RIP US Airways jumpseat procedures

so does this mean no international jumpseat on any AA/USAirways flights now with US adopting AA's jumpseat policies?
 
I've had a couple of hilarious impasses.

A "due diligence " phone call and sit back and enjoy the show. The fun ones to watch are the events where people are being particularly obstinant and the results of you not getting on the airplane are particularly dire for the company.

The resulting stink-eye beams of doom bounces harmlessly off my righteous shields of correctness.

Richman
 
I would be remiss if I didn't remind people the NWA policy was pretty uber as well. Basically the same as the USAir Policy, and with the bonus for pilots that you could book it 10 days out, and with an open architecture so there were plenty of automated programs that you could set and forget to book the JS for you.

Hopefully both programs are enjoying their time in Sto-vo-kor

Richman
 
ERfly said:
What I've learned so far in this merger is that American can f'up a wet dream.

I wish you all the best of luck. American AAgents have never been jumpseat friendly. If I'm working the flight, I'll keep an eye out for you. I'll make sure I pull up the JetAAway app and see if there are any D6JUs listed and scan the gate area.
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Guy I'm with this week got called to the CP's office after being "written up" (what is that anyway?) for asking an agent if she got all the non-revs on. CP said it was akin to the agent asking us if we have enough fuel.

No, I couldn't make that up. Guy had to come in and talk to the CP for that.

It was an AA agent.
 
wheelsup said:
Guy I'm with this week got called to the CP's office after being "written up" (what is that anyway?) for asking an agent if she got all the non-revs on. CP said it was akin to the agent asking us if we have enough fuel.

No, I couldn't make that up. Guy had to come in and talk to the CP for that.

It was an AA agent.
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There's not more to it than that?
 
wheelsup said:
Guy I'm with this week got called to the CP's office after being "written up" (what is that anyway?) for asking an agent if she got all the non-revs on. CP said it was akin to the agent asking us if we have enough fuel.

No, I couldn't make that up. Guy had to come in and talk to the CP for that.

It was an AA agent.
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Good grief, I would live in that chief pilots office.

I always ask then give them the "Larry David" stare.
 
wheelsup said:
Guy I'm with this week got called to the CP's office after being "written up" (what is that anyway?) for asking an agent if she got all the non-revs on. CP said it was akin to the agent asking us if we have enough fuel.
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A write up is basically a complaint. Pilots do the same thing to gate agents and other work groups over similar small, silly grievances.
 
What kind of person complains about that? I've been working my entire adult life and I don't believe I've ever complained to a boss about anyone.
 
Remember, this airline now runs on D+0! That is the ONLY thing that matters! D+0. Get that door closed at D-10 and get D+0!
 
And of course, right after this D+0 nonsense was introduced to the nAAtives, we had AAgents in ORD deciding on their own that if closing the door 10 prior was good, 15 or 20 prior is great (or Superior)! They were leaving behind half the revenue.
 
ERfly said:
And of course, right after this D+0 nonsense was introduced to the nAAtives, we had AAgents in ORD deciding on their own that if closing the door 10 prior was good, 15 or 20 prior is great (or Superior)! They were leaving behind half the revenue.
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People, in any industry, lose sight of why they're there.
 
Derg said:
People, in any industry, lose sight of why they're there.
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It's pretty crazy, and outside looking in it can seem ridiculous. But, So much of their job is on time departure. It's like their religion, their faith, their reason for being. Taken in that sense it's easy to see how their job is to close the door 10 prior, and not to facilitate people's travels.
 
wheelsup said:
Guy I'm with this week got called to the CP's office after being "written up" (what is that anyway?) for asking an agent if she got all the non-revs on. CP said it was akin to the agent asking us if we have enough fuel.

No, I couldn't make that up. Guy had to come in and talk to the CP for that.

It was an AA agent.
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I have, in fact, had gate agents ask me that many times.

