumpseater on board but advised me there were open seats in the cabin so I should to speak with the Captain. He was talking about the good old military days to the Continental Jumpseater when I arrived but smiled broadly when I introduced myself and told me not to worry, he'd get me home. A couple minutes later, he came up and asked me "you're with American Airlines, right?". I politely told him, "No, I'm with American Eagle". He replied, "Oh. Hey, I'm sorry but our policy only allows for one jumpseater and (Joe Shmoe) from Continental was here first". So basically, I got bounced because I didn't work for a mainline.

For every bad experience I've had, I've a good one. I've had pilots try to screw me and pilots go above and beyond to help me. I've had the same with Gate Agents. It's ashame because we're such a small family. Now that I'm at major, I find the treatment better and I'm also able to return the favor more often. I've never understood why we didn't just help each other out.

Velocipede, you are one bitter SOB! I hope nobody else buys into your anger. You're the kind of guy I dread getting stuck spending a four day trip with because you think the world is out to screw you and you want to beat it to the punch. It sounds to me like you choose to be miserable and you insist everybody else around you be miserable. Screw that, my life's too short. Regardless, my jumpseat remains is open to you anytime you want it.
 
flyinawa said:
My favorite was trying to get on a full AA flight while some AA pilot was trying to do the same. Obviously, he was going to get the jumpseat and I was fine with that. The agent called me up to the podium and the AA guy comes up hot on my heals. He lays into the agent, telling her that he was ENTITLED to the jumpseat, which we obviously all knew. She told him, "ok, so you want the jumpseat on this flight, right?". He rolled his eyes and sarcastically said yes. She punched a few keys prints a couple of tickets and hands him the 1W jumpseat ticket. He literally sneared at me and turned to walk down the jetbridge. The agent got a big smile on her face and said, "Here is your ticket. The only other seat was in First Class. I was going to give it to this other guy but he insisted on the jumpseat". The AA guy started trying to say something to the agent but she just held up her hand and said, "you wanted the jumpseat, you got it. Now you need to get onboard, the flight is ready to go". It was AWESOME!
Click to expand...


That is the best thing I have heard in ages! :rawk:
 
Well said Calcapt and flyinawa! I have had similar experiences good and bad. Even had a very senior UAL capt offer me the jumpseat instead of him because I was heading to work and he was coming home from a PC! He wasn't in uniform so I ran his bags outside the jet bridge to the forward cargo compartment. Turns out we both got seats in the back :) Karma :)

Velocipede... I just dunno man, sounds like you need a long vacation on the beach or something :) Jumpseat wars get us nowhere. Are you saying you wouldn't give an RJ guy a jumpseat?
 
It is a great story and one that should be without negativity...

Thanks for sharing Calcapt!
 
Last monday morning i was tryin to commute home on SWA, flight was booked with another SWA jumpseater, captain was very helpful and the swa jumpseater took the FA jumpseat and i got to sit up front. Its a wonderful thing to see pilots treating other pilots well.
 
Doesn't the 737 have 2 cockpit jumpseats?

Additionally, calcapt very nice story. Glad to see there's still some semblance of professionalism in this industry. :)
 
calcapt said:
Example of the week:

Calcapt offers a brand new Skywest captain a ride from ORD to IAH after said new captain was down to his last chance of getting home. Skywest captain is extremely grateful and offers to spread the word at how well he was treated at CAL.

TWO DAYS LATER:Calcapt is beginning a two leg commute to his posh future retirement spread in the Pacific Northwest for some needed rest. First leg on Expressjet is oversold (what's new?) and an Expressjet pilot shows up as well looking for a ride. Expressjet pilot has priority so it looks like calcapt is going to have to find another way home. Captain appears and says "No worries calcapt, you guys (CAL) bailed me out of a bad situation last week and I won't leave you today." Other pilot willingly sits in FA jumpseat leaving yours truly a cockpit jumpseat home. I was really glad the captain had been well taken care of the week before by CAL.

