Airtran in CASS charging 25.00

[pipe]

Before you Trannys go throwing people off, you should remember that they don't have a copy of your FOM. They only know what the gate agent told them (present FI company excluded).

PIPE

 

[MINIME]

I'm a bigtime commuter, mostly on LUV. But I totally agree, you should come up and chat with the guys fee or no fee. It's simply a matter of common courtesy.

On a different note, is this policy expected to change soon? I know that NO Captain at Airtran in their right mind would ever want this policy. If able at all, can you give us an idea of what steps are being taken to rectify this situation? Is there anything that the rest of us can do through our MECs to help out?

 

[717capt]

Well we've pretty much beaten this one to death huh?

Just my 2cents on this one. Personally I don't give a sh!t one way or another if a jumpseater stops by to say hello while gettin on or leaving. If I can provide a ride to someone either knowingly or unknowingly, that's great. Maybe if you are an FFDO it might be nice to let us know you are on board. Some guys and gals that travel in the back in uniform work for carriers that buy them tickets to get them to where they need to be. flex jets, netjets, atlas, whatever.... Soem guys at Fedex even buy tickets on their own to commute back and forth to MEM. I certainly would not expect those folks to even give me the time of day let alone stop by and say hello, unless they want bigger seats in which case I am happy to oblige.
Some of you guys on this thread have been very critical about -9Capt and Ty. I personally know both of these guys and will be the first to tell you that you won't find more down to earth guys. I can say that about 90% of our guys/gals here at airtran. If you want a ride somewhere, were glad to have you. If your not the first jumpseater and find a rare gate agent that will actually charge the $25, again we're glad to have you as well. If your principals dictate that you won't pay the fee no matter what, then so be it. You won't hurt our feelings at all. with or without you, full or empty, the flight is still going to go.
To my airtran bretheren, just keep one thing in mind, all these folks want to do is get a ride, they are not applying for a mortgage.

 

[Pilotbob3]

How many cockpit jumpseats do the 737's have?

 

[Steeler Fan]

If the agent tells you to intro yourself to the Captain, and you don't, then don't whine if the Captain removes you from the flight.

Pipe, that's why I posted this. I don't expect you (anyone) to know our FOM.

If the commuter is told by the agent to introduce himself to the agent, and then blows it off, then that's a problem because he now knows what the deal is, and evidently doesn't give a crap.

If a guy says the agent didn't tell him/her to introduce themselves to the Capt, then I'm DEFINITELY NOT going postal on the commuter (unless he talks smack about my Steelers, then Fight's On!) I do want to know, so that I can help properly educate the gate agent.

Is it really that hard? I've commuted offline alot, and have made every effort to introduce myself to the Captain. On Superbowl Sunday, a Republic Pilot, another AirTran pilot, and I all sat in coach on Delta to get to the Burgh.

***We ALL introduced ourselves to the Captain. What's the problem? What exactly is the statement you're trying to make? Consider your target audience. Maybe if your CEO wrote a letter to our CEO it might go a little further than the Flightinfo SLAM FEST that we seem to perpetually revisit.

I've got to go shovel my driveway now. Commuters always welcome, and I'll do the best I can to help you (just please be nice).


GO STEELERS!!!

 

[side stick-n]

Well we've pretty much beaten this one to death huh?

Just my 2cents on this one. Personally I don't give a sh!t one way or another if a jumpseater stops by to say hello while gettin on or leaving. If I can provide a ride to someone either knowingly or unknowingly, that's great. Maybe if you are an FFDO it might be nice to let us know you are on board. Some guys and gals that travel in the back in uniform work for carriers that buy them tickets to get them to where they need to be. flex jets, netjets, atlas, whatever.... Soem guys at Fedex even buy tickets on their own to commute back and forth to MEM. I certainly would not expect those folks to even give me the time of day let alone stop by and say hello, unless they want bigger seats in which case I am happy to oblige.
Some of you guys on this thread have been very critical about -9Capt and Ty. I personally know both of these guys and will be the first to tell you that you won't find more down to earth guys. I can say that about 90% of our guys/gals here at airtran. If you want a ride somewhere, were glad to have you. If your not the first jumpseater and find a rare gate agent that will actually charge the $25, again we're glad to have you as well. If your principals dictate that you won't pay the fee no matter what, then so be it. You won't hurt our feelings at all. with or without you, full or empty, the flight is still going to go.
To my airtran bretheren, just keep one thing in mind, all these folks want to do is get a ride, they are not applying for a mortgage.

