Deadheading...would you take the jumpseat?

Seggy said:
The flip side to your argument kellwolf is that if everyone does show up, the agent waives a $200 voucher in front of the passengers and they jump on it to take a flight 2 hour later.
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I saw more than one (particularly when scheduling was shuttling me around the Delta system on reserve) when the gate agent would ratchet it all the way up to $500 and still have no takers. Then you're forced to deny boarding, and the FAA doesn't like that. Hence the reason those vouchers get so high sometimes. If the FAA gets involved, it's bad. If they can bribe the passengers, it's okay.....

I do agree with the oversell policy, makes the flights fuller to nonrev on, but if you need to be somewhere buy a ticket y'all!
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You mean like the people that are involuntarily denied boarding? They bought a ticket. :)
 
Louie1975 said:
Think about this....what if you decided to take the Jumpseat, and at the last moment they found out the plane was weight restricted and they couldn't take jumpseaters, would you now have lost the Jumpseat AND your positive space?
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Agent held my seat assignment for positive space - made a separate transaction for the JS just in case.
 
kellwolf said:
I saw more than one (particularly when scheduling was shuttling me around the Delta system on reserve) when the gate agent would ratchet it all the way up to $500 and still have no takers. Then you're forced to deny boarding, and the FAA doesn't like that. Hence the reason those vouchers get so high sometimes. If the FAA gets involved, it's bad. If they can bribe the passengers, it's okay.....



You mean like the people that are involuntarily denied boarding? They bought a ticket. :)
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You know as well as I do that 99% of the time bribing works. Denied boarding is the exception, not the norm.
 
True, but it still doesn't change my opinion that it's a poor way to do business. If you're going to buy a car, but the dealer takes your money then says "Sorry, we don't have anymore in stock, but how about 10 free oil changes and we'll have you a car by next week." you're going to tell your friends how crappy that dealership is, not sing their praises because they gave you 10 free oil changes. I don't know. Some people might, but I definitely wouldn't be bringing my business back there nor would I recommend them to friends.
 
Comparing apples to oranges.

Considering all airlines but one in the US have a policy of overselling flights, I'd presume that the industry sees it like I do.
 
wheelsup said:
I'm not sure if you're intentionally trying to miss the point or just ignore it.

Not wanting to jumpseat so you can arrive ready for a leg and not make mistakes is certainly a responsible and logical reason which is the reasoning he gave. However I don't see how logically you can make that responsible choice and then on the same token commute 4-5 hours same day on the jumpseat and then do a crossing (I assume he same days).

It's like how pilots will complain about long duty days, but those same guys will commute same day and put themselves in a 20 hour duty day essentially.
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No I understand what you're getting at. But what I'm saying is that whether I'm tired and want the seat, or just don't feel like sitting in the cockpit today on a whim, I'm contractually entitled to the back seat if I want it. When I'm commuting to work I'm not entitled to it. So like you even said, "Because I don't want to." should be a good enough reason. I do understand where you're coming from, and I'm happy to help the company circumstances permitting, but we have a contract for a reason, so if I don't want to I wont.

The long commute to a same-day trip is a whole different topic, but I know I've been guilty of it many times. Why? Because I'd rather spend my day off at home than at work (or waiting to work while trying to get rested.) The company doesn't seem to care how rested I am when I finish a trip, so why should I care how rested I am to start? Should I feel obligated for safety purposes? Yes, and to an extent I do. However, I've flown SO many times where rest hadn't been perfect because of the way the company scheduled things, that I know my limits, and I won't fly past my limits.
 
Seggy said:
You know as well as I do that 99% of the time bribing works. Denied boarding is the exception, not the norm.
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That's actually changing, at least in the Airways system. The computer now caps the dollar amount (and it's ridiculously low) before the gate agent has to start denying boarding. So very often times nobody bites on a $100 voucher and that's the best the agent can do.
 
BobDDuck said:
That's actually changing, at least in the Airways system. The computer now caps the dollar amount (and it's ridiculously low) before the gate agent has to start denying boarding. So very often times nobody bites on a $100 voucher and that's the best the agent can do.
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Yeah that will change when they have to give hard cash for the denied boarding compensation. Then it will change again to another policy with the merger.
 
Derg said:
If you're riding the jumpseat, offline, because your company needs to get you to a specific base, that's bad juju.

If you use it to get to work or to vacay or something, as far as I know, it's kosher.
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I think that the vacation JS is part if the problem. If commuting not a question but think you should have to play the nonrev game for vacation like all the other employees.

How do you feel when you can't get the JS home only because X is starting a vacation?
 
ComplexHiAv8r said:
I think that the vacation JS is part if the problem. If commuting not a question but think you should have to play the nonrev game for vacation like all the other employees.

How do you feel when you can't get the JS home only because X is starting a vacation?
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While commuting or using the JS, we don't bump any rev passengers off a flight. In fact, often we're able to get other non-revs on the plane.
 