LEG TWO: Calcapt approaches Skywest podium to inquire about the jumpseat and is told by gate agent that the flight is oversold and weight restricted. Captain working the flight appears and I introduce myself. By an amazing coincidence, his best friend was the Skywest captain I had offered a ride home to out of Chicago just a few days earlier. He tells me how appreciative he and his friend are and how nice it is to have this opportunity to pay back the favor. He applies a little weight and balance magic and suffice to say that I arrived at my humble abode on schedule. I had a great day meeting new friends and talking about a variety of issues that pilots typically talk about, including women. As an added bonus, the Flight Attendant was a hottie and was very nice!

MORAL OF THE STORY: What you give and don't give to this industry will typically come back full circle. What if I had denied the new Skywest captain the jumpseat out of Chicago because of some ill conceived reason I had dreamed up? I can almost assure you that I would have spent many more hours in an airport that day and less time enjoying my dog and the beautiful sunset.

As a more seasoned pilot, I see young people coming into this industry who need a little guidance and coaching from time to time on hot issues including, who should and should not expect to occupy our jumpseats. Rather than trying to provide that guidance through hate talk, threats, unprofessional behavior and useless banter, I think we need to step up and lead by example. Be someone who after a trip the new guy will go home and say " I want to be that kind of captain in a few years".
We all have differing opinions (as well we should) on issues. That fact should not keep us from treating each other with civility and respect.
This business is brutal enough as it is!
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
Almost all of Southwest's 737's have two seats up front. I think there are a few -500's that don't, but it's only like 6 airframes or something like that.

I've never seen one with just one seat.
 
For the most part, my jumpseat experiences have been great. Only a couple of times on AA have I had a negative experience. Those experiences were with the gate agents and not the crews. The best experience I had was with Delta. I was in LGA trying to get home to MCO.

There was a Song flight (back when there was Song) with 40 some open seats. I approached the agent and she let me fill out a JS form. I went down to the cockpit and saw an Eagle already talking to the Captain. The Captain looked at both of us, then at the single seat in the cockpit and said, "Hmm...this isn't going to work. I can't put more than 1 guy on the jumpseat." He looked at me and said, "Give me just a sec with this guy. Just hang out in the galley and I'll be right with you." The Lead F/A was asking me if I was going to get left. She said, "He'd better not leave you." A few minutes later, the Captain walked out and told me to come with him. When I asked him if I should take my bags, he said no. We go up to the podium and he tells the agent, "I don't care what you have to do or how you have to show it, but this guy gets on this airplane."

I'll never forget that evening. As a former commuter, I make sure I do everything in my power to get jumpseaters on.
 
ERfly said:
For the most part, my jumpseat experiences have been great. Only a couple of times on AA have I had a negative experience. Those experiences were with the gate agents and not the crews. The best experience I had was with Delta. I was in LGA trying to get home to MCO.

There was a Song flight (back when there was Song) with 40 some open seats. I approached the agent and she let me fill out a JS form. I went down to the cockpit and saw an Eagle already talking to the Captain. The Captain looked at both of us, then at the single seat in the cockpit and said, "Hmm...this isn't going to work. I can't put more than 1 guy on the jumpseat." He looked at me and said, "Give me just a sec with this guy. Just hang out in the galley and I'll be right with you." The Lead F/A was asking me if I was going to get left. She said, "He'd better not leave you." A few minutes later, the Captain walked out and told me to come with him. When I asked him if I should take my bags, he said no. We go up to the podium and he tells the agent, "I don't care what you have to do or how you have to show it, but this guy gets on this airplane."

I'll never forget that evening. As a former commuter, I make sure I do everything in my power to get jumpseaters on.
Click to expand...

As it should be. I'm about to find out about all this crap real soon when I start commuting from Salt Lake City to Ontario or LAX.
 
Outstanding story Calcpat.

For what it's worth, there is an overwhelming majority of XJT crews that will bend over backwards to get a CAL commuter home or to work, and 'weight and balance magic' is an unwritten rule for 95% of us who have a jumpseater waiting in the jetway. It goes without saying that the reason for that is the courtesy that is continually extended to us by CAL mainline crews for our commuting pilots. Please accept my sincere aplolgies for the 5% among us who just don't get it. Hopefully, they'll learn.
 
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