717capt, that's the best post on this topic I've seen. If I ever do try to jumpseat and am told I'll have to pay $25 to do so, I may or may not accept the offer. If I accept it, I will most definitely say hello up front. That's out of professional courtesy. My point is that once you start charging a person for a seat on your airplane, he/she becomes REVENUE. It doesn't matter if it's a FedEx guy that buys a full fare ticket or a AA guy that buys a reduced rate, jumpseat, pass rider, what ever you want to call it ticket. You pay; you're not a non-rev and I don't believe you should fall into the same requirements as someone getting a free ride. The idea of begging for a ride after you've had to buy it sounds like an oxymoron. What difference does it make if I buy a $25 pass through my pass bureau and the same at the gate after the jumpseats are gone?

I say all of this after dealing with a similar setup. We, as you know, take unlimited pilot jumpseaters and charge nothing. We used to do the same with FA’s. We now charge $25 to FA jumpseaters that don’t have a reciprocal agreement with our FA’s. I make it very clear that I expect to see all OAL jumpseaters. However, if it is a $25 pass rider, they should NOT be considered a jumpseater and should NOT be required to introduce themselves to me. If they ask to, I say hello and apologize for the $25 fee.

 

[Indy refugee]

That is correct. All forms of non-rev other than jumpseaters need not check in w/the capt. All jumpseaters, however, do... even you paid the $25 at the gate.

But Ty says there only one jumpseater and everyone else is a $25 pass.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

If you really thought that, then you would certainly say it to our faces when you're requesting a ride, instead of posting it anonymously, like some sort of gutless weasel.

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I have and will continue to do so...

 

[ReverseSensing]

I appreciate everyone's effort at clarification.

Obviously, I was not suggesting that one should "blow-off" agent instructions to check-in with the CA when riding a $25 walk-up pass. That may be a little industry-non-standard, but so be it.

So while we're all getting educated about quirky policies, here's Horizon's:

If you are jumpseating (unlimited) and the gate agent assigns you a seat in the back (no CA notification/approval and no forms anymore), please take your seat in the back when your row boards. If you like, after the flight on the way out, stop up front and pay your respects. Or not -- because we probably won't have any idea you're back there, and probably don't really care.

Welcome aboard!

 

[captainj]

we need to stop the 25$ charge any way we can even if that is to go to only 1 jumpseater and the rest can get the next flight.

 

[Lear70]

we need to stop the 25$ charge any way we can even if that is to go to only 1 jumpseater and the rest can get the next flight.

Speak for yourself.

I'm sure there's quite a few lurkers on here who, while hating the $25 fee, would rather pay it and catch the last flight home than go sit in the Welsley or other such Fleabag hotel away from home in ATL for $40 plus tax.

We'll get it fixed eventually. Until then, a $25 pass beats a hotel night away from home every day of the week.

Been there, done that, with 3 different airlines as a commuter since 1998.

 

[bestpilot]

Speak for yourself.

I'm sure there's quite a few lurkers on here who, while hating the $25 fee, would rather pay it and catch the last flight home than go sit in the Welsley or other such Fleabag hotel away from home in ATL for $40 plus tax.

We'll get it fixed eventually. Until then, a $25 pass beats a hotel night away from home every day of the week.

Been there, done that, with 3 different airlines as a commuter since 1998.

Word up Lear Duuude! Dat force izz strong wit dat one! Yoo da man wit da plany fer da Tranny!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AWWWWW YYYEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

 

[Britpilot]

How many cockpit jumpseats do the 737's have?

Some have two, some have one.

 

[Ty Webb]

I have and will continue to do so...

Not likely. Most of us are very friendly to jumpseaters, but have little patience for clods that are stupid enough to complain to an amployee about a management directive.

You must not be very bright . . . . kind of like the passenger that wants to tell you about the time that some ther airline with a similar-sounding name lost their bag, or denied them boarding after departure time, when they could still see the airplane through the window . . . .

If you start that crap with me, you'll find yourself collecting a refund from the agent and waving bye-bye from the terminal.

Thank you, have a nice day . . . .somewhere else!

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[Dirty Sanchez]

Not likely. Most of us are very friendly to jumpseaters, but have little patience for clods that are stupid enough to complain to an amployee about a management directive.

You must not be very bright . . . . kind of like the passenger that wants to tell you about the time that some ther airline with a similar-sounding name lost their bag, or denied them boarding after departure time, when they could still see the airplane through the window . . . .

If you start that crap with me, you'll find yourself collecting a refund from the agent and waving bye-bye from the terminal.

