-9Capt said:
Was his name Thornton G. Gillins?
We had a few guys denied the J/S by him in the passed. He's a DAL MD88 skipper.
OK, I was just reading this post and not going to post my experience but that name just made my jaw drop.
When I was first hired (about 6 years ago), I jumpseated for the first time on DL. I was trying to go through ATL from an outstation. It was a station that had two very early departures on DL within an hour and fifteen minutes of each other. I missed the jumpseat on the first flight by a couple of minutes to an ASA guy, which was fine. So, I went to the next gate and asked about the JS on the next DL flight.
The gate agents gives the OK and tells me to go ahead and go down in the middle of the boarding process to talk to the crew. I was going to wait until the end, but she was insistent so that I could store my bags if I was OK'd.
So I walk down the jetway in uniform and stand by the door. The lead FA sees me and gives a very warm, "Good morning!" I say, "Morning. I'm ***** and just wondering if I might be able to talk with the captain to catch a ride?" She leans in to tell the captain, looks back out and I hear, "Express I believe." She leans out of the aircraft and says, "Go ahead and good luck."
I walk in with my ID, pilot and medical certificates out. I introduce myself to the crew. The FO was very friendly, but the CA turns to me and says, "Can't you JS on your own airline?" I told him I could but that the first flight out of the city wasn't until almost noon making a connection in EWR and since it was completely booked I just wanted to get home ASAP so I was in place for my reserve call window the next day. He says, "So what? You can't jumpseat on your own airline?" I said, "It doesn't look good." He turns and says, "Well, you better hope there is a seat in the cabin because you are not welcome on my jumpseat." The FO gives me this look of "I'm sorry" and I step out onto the jetway.
The FA steps off the airplane and says to me, "So can you ride with us?" I advised her I could ride along if there was a seat in the cabin. She asked if I would be allowed in the cockpit and I told her the captain specifically stated I could only get on if there was a cabin seat in the back. When she asked why I couldn't sit up front, I told her doesn't matter and he is the captain and is in charge so I am not rocking the boat. Her expression was one of amazement and just said, "You are not sitting in the back. We have two first class seats open and you will get one of them if there are no last minute upgrades."
So we stand there for a few minutes more and she leans into the cockpit and hear her ask, "So if we're full can he sit up here?" I didn't hear his end but heard her ask, "Why?" Then she comes out into the jetway and says, "He won't let you jumpseat because he says you are a scab and he lost too much money during the 83-85 strike to have one of your types riding in the jumpseat. I explained that you couldn't have been out of junior high during that time and you are Express, but he insisted anyone under the Continental banner is a scab." My jaw dropped.
I waited until the end and managed to get a seat back in coach after they upgraded two to first class. No big deal since I was happy to be going home.
During the flight the lead comes to talk to me and is so apologetic about being treated so badly. She explains this was a four-day trip with that captain and he had denied a UPS, UAL and USAirways pilots the jumpseat and I was lucky even to get on. The FO and FAs had gotten together and decided to tell the guy off at the end of the trip because he treated people with such disrespect. She then handed me a piece of paper and said, "Here is the information you might need should you decide to do anything with it."
I didn't know what she meant (it was months later that I found out there was a jumpseat committee at most airlines). I looked at the paper and it had on it the name of the captain, his base and his aircraft.
The name on the paper was "T***** G******." I believe we are talking about the same guy. I have never been treated with such disrespect by anyone since. I'll remember that name for the rest of my life.
