RIP US Airways jumpseat procedures

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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Wow. Just.....wow. I would have walked down the net bridge and told her "you had better call the police. You're going to need them."
 
skyw82 said:
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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I hope you sent a Debrief into the Jumpseat Committee!
 
mshunter said:
Wow. Just.....wow. I would have walked down the net bridge and told her "you had better call the police. You're going to need them."
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BobDDuck said:
A United gate agent did that in Denver a few years ago and they arrested the captain.
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Bob is right. That's a good way to lose your SIDA privileges. Not sure about your place of employment, but where I work, this is one of the few ways to get terminated. Shame to give up a multi million $$ career over something that in the end is so trivial.
 
Cptnchia said:
Bob is right. That's a good way to lose your SIDA privileges. Not sure about your place of employment, but where I work, this is one of the few ways to get terminated. Shame to give up a multi million $$ career over something that in the end is so trivial.
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I didn't think you could loose your SIDA privileges for something like that.
 
Cptnchia said:
It's a SIDA violation. Just because you have a badge doesn't mean you can go down any time you want. It doesn't give you unfettered access any time you want.
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No, I get that. You need to have a purpose to use it. I just figured that it would be a legitimate reason. Seeing that it's the company I would work for in this case, and wanting to speak with a pilot who is a coworker.
 
mshunter said:
No, I get that. You need to have a purpose to use it. I just figured that it would be a legitimate reason. Seeing that it's the company I would work for in this case, and wanting to speak with a pilot who is a coworker.
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The problem is you're trying to incorporate logic into the issue. Why, after passing a background check, getting checked at security/KCM, signing in, do I then have to get my ID checked again, before being allowed to board the plane I'm going to fly?

It's the TSA/DHS. I doesn't have to make sense or be logical.
 
ERfly said:
I hope you sent a Debrief into the Jumpseat Committee!
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Things are VERY different on the Delta side. Delta agents are extremely protected. Additionally, our ability to hold agent's accountable is pretty laughable. Re: My issue with Columbia above-wing agents a number of months ago. Agents use strategic ambiguity to maintain their power and control over the commuting pilot. Until we know all we can possibly know about their handy-dandy computer system, we will be at a disadvantage.

Fortunately with technology a lot of the JS reserved issues have been resolved (electronic listing on own-metal). Unfortunately for @Blackhawk, it wasn't working out at the time (and for the agent's clear "Same team" mentality that would leave a sour taste in any commuting pilot's mouth when his own JS is taken in violation of FOM policy).

One avenue that our company needs to implement IMMEDIATELY is the Duty Pilot position that is staffed by an experienced pilot who is versed in the FOM and CBA who can handle these sorts of JS issues IMMEDIATELY by contacting the operating Captain by phone. While a phone call to a dispatcher likely would have resulted in fixing the Delta agent's screw up, we can not be quite too sure. We do have an on-call CP now, but even that may take some time before a response is received.

mshunter said:
No, I get that. You need to have a purpose to use it. I just figured that it would be a legitimate reason. Seeing that it's the company I would work for in this case, and wanting to speak with a pilot who is a coworker.
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Boom. Legitimate enough for me. Or how about that nav light that needs to be looked at again...it was flickering and then extinguished on its own. Oh, BTW - Hatwear right here, yeah, he really shouldn't be up here...you see I'm also trying to get to the beach...oh i know right?...oh awesome...yeah, lemme go look at that light again - you stay their FO BroDude...Oh!? Really? Awesome, thanks for the ride Captain, glad we got the light figured out - guess my eyes were playing tricks on me.

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The reality that exists in this situation is that every pilot needs to be aware of the fact that unless it's your metal, you do not have priority over someone who actually operates that metal or works for the metal owner. Them the facts Jack, even if you don't like it Mr. Angry Mainline Pilot Attempting to Take an Express Jumpseat ahead of Express Pilot BroDude. I realize as a pilot for a Company YOUR Company has contracted service with that I do not have priority over your own Company's pilots...it would be nice if you would show the same courtesy instead of giving gruff when I show up for my JS I've had reserved for 48 hours.
 
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