They're really asking if the fueler showed up, and whether they need to start making phone calls. It's incredibly courteous of them to ask and makes the operation move a lot faster when everyone is looking out.
 
poser765 said:
It's pretty crazy, and outside looking in it can seem ridiculous. But, So much of their job is on time departure. It's like their religion, their faith, their reason for being. Taken in that sense it's easy to see how their job is to close the door 10 prior, and not to facilitate people's travels.
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It's true, especially for regionals where basically you are reminded daily that you could have your job given away to another contract company, and if a plane leaves even a minute late you have to have someone write a statement why etc. The mindset seems to be that the ground personnel has to rush crew at all times to get out as fast as physically possible, to me it just leaves the door open to mistakes being made that can be very costly. Having been a gate agent, I can respect the annoying pressure contract companies are under as they want 50 million things done all while giving them 25 minutes to completely turn a plane and so help me god if we take a delay.
 
Blackhawk said:
My one gate agent horror story.
First, I pulled my bid back for the CRJ as it was obvious my Guard unit would be mobilized and I would probably deploy before finishing IOE. Also the class would fall in the middle of my vacation over the summer and the wife wanted us to go to the beach as a family before I deployed.
A few months later I get word that I've been awarded the CRJ. Obviously a mistake. I call the CP and tell him I pulled my bid back several months ago. He agrees and says he will take care of it.
Next day he calls- company says I have to go to class in the middle of my old vacation- which I now lose. I explain to him about my deployment, that the company will be wasting money on me. He calls back a little later- company does not care.
I call the union. Explain the situation, the vacation, how I will probably deploy during IOE or soon after, so it's a waste of money. They say that's wrong and they will get it fixed.
Next day they call me back. We are in contract negotiations and the company is playing hardball. I have to go to the course, but if I grieve it I will most likely win. Unfortunately with the grievance process it won't work through the system until after I have finished IOE. Then the company will let me go back to the ATR, but I would have to go through a refresher course.

Great. So I can only be with my family for the vacation Friday after class to Sunday night. Only one flight to the beach from ATL, but it's on our metal. The day prior I list for the JS.
Friday the instructor takes pity on me and releases me early. I get to the gate 45 minutes prior to check in. Gate agent says there is already a JS'er. I point out that I have the JS reserved so unless the guy has priority over me per the FOM the JS is mine. The other pilot is mainline, so it's mine. Lady says to come back 15 prior and she will take care of it. Twenty prior I see the mainline pilot board. I go to the agent and ask about it. She says I was not at the gate so she gave the JS to him. I point out that we are 20 minutes prior and she can't give it away until 15 prior as I had it reserved. Also I was in the gate areas the entire time and already checked in. She tells me too bad. I have a SIDA badge, so I start to go down the jet way to talk to the captain. Gate agent shouts at me that if I go down the jet way she will call the airport police and have me arrested. I figure fine, I'll go down a different gate and tell the captain. She sees me walking away and tells me if she sees me anywhere close to the airplane she will call the police.
I try calling JS coordinator, no response. I call CP. No response. Airplane pushes back. Now my predeployment 7 day vacation that was cut down to 2 1/2 days is now less than two days. Great. Wife is... upset.
I finally find a red coat and explain what happened. She is dumbfounded. Surely I'm exaggerating. She confronts the gate agent who pretty much corroborates what I said. Now red coat is pissed. CP calls me and I explain what happened. He is really, really po'ed. He was the type of CP who would chew out pilots, but heaven help someone who messed with HIS pilots. Also did an unusual occurrence report.
Bottom line. I found out a few days later that the gate agent was fired. It was not the first time something like this happened.
Oh, a week after I finished IOE I was mobilized and was gone for 18 months. When I returned I had to go through the entire CRJ course all over again.
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Damn man...that is seriously messed up. It sucks when the stars align not in your favor.
 
Anyone have any stories from the past week? I almost got left behind on my own airline because the agent couldn't get the ticket to print and "We gotta close the door". Luckily the captains said board anyway and I ended up getting a seat anyway since the agent decided enough non-revs had boarded.

My advice, get there soon. check in often and watch the standby list. These agents don't have a clue what they are doing and combine that with the "on-time at any cost" attitude you'll get left behind.
 
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