FA Jumpseating???

[Flying-Corporal]

Would you deny boarding to a flight attendant that jumpseats because she never introduced him/herself to the captain?

I noticed on a few occasions that mainline flight attendants from other carriers don't bother going to the flight deck. They're easy to spot since they are (unlike pilots) required to travel in uniforms.

 

[moscowcfi]

Maybe the rules are different at our company, but I didn't think they were able to jumpseat (I understand that you mean in the cabin). Do you mean deadhead or non-rev? We usually don't see either of those categories up-front unless there is an issue.

 

[PSPFAWILL]

OO has 26 reciprocal F/A jumpseat agreements. They are not required to check inwith the flight deck, but must introduce themselves the the "A" Flight Attendant.

 

[mckpickle]

OO has 26 reciprocal F/A jumpseat agreements. They are not required to check inwith the flight deck, but must introduce themselves the the "A" Flight Attendant.

That really bugs me because it is usurping the captains authority. I would and have denied FA's from jumpseating because of dress code and not introducing and ASKING for the professional courtesy of my jumpseat. BTW, what airline is OO?

 

[hobbsmeter]

"OO" is Skywest I believe.

 

[Flying-Corporal]

By jumpseating I meant riding in the back.

I just had a very professional and friendly JetBlue FA walk into the flight deck and introduce himself. He handed me a FA jumpseating slip which specifically instructed to give it to the captain.

I have seen other FA ride on my plane on different occasions. I believe it was Delta mainline FAs traveling in uniform but they never stopped by. I assume the policy is the same for all FA jumpseaters since they all fill out the same form.

It seems to me too harsh to show the door to those who don't stop by. However, if mainline pilots ask to jumpseat why would FA ignore that rule?

BTW, I fly for US Airways Express carrier.

 

[bg1686]

Jumpseating Procedures

I work for a regional airline and we do not allow FAs from other airlines to jumpseat. I was under the impression that all 121 carriers were like this (except Jet Blue). Correct me if I'm wrong. As far as denying the jumpseat to ANYONE that is elligible...Many captains (I am referring to my airline), are under the impression that it is "their" jumpseat to give away. This is true only to a certain extent. It is true that according to the FARs, that the captain of a flight DOES have the authority to deny anyone access to the cockpit. Having said that, IF you deny access to someone, you better be able to back up your reasons for doing so...and the fact that someone didn't introduce themselves properly doesn't cut it! In addition to that, technically, the captain only has to authorize a jumpseater who will actually be sitting IN the cockpit...Anything else (i.e. "jumpseating" in the cabin) isn't technically jumpseating, but rather a courtesy extended by the company to our pilots and other 121 pilots.

EXAMPLE: (This was an actual personal experience of mine) A captain who does not like me for personal reasons outside of work, denied me the jumpseat on an aircraft that only had 19 out of 50 seats filled. I was not rude to him and I requested the jumpseat in "text book" form. Because of this, I was not able to make it to work on time and subsequently recieve a "missed-trip". When I was called into the Chief Pilot's office, I was forced to explain why I had not made it to work on time. My "missed-trip" was immediately taken off of my record and the captain in question, was called in for a meeting with the chiefs to explain to him that the jumpseat was indeed NOT his to deny to someone, unless that person was percieved to be a threat to the safety of the flight, and if he were to deny someone for that reason, there better be a good explanation. The reason could not be that he didn't like the person requesting the jumpseat. As a result, this captain recieved a letter of warning in his employee file (and not his first, by the way).

Now, having said all of that, it IS customary, and a gesture of respect, to introduce yourself properly, and ASK the captain of a flight if he would mind allowing you to jumpseat on HIS/HER flight. Someone who does not follow these procedures would be considered to be "disrespectful", and would most definately not be afforded any "extra" consideration if the W&B was going to be close.

Just some food for thought.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

That really bugs me because it is usurping the captains authority. I would and have denied FA's from jumpseating because of dress code and not introducing and ASKING for the professional courtesy of my jumpseat. BTW, what airline is OO?

Do you also make it a point to remind everyone that you're the captain?

It's not a jumpseat. It's a seat in the back, not much different than a pass rider. I agree they should introduce themselves but it's not worth getting your panties in a wad over.

Usually my FA will say something so I'll know they're back there.

 

[TheRaven]

Do you also make it a point to remind everyone that you're the captain?

It's not a jumpseat. It's a seat in the back, not much different than a pass rider. I agree they should introduce themselves but it's not worth getting your panties in a wad over.

Usually my FA will say something so I'll know they're back there.

I think you are misunderstanding...there are spare FA jumpseats on a lot of main line aircraft....not passenger seats but actually jumpseats that only Flight Attendants can sit in (except for Jet Blue, who graciously extends those to pilots as well). I fly for a regional, so I am not super clear on the boarding priority and procedures....I think the non-rev jumpseating FA is generally supposed to check in with the number 1 FA in the back.

 

[xjgearbtch]

this is a safety issue. the captain needs to know who's in the back for emergancy's. as a jumpseater you are a crewmember, talk to the boss and make their job easier. not only is it about respect, it's about safety.

 

[skiandsurf]

Would you deny boarding to a flight attendant that jumpseats because she never introduced him/herself to the captain?

I noticed on a few occasions that mainline flight attendants from other carriers don't bother going to the flight deck. They're easy to spot since they are (unlike pilots) required to travel in uniforms.

How do you know they are jumpseating and not traveling on a pass or a ticket? I travel all the time in uniform, but I am on a paid ticket.

 

[regionalcap]

They might be using an ID90.

