Delta/ASA travel benefits

[DAL737FO]

I think you may have misunderstood some things from your JSC (Craig I assume you mean). First Skywest Inc management did not ask for the new gate computers software that uses this "flow back", nor did they ask for these fees. Second, DCI has had a higher priority over OAL's since I have been here (Skywest) so that was nothing gained. Last the person I have been talking to had this to say in his latest email to me:

"Based on a meeting with corporate ticking and ACS folks, this is what I was told. Charges were not made in December because no mechanism was in place to do so. I believe charges started occurring January 1 but I am not certain.

I did learn that the whole program is being looked at and may be altered. I do not know any more information regarding changes.

As far as software implementation if the program still requires it; I have been given no guarantees other than it will most likely take several months to implement."



The software he (Delta management) is speaking of had to do with a change to the flowback priority which would eliminate the charge when it occurs to a DCI pilots (currently Skywest and ASA are the only DCI getting charged) jumpseating. It would change a jumpseating pilot to an S3(D?) which would keep them higher than an OAL, but lower than a passrider (who is paying the segment fee), and would eliminate the charge to jumpseat. I was told Delata did not want to implement the software changes during the holidays, but now we are talking months (if at all).



The reason you are not seeing any posts with a date, and flight number and $$$$ is because it went into effect Jan 1st and has not gone on anyones payroll deduct yet. It's coming though, and it is not fair to charge DCI for a jumpseat to/from work while OAL's are not charged....simply because of a software glitch. DAL pilots need to put the pressure on to get it fixed. DCI pilots will put as much pressure as we can from our end, but our management says "it's Delta's program, and they handed it to us. There isn't anything we can do about it."



Hope this clears it up for you.

I will cut and paste this post and forward it to Craig. Hopefully no one gets charged anything. If they do it does need to be documented. I will say that a "jumpseat war" will end badly all the way around.

 

[John Pennekamp]

Still not one date or flight number. It sounds to me like someone just likes stirring the pot, Oh I forgot this is the FI board. Guys we can't do anything about you guys being charged for non rev, that was a decision by management. We can do something about IF you are getting charged when you flow back to cabin seat through the jumpseat flow back agreement. We need information though and not just I heard through an FO that his cousin was charged. We need a date and flight number so we can pull the flight and forward it to our jumpseat coordinator. Additionally I hope that if this happens to you that you call your JS coordinator immediately, not just run to the nearest computer to rant on a forum.

As stated many times, the pass charges have been postponed to Jan 15, for now. If it actually goes into effect, we probably WILL have dates and flights for you. But as of now, nobody has yet been charged.

The bigger problem is the "attitude" we're getting from Delta gate agents telling us they own every seat on the airplane, and they will decide who sits on it. On the AS message board there are lots of stories emerging from ASA pilots using S3 on an ASA flight who were boarded (or denied boarding) after S3C Delta employees. There are also stories of Delta agents refusing to give ASA pilots the jumpseat on ASA flights.

 

[IronCityBlue]

There are also stories of Delta agents refusing to give ASA pilots the jumpseat on ASA flights.

That's when you carry a sign with you "Pilot denied jumpseat by gate agent" and show to the outbound crew. Captains, you know what to do when you see that. Enough said.

 

[DAL737FO]

As stated many times, the pass charges have been postponed to Jan 15, for now. If it actually goes into effect, we probably WILL have dates and flights for you. But as of now, nobody has yet been charged.

The bigger problem is the "attitude" we're getting from Delta gate agents telling us they own every seat on the airplane, and they will decide who sits on it. On the AS message board there are lots of stories emerging from ASA pilots using S3 on an ASA flight who were boarded (or denied boarding) after S3C Delta employees. There are also stories of Delta agents refusing to give ASA pilots the jumpseat on ASA flights.

Well not to make light of the subject but we feel your pain there. I got done early last rotation and looked on the jumpseat page of DBMS to see if an earlier jumpseat was available. The next flight, which didn't leave for another hour, had a jumpseat reservation of DLO so I figure I'm hosed by the FAA or something. Well as it turns out the gate agent went ahead and checked in a Freedom airlines pilot an hour early. What that did was take that jumpseat out of the VRU if someone had called to reserve the seat. They find new and inventive ways to hose things up all the time. A lot of the times they aren't meaning to it just happens.

You have to remember that they see overbooked flights on a daily basis. Flights that they couldn't get on if they tried, now up comes a pilot, maybe even a new hire, and gets on the flight via the jumpseat. It doesn't make them happy. They had a long thread about this when we had an internal Delta company web board. They, meaning gate agents, wanted access to the cockpit and flight attendant jumpseats.

 

[IronCityBlue]

You have to remember that they see overbooked flights on a daily basis. Flights that they couldn't get on if they tried, now up comes a pilot, maybe even a new hire, and gets on the flight via the jumpseat. It doesn't make them happy. They had a long thread about this when we had an internal Delta company web board. They, meaning gate agents, wanted access to the cockpit and flight attendant jumpseats.

Gate agents and FA's deserve the cockpit jumpseat. They just have to become pilots first. I've always savored any opportunity to "educate" gate agents and FA's on that every time they bring it up.