Thank you, have a nice day . . . .somewhere else!

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I apologize if there was some confusion. It is you that would be waving "bye-bye". Here are a few examples of those denied MY jumpseat with the included conversation from earlier:
1. FedEx pilots when they were not accepting jumpseaters
2. (Until recently) a Delta pilot second in line for the jumpseat
3. An Airtran pilot second in line (unless they pay me $25)

Most of the time I am friendly to the jumpseater (even a yes-man like yourself); however I have no tolerance for a lack of reciprocity.

 

[Lowrider717]

This is exactly what has been going on. -9capt is the first Tranny guy I've heard actually admit they're charging for the jumpseat. (thanks for telling it strait). Most the others on the board try to claim it's a pass, but still insist you have to present your jumpseating creds. and check in with the captain. You can't have it both ways.

"Putting paint on dogsht" is what I call it. It might look a lil better a different color but it still smells and tastes the same. Call a spade a spade. Semantics. Wasted arguments.

Common courtesy,paid ticket or free ride, dictates you introduce yourself to at least the lead(she can inform the capt. an additional airline crewmember, who could be useful in an emergency, is on board.) and after you intro yourself to the lead, you can ask him/her to see the Capt. and intro yourself to him/her. Just common courtesy.

 

[Contract]

What we really should do is get all of our Jumpseat Committees together across the nation and try and iron out this problem of different policies. As someone earlier said, the Jumpseat Policies should be moving forward in our favor and not backwards against us. I could not agree more with that just as I believe our Pay and Work Rules should be moving forward.

We really should do something that helps the entire industry. Everyone on this board should call their respective reps. and initiate a unilateral agreement for all carriers to follow.

If one carrier refuses to go with the majority rule on this new policy then they will not be allowed to have reciprocity on any of the combined airlines belonging to this new group. What do you guys think about that solution?

Remember, its an intangible for the airline and very tangible for us. If the seats empty we should have it. ( Now watch, some "brada from anata mata" is going to tell me about increased fuel cost for the extra jumpseaters).

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Go ahead, numbnutts . . . . after all jumpseats are filled, offer me a walk-up pass for $25. Then put me up in business and get me home. There were plenty of times in the last 5 years I got left behind as a Delta plane taxied off with empty seats and a $25. pass beats a $48. room at the Wellesley every time.

My desire to change the policy has declined greatly over the past few years after reading all the ungrateful S.O.B.'s whining and crying about it. I'm not willing to give up anything in our contract negptiations in exchange for a benefit for people who so clearly won't appreciate it.


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Ty-

While I haven't read this entire thread as I suffer from ADD, maybe next time an Airtran pilot wants a jumpseat on my plane I should charge him/her $25.

DL, UA, AS and others have unlimited jumpseats now! Has any Airtran pilot ever jumpseated in a cabin seat when he/she was second in line for the jumpseat? I understood this policy when Airtran pilots were getting left behind with empty seats in the cabin, but now, with these carriers and others not charging for multiple jumpseaters, do you really think it is fair to charge the $25? And, if it beats a $48 room, maybe YOU should suggest to your management to up the jumpseat charge to $47.50...beats the $48 room every time!!!

Maybe flying with all those Eastern scabs has finally rubbed off on you.

GP

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Not likely. Most of us are very friendly to jumpseaters, but have little patience for clods that are stupid enough to complain to an amployee about a management directive.


Thank you, have a nice day . . . .somewhere else!

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I'd complain to YOU, because YOU support this management directive.

How 'bout every airline start charging Airtran pilots when they are second in line for the jumpseat?

You've said that you don't want to have this changed if it has to be negotiated (I'm paraphrasing). If other airlines DID charge for a second jumpseater (only IF it were an Airtran pilot), would you THEN support a change if this helped out your fellow Airtran brethren?

GP

 

[Steeler Fan]

I apologize if there was some confusion. It is you that would be waving "bye-bye". Here are a few examples of those denied MY jumpseat with the included conversation from earlier:
1. FedEx pilots when they were not accepting jumpseaters
2. (Until recently) a Delta pilot second in line for the jumpseat
3. An Airtran pilot second in line (unless they pay me $25)

Most of the time I am friendly to the jumpseater (even a yes-man like yourself); however I have no tolerance for a lack of reciprocity.

Who do you work for?

So what you're saying is that you're personally declared jumpseat war against 1, 2, and 3. Out of those 3, only AirTran is on your hit list. Nice.

So in order for a Second AirTran pilot to ride on your airplane, you personally charge $25 (or deny them a seat). What do you do with the money?