Coming home on your own airline

[T-prop]

I was JSing on mothership down to work. I coudn't have been more courteous or respectful when I introduced myself to the CA. He immediately went into a tantrum about how a flowback buddy of his is getting treated by our jet F.O.'s. I apologized and agreed with him. He went back to talk to the FA about a seat for me. When I went back there was 10 open seats in 1st, I turned and politely asked the pursor if there were any open seats in the front..."Um, HOW ABOUT IN THE BACK." was her response.

The captain didn't have the balls or the professionalism to tell me to sit in the back, he had to hide behind his FA! All of this happened after we discussed how unprofessional pilots can be toward eachother. I wouldn't have minded if he told me face to face like a man.

After the flight I walked up to him with a smile, shook his hand and said, "thanks for the ride" to demonstrate how to be a professional. Somehow, I don't think he got the point.

 

[Flechas]

And to think that everytime that mothership pilots jumpseats with us we gieve them first class!!

 

[T-prop]

And they never have to sit in between anyone either!!

 

[lowlycfi]

FWIW, I always treat non-revs and jumpseaters better than the paying passengers. Sorry you had a bad experience. There's no excuse for treating any pax like that.

 

[AutoCars Armed]

What crap are they about to go through?

All the labor crap they are about to go though. I.e NWA hiring backup (scab) FA's. Mx Furgloughs etc

 

[FlyboyPhil]

It all depends on the day and the person. Usually I get good service, especially from the flight attendants. Its the gate agents that can be a bear at times. I have had great service from most of them. In all my non-reving I have had two gate agents with attitude. One was from my own airline and after admitting I was late and asking nicely if she could sneak me on the JS for an observation flight(I just ran from the FTD after being abused for 4 hours) she took my ID number and called her manager trying to get me in trouble.. guess someone peed in her cheerios that morning. An Alaska gate agent who I smiled at and treated well tried to tell me we didnt have a JS agreement with Alaska and I was out of luck.. this was in a city in Alaska only served by them.. I jumpseated in a few days before and know my company has 5 or 6 pilots who go home to visit on occasion.. after my supplication she finally relented and "found" my airline. That is completely balanced out by them putting me, my pregnant wife and 7 year old daughter in first class this last time up and the great FAs there.
Thats a couple experiences out of over 100 jumpseats.. just let it roll off your back.. everyone has a bad day some day.. though some people have more.. you could have reminded her of her Ex or something!
P.S. all time best treatment is Frontier.. great pilots/FAs and ran up to their gate once with less than 5 minutes to departure, the jetway door was closed. I flashed my id and got on.. they always treat me like I own the place!

 

[Snakum]

She was totally out of control.

C'mon man ... what'd ya do to her? You grab dat azz er sump'n? You done sump'n man!

Any of us whove been married will tell you ... women never go ballistic for absolutely no reason.

D)

Minh

 

[Pilot877]

One other question I struggled with...

Should I have pulled the captain aside after the flight and let him know what's going on with the flight attendant? (She literally was yelling at me in front of passengers while I was in uniform) I never really have a feel for what constitutes something they need to be aware of or how they'd react.

Yeah, on one of the very few occasions that I was treated poorly by a F/A (on Delta), I let the Captain know, and he actually told me that he was fed up with her attitude, as this was not the first time she had treated pilots (DAL included) poorly. He said that no jumpseater should ever be treated poorly by a flight attendant and that he was going to fix her a$$ as soon as the passengers deplaned. The F/O chimed in that he thought she was nasty as well. They were both tired of carting that shriveled old prune around.

Well, whatever happened after I got off the plane, it still felt good to complain. I really appreciate a ride home, but just because the seat is free doesn't mean that the cabin crew can dump on you.

 

[Bluto]

Any of us whove been married will tell you ... women never go ballistic for absolutely no reason.

D)

Minh

See that's where you're wrong Minh. They may come up with a reason afterward, but they frequently go off for no reason.

 

[248to2.8]

I had the best experience on NWA JS out of Winnipeg. My Finace had a ticket in the back, and after checking in with the crew they gave me a seat up front. I asked if I would be able to sit with her somewhere, not asking for the front. The FA immediatly went back and brought her up to the front to sit with me. However the gate agent threw a hissy fit about that and said it couldn't be done. Now I felt bad about causing a prob. The Capt asked what the problem was. After the FA told him the GA was being a bitch, he kicked her off, closed the door, and let us sit in First. If you were the flight crew and are reading this, Thanks so much. Didn't want to cause trouble.