Funny Jumpseat story.......

CaptBill

CaptBill

Well-Known Member
OK, just to point out how small this industry is, here is a story that happened today. A little history:Two months ago I obtained a jumpseat authorization on Expressjet out of Houston as the flight was way overbooked. I was on my way home to celebrate a birthday party later that was to be held as soon as I got home. The flight ended up being delayed almost two hours and I had sat in the boarding area for almost three hours. Five minutes before the flight ended up departing, an Expressjet captain waltzes up to the podium and takes the jumpseat knowing I had been there for hours. There are rules for this sort of thing that were not followed but that is not the focus of this example. This captain knew I was a CAL guy and never gave me the courtesy of saying anything. I later talked to the captain working the flight who graciously allowed the use of a flight attendant jumpseat to get us both on. In fact, the working captain insisted the other guy sit in the FA jumpseat as he was also upset at what a jerk this guy had been and didn't want him in the cockpit.

This morning started out like this: As the captain working the flight, I walk down the jetway after my customary morning visit to Starbucks, and I see a black crew bag in the jetway with a name on it that I recognized as the captain who had two months earlier been so cavalier about taking the jumpseat from me. I smiled as I knew what was about to happen. Captain Joe we will call him, approached me with his hand extended, introduced himself and asked if he could occupy my jumpseat in order to get to work. I was his last option to make his trip.

I could not believe the opportunity I had to teach this young man a little bit about what it means to respect your fellow pilots. I asked him if he recognized me? He said I looked familiar but was not sure about where he had seen me before. I briefly re-familiarized him with the situation that had happened several months ago and you could see it in his face as he realized who I was. I knew he was thinking how else he was going to get to work or if he was going to miss his trip by not getting on my airplane. I decided to take the mature and teaching approach over throwing him off my airplane like I wanted to. I explained to him that I saw what he did to me as sneaky, mean and disrespectful. I told him I recognized that he had jumpseat priority up to ten minutes prior to departure, but since the plane was running almost two hours late I could of made an issue out of who was actually entitled to it, but chose not to . I just felt it was very unprofessional of him to handle things like he did. I told him that he had too many years to go in this business to start pissing on others as many would likely extract revenge on him if given the opportunity. He seemed genuinely sorry for our little issue and offered what I took as a sincere apology. I shook his hand and welcomed him aboard my airplane, got him a comfortable seat in the cabin and even got him to work 20 minutes early.
Hopefully he will remember that the next time he finds himself in a similar position as we had been in months earlier.

I suggest that as we go throughout our day, we take the time to recognize how important it is to treat each other with professionalism and respect. You just never know who will be working the flight that you really really need that jumpseat on!!!
 
calcapt said:
I suggest that as we go throughout our day, we take the time to recognize how important it is to treat each other with professionalism and respect. You just never know who will be working the flight that you really really need that jumpseat on!!!
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:yeahthat:

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Good job on your part. I hope I would have done the same...but who knows, sometimes emotions win over doing the right thing.
 
Is there a particular reason this is in the lav? I'd hate for such a good "learning" story to become lost in lav (non aviation) topics!!
 
You definitely catch more flies with honey, pardon the pun. If you did throw him out into the jetway, you've just made another enemy. He'll probably remember you and refuse you the jumpseat and the vicious cycle continues.

However, with the professionalism you demonstrated not only did you teach him a valuable lesson but you made sure that the outcome was amicable for both parties.
 
Kristie said:
Is there a particular reason this is in the lav? I'd hate for such a good "learning" story to become lost in lav (non aviation) topics!!
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Can someone move this thread to wherever it need to be moved? I am still a little fuzzy on the whole category thing. :confused:
 
Good story!

I've got a jumpseating ethics question. In commuting from BNA to ORD, I've often seen four or five jumpseaters listed for a flight. A lot of them--especially the older AA and United folks--will list, check in, and add themselves to jumpseat lists for three flights knowing they're only going to be getting on one...and then they won't call and remove themselves from the later flights if they get on an earlier one. This makes planning really difficult, because I'll often have a couple of the same guys checked in ahead of me for multiple flights, and I'll have no idea which flight is the best bet.

So is it ethical to get jumpseat authorization for multiple flights at once and then not cancel the rest once you get on a flight?
 
zmiller4 said:
So is it ethical to get jumpseat authorization for multiple flights at once and then not cancel the rest once you get on a flight?
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I don't know about ethical or not (I vote not), but usually it is spelled out in company regs. At Southernjets you are forbidden to book multiple jumpseats, and if it happens you will get a call from a chief pilot to explain yourself...


Kevin
 
It really just comes back to being courteous and professional. Yes, you should cancel any jumpseat requests / listings you won't be using. Unfortunately, there are pilots out there that don't care and will continue this bad habit. It is up to each of to educate those we work with on why this is so important in planning commutes.
 
It really just comes back to being courteous and professional. Yes, you should cancel any jumpseat requests / listings you won't be using. Unfortunately, there are pilots out there that don't care and will continue this bad habit. It is up to each of us to educate those we work with on why this is so important in planning commutes.
 
SeanD said:
Good story Cal. What would Velocipe have done in this situation. :sarcasm:;)
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I'll tell you what I would have done. CalCapt is a nice guy...too nice. What he did is called enabling. Because, I guarantee you the next time the initial circumstances are repeated, the Xjet jerk will do exactly the same thing. He'll take the jumpseat and the offline guy will be left holding the bag.

I would have told him the story and then invited him to pound sand. Toughlove, you might call it. But, CalCapt got the guy to nod his head, act contrite and still got the ride to work. In other words, he paid no penance for his bad behavior.

If CalCapt would have denied him, then he would have learned his lesson. The only lesson this jerk learned is that CalCapt can be abused and won't retaliate.

That's what I've learned about pilots in general. They are very non-confrontational.

I applaud CalCapt for his maganimaty. However, just as with dogs and kids, sometimes they learn better from suffering the consequences of their bad actions/judgment. I reiterate, if this bonehead had missed his trip, he would have learned a WHOLE lot more about jumpseat courtesy.
 
Velocipede said:
I'll tell you what I would have done. CalCapt is a nice guy...too nice. What he did is called enabling. Because, I guarantee you the next time the initial circumstances are repeated, the Xjet jerk will do exactly the same thing. He'll take the jumpseat and the offline guy will be left holding the bag.

I would have told him the story and then invited him to pound sand. Toughlove, you might call it. But, CalCapt got the guy to nod his head, act contrite and still got the ride to work. In other words, he paid no penance for his bad behavior.

If CalCapt would have denied him, then he would have learned his lesson. The only lesson this jerk learned is that CalCapt can be abused and won't retaliate.

That's what I've learned about pilots in general. They are very non-confrontational.

I applaud CalCapt for his maganimaty. However, just as with dogs and kids, sometimes they learn better from suffering the consequences of their bad actions/judgment. I reiterate, if this bonehead had missed his trip, he would have learned a WHOLE lot more about jumpseat courtesy.
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You've gotta be Catholic.

'Cause now listen, I know Catholics, 'cause I am Catholic and I used to have the same problem! But bro you gotta get with the real message and not all this unbridled punishment! People make mistakes man, we should take opportunities to educate and correct people instead of just punishing them.
 
And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who dissrepeck mah jumpseat! :)

Sorry, largely non sequitor to the conversation at hand, but Samuel Jackson quoting Ezekiel just sprang up in my head!
 
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