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.

.

.

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.