BobDDuck said:
It's called seniority/first come first served is a bitch. You man up, deal with it, and find another way to get home.
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Understand but how you (general you) feel if any employee could qualify for the JS? UA mechanics years ago were allowed to as well. I know pilots didn't like it, but then again I know my Dad was qualified to fly the 74 and 10.

I'm surprised FA aren't as they are allow on the fight deck during a flight.
 
And yes, I'd take the jumpseat to get a revenue passenger on in an cancelled/overbooked situation. The customers are why we are here. Without them, there is no paycheck. I work for a heavily customer-service driven airline, and I'd do it in a heartbeat.
 
Seggy said:
Even if that left a pilot from another airline behind?
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Nope, then I would sit in a FA jumpseat so the OAL pilot could get into the flight deck jumpseat.

OAL at VX are only allowed a cabin seat or a flight deck jumpseat. For the FA jumpseat, VX FAs obviously have first priority, and then VX pilots. Some Airbuses have 1 extra FA jumpseat, others have 3. (Total FA jumpseats either 4 or 6). The 146 seater A320 has 6 FA jumpseats, 3 extra. The 149 seater A320 has 4 FA jumpseats, 1 extra.

OAL at VX cannot occupy the FA jumpseat so that's the one I will take to get a OAL into the flight deck. I'm cool like that. :)
 
kellwolf said:
True, but it still doesn't change my opinion that it's a poor way to do business.
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A poor way to do business is a way that generates negative cash flow. Airlines have a hard enough time making money while overbooking. Getting rid of overbooking would eliminate already thin margins.
 
The problem with the buy a car analogy is that when people buy a car, they will show up to drive it off the lot. Not so with an airline ticket. Due to traffic, getting late, TSA lines, last minute emergency cancellation, any multitude of reasons can cause a revenue passenger to be a no-show.
 
Cherokee_Cruiser said:
The problem with the buy a car analogy is that when people buy a car, they will show up to drive it off the lot. Not so with an airline ticket. Due to traffic, getting late, TSA lines, last minute emergency cancellation, any multitude of reasons can cause a revenue passenger to be a no-show.
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I still think it's poor customer service. The airline is basically gambling that people aren't gonna make the flight. Delta, in my experience, is the worst of all of them. In the summer out of DTW (and you can back me up on this one), just about every flight is "in an oversold situation." The airlines HAVE EVERYONE'S MONEY ALREADY. That's my point. People bought their tickets, money exchanged hands, so I don't see how they make less on a flight if someone mis-connects. It's an attempt to capitalize on an unfortunate situation by squeezing a few more dollars out of a seat that may or may not exist.

How about this one? You're pumped for your Disney vacation. You bought your tickets, you stand in line to get in, get to the turnstiles and the cast member says "Sorry. We've already let our maximum number of people in for right now. We can get you in the park in about four hours, in the meantime, here's $50 in Disney dollars to spend when you get inside." How is that any different than what the airlines? They've accepted money in exchange for a service they can't provide in a timely manner, they offer compensation that can't be spent anywhere else and the people are stuck waiting around a few hours. Meanwhile, they're losing part of their vacation. How does this seem like a good customer service experience to anyone? Hotels rarely overbook anymore for these reasons. Yet airlines do it on nearly every leg if they can.

I realize profits are thin, however if you need to resort to selling 160 seats on a plane that holds 150 people, maybe there are bigger issues....
 
kellwolf said:
I still think it's poor customer service. The airline is basically gambling that people aren't gonna make the flight. Delta, in my experience, is the worst of all of them. In the summer out of DTW (and you can back me up on this one), just about every flight is "in an oversold situation." The airlines HAVE EVERYONE'S MONEY ALREADY. That's my point. People bought their tickets, money exchanged hands, so I don't see how they make less on a flight if someone mis-connects. It's an attempt to capitalize on an unfortunate situation by squeezing a few more dollars out of a seat that may or may not exist.

How about this one? You're pumped for your Disney vacation. You bought your tickets, you stand in line to get in, get to the turnstiles and the cast member says "Sorry. We've already let our maximum number of people in for right now. We can get you in the park in about four hours, in the meantime, here's $50 in Disney dollars to spend when you get inside." How is that any different than what the airlines? They've accepted money in exchange for a service they can't provide in a timely manner, they offer compensation that can't be spent anywhere else and the people are stuck waiting around a few hours. Meanwhile, they're losing part of their vacation. How does this seem like a good customer service experience to anyone? Hotels rarely overbook anymore for these reasons. Yet airlines do it on nearly every leg if they can.

I realize profits are thin, however if you need to resort to selling 160 seats on a plane that holds 150 people, maybe there are bigger issues....
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That is true, and you are correct about summer travel. These decisions are made by the corporate cats and it is all above my head. :)
 
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