And it's not even summer yet (Passenger vs Pilot)

I once had a guy look at my when I sat down in FC in uniform one Thanksgiving and say "it's an insult to see you sitting up here with all of us who had to pay alot of money"

"U MAD BRO? If you were actually rich, you wouldn't care!"

Ha, I had a similar situation last week while jumpseating. The gate agent sent me down ahead of the pax to get myself squared away with the crew. It was an RJ flight. So there I am, minding my own business in the exit row seat I was assigned (no first class on this particular jet). First passenger boards the plane and takes the seat next to me. He looks at me and says with utter disdain "How did YOU get down here before ME?" It was like 'blink, blink...uh what?!?' My response was to say I must be extra special. His fancy-ultra-high-priority-passenger status didn't allow him to be the first guy on the jet. Oh, boo hoo... I'm sure this guy is the epitome of gate lice, just hovering to ensure he's first on board, every time, all the time. Must be rough to have such a little weenus.
 
Oh yeah they do that...all the damn time. Hell, I had a lady show up with her giant, full, cylinder of O2 the other week. Seriously, how does that get by the gate agent? One guy, just yesterday, walked on the plane with an open beer can. Gate agents want nothing more than to push issues down to the jet and let us deal with them. Get the people out of their hair so they can go to the break room.

Exactly. We had a problem with that but it suddenly stopped one day a few years ago so hopefully some corporate policy changed.

Another beauty they pull: have an EDCT for 2 hours from now? Well let's just board on time and the pax can sit on the jet with the door open for an hour until push. That crap doesn't fly for me though. If we board, we're pushing when done. No chance I'm sitting at the gate, ready to go, for any extended amount of time, while the entire crew now has the responsibility for our passengers and we're unpaid. Nope, not happening. Either you keep them up in the terminal, or we board and go sit in the penalty box waiting for our EDCT. Those are the only two options.

Which is why I'm happy we have the 'it's the captains jet' policy at my shop. People are far happier at the bar or in line at Starbucks rather than sitting on an airplane for an inordinate amount of time simply because a gate agent wants the passengers out of his/her hair.
 
Another beauty they pull: have an EDCT for 2 hours from now? Well let's just board on time and the pax can sit on the jet with the door open for an hour until push. That crap doesn't fly for me though. If we board, we're pushing when done. No chance I'm sitting at the gate, ready to go, for any extended amount of time, while the entire crew now has the responsibility for our passengers and we're unpaid. Nope, not happening. Either you keep them up in the terminal, or we board and go sit in the penalty box waiting for our EDCT. Those are the only two options.

I've never understood the captains who go for this kind of mess. It's a slap in the face when it comes to the F/A's. Now they have to sit and babysit some upset pax for free, meanwhile the agent is getting paid hourly and probably at the top on his/her phone just waiting for the flight to leave.
 
Ha, I had a similar situation last week while jumpseating. The gate agent sent me down ahead of the pax to get myself squared away with the crew. It was an RJ flight. So there I am, minding my own business in the exit row seat I was assigned (no first class on this particular jet). First passenger boards the plane and takes the seat next to me. He looks at me and says with utter disdain "How did YOU get down here before ME?" It was like 'blink, blink...uh what?!?' My response was to say I must be extra special. His fancy-ultra-high-priority-passenger status didn't allow him to be the first guy on the jet. Oh, boo hoo... I'm sure this guy is the epitome of gate lice, just hovering to ensure he's first on board, every time, all the time. Must be rough to have such a little weenus.

Ha! I get that kind of look often from FC or business class pax when they're all packed at the head of the line with their tickets in hand trying to look self important, and the gate agent motions me forward to board ahead of them. You could cut the entitled looks of disdain and hatred from them with a knife, lol......"who does that lowly looking plebe think he is?"
 
Ha! I get that kind of look often from FC or business class pax when they're all packed at the head of the line with their tickets in hand trying to look self important, and the gate agent motions me forward to board ahead of them. You could cut the entitled looks of disdain and hatred from them with a knife, lol......"who does that lowly looking plebe think he is?"
Want some real fun? Next time start speaking a little Farsi. lol
 
I am not aware of any place where this is not the policy. Well actually FAR.

:)
You may be surprised to know how the (certain station) and (certain major partner) above-wing people reacted to me informing them when we would board during an extended weather delay, the duration of which was still in question.

-rolling up to the gate after being rerouted; significant weather delay at destination station-

"We're going to board in five minutes."
"Hang on. I've not even met with my crew yet, need to make sure everything is squared away, and I also need to verify that the weather is legal for dispatch at the new requote, and I think all of that needs to happen before we put the people on the airplane."
"Yeah well our computer says we're going to board in five minutes."
"I'll let you know when we're ready—I have some work I need to do to make sure we are."
*stunned expression*

Pushy bunch.
 
You may be surprised to know how the (certain station) and (certain major partner) above-wing people reacted to me informing them when we would board during an extended weather delay, the duration of which was still in question.

-rolling up to the gate after being rerouted; significant weather delay at destination station-

"We're going to board in five minutes."
"Hang on. I've not even met with my crew yet, need to make sure everything is squared away, and I also need to verify that the weather is legal for dispatch at the new requote, and I think all of that needs to happen before we put the people on the airplane."
"Yeah well our computer says we're going to board in five minutes."
"I'll let you know when we're ready—I have some work I need to do to make sure we are."
*stunned expression*

Pushy bunch.
You forgot *straightens hat*
 
You forgot *straightens hat*
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(it's from a television program, sir)
 
I had guy throwing a fit that we would dare put such a small CRJ-900 on a 3 hour flight. I agreed, but said Delta was the one to assign which airplane goes where. He couldn't believe that these "recession jets" were still around, and said that UA and AA are going to "eat Delta for lunch" if they continue this practice. He looked at me funny when I said I just flew a smaller plane, the CRJ-700, on the same route in AA colors just a week prior. When you work for multiple mainline partners its hard to explain that concept, so I just let him mope and wished him a nice ride in his bulkhead seat. I heard he enjoyed his free Woodford's Reserve which doesn't come free on AA or UA.
 
Like I mentioned to a passenger when she gasped at the audacity of the 737-200 I was flying: "Your jet bigger?"
 
As for page 10, sorry Derg and Captnchia but it isn't an opinion in terms of what Bobduck, Seggy, and I have said about CAs at the gate in terms of ground security coordinator or inflight security coordinator. You know exactly what that meant. Why continue to draw a battle out of it? Things are handled differently on the ground versus in the air, spedicifcally in one case of PIC being the ISC while in the air. On the ground the CA has plenty of power and authority and no one is denying that, but there is a set protocol to call out in case of someone (passenger) acting out/issue during boarding. The whole ground security coordinator thing. Captnchia implied the same thing that resources are available on the ground. I honestly don't get the argument here, there's really nothing to argue. It already is what it is.
 
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