 

[Longhorn]

I may say something to her after the flight as a kind reminder, nothing more nothing less. I would also make sure she introduced herself to the F1 at least. You never know..she could be exhasted and just forgot. I dont think most would mean to be rude. If she came off with an attitude...well thats another story.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

I think you are misunderstanding...there are spare FA jumpseats on a lot of main line aircraft....not passenger seats but actually jumpseats that only Flight Attendants can sit in (except for Jet Blue, who graciously extends those to pilots as well). I fly for a regional, so I am not super clear on the boarding priority and procedures....I think the non-rev jumpseating FA is generally supposed to check in with the number 1 FA in the back.

We do not allow OAL FA's in our FA jumpseats. If we did I'm sure the protocol would be different.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

this is a safety issue. the captain needs to know who's in the back for emergancy's. as a jumpseater you are a crewmember, talk to the boss and make their job easier. not only is it about respect, it's about safety.

Got news for you sport. It's more important that my FA knows the location of the jumpseater. My office is in the pointy end of the airplane. If the brown stuff is hitting the fan I probably won't be reading off anyone's seat assignments to my FA. And be honest. Do you make a written record of the seat assignment of every jumpseater? It would be kind of hard since a lot of time they're just taking whatever is left over.

My point is simply that it's not worth getting worked up about. If the FA isn't checking in with the flight deck it's probably because he/she doesn't realize they should. Or perhaps there's an FA and a CS agent crammed into the flight deck discussing an issue with me and the jumpseating FA figures we're a bit busy.

If you're worried about it you can inform the jumpseating FA politely by saying something like "here at Transgalactic Airways we sure appreciate it if you pop by the flight deck and let the crew know you're riding with us" and let it go at that.

I have a number of FA friends and they'd like to get home after a trip just like anyone else. I'd be less than impressed if I found out some dipsh.t captain denied the jump over a petty issue. We've all spent an unwanted night in domicile because the last flight out was full. It sucks. I want to see people get home. If they're properly credentialled and meet any other FOM requirements just let them ride. Take a few minutes to educate them on proper protocol if you're so inclined. But fer chrissakes we've got people talking about denying them a ride home or to work. That's unwarranted and poor form.

 

[mckpickle]

Sorry Dave, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. One our a/c we have an extra FA jumpseat. This may be given to FA's who work at XJT or CAL. They know the procedures. They know they are supposed to ask to ride as well as the appropriate dress code. Believe it or not the biggest problem we have at XJT is with FA jumpseaters. FA's throwing the slip into the cockpit and saying "hey I'm riding your jumpseat". Showing up in shorts or flip-flops. This is not acceptable. We strive to maintain some sense of professionalism and ceremony. The jumpseat is a professional courtesy administored by the captain. The least a jumpseater could do is respect that courtesy.

Do my panties get in a wad? No. Do I get worked up over it? No. I ussualy just remind them of the procedure. The only time I've kicked anyone off is after I've gotten severe attitude. Unfortunatly when other airlines and captains don't hold people to the same standards we see why we're in the situation we're in. The FA's don't have jumpseat committees that work tirelessly on these issues. They don't engage the TSA and help the process. They just show up and expect a free ride. And in my opinion it's rude to not at least follow the protocal and respect the fact that the captain and all captains and jumpseat committee's are doing to help get them a free ride.


BTW, I do know a little about the subject being the jumpseat chair at XJT for 3 years now.

 

[Dave Benjamin]

Pickle,

My apologies. We're talking about two different subjects here. You're referring to an actual FA jumpseat occupied by a jumpseating FA that works for your own company or CO. I'm talking about a FA from a number of different airlines riding in a pax seat just like they would if they were pass riding.

If we had OAL FA's riding the FA jumpseat they would need to comply with the guidelines. They are visible to the customers and in many cases could be mistaken for a regular FA by pax. I could understand denying them a ride if they showed up in flip flops and shorts. It's totally different than just riding in a pax seat.

The sense of entitlement is aggravating but there's little that we can do to stem the tide of societal change.

 

[bg1686]

I think that this is funny since McPickle is the Jumpseat Chairman for MY company. I do agree with him that it is a matter of respect and courtesy to "ask" the captain for the jumpseat, and that should be complied with. I didn't mean to imply otherwise in my previous post. I should also add that the captain can deny the jumpseat if someone is not dressed in appropriate attire as prescribed by the company, or if the individual requesting the jumpseat is acting inappropriately, but as the captain, you are going to need to defend your decision of what "inappropriate" is if the person in question makes an issue out of it when you deny him the jumpseat.

 

[ReverseSensing]

It's important to keep in mind that an airline might have a policy that jumpseaters who get a seat in the cabin are not to check in with the Captain prior to the flight. They are expected to do so only afterward, once all pax have deplaned. Of course, I wouldn't expect OAL jumpseaters to know this.

As usual, confusion reigns about specific policies, practices and protocols for different airlines and different situations.

Standard protocol only goes so far when it is specifically contradicted by company policy.

 

[Flying-Corporal]

How do you know they are jumpseating and not traveling on a pass or a ticket? I travel all the time in uniform, but I am on a paid ticket.

I don't. But after I read a FA jumpseat slip handed to me by one of the Jetblue's FA which said "This slip must be given to the Captain", I started wondering if other mainline FA are jumpseating and never bother introducing themselves.

I agree that they might be travelling tired after a long trip, but so do most pilots who jumpseat. If the procedure is to meet the crew upfront, why should they ignore it?

Company Pilots/FA/Employees travel non-rev and don't have to introduce themselves.

 

[ricfa78]

I'm a regional FA and can only jumpseat on jetBlue and have only had the opportunity to do so once. Being an FA however, I know it's my job to direct everyone jumpseating to the CA for approval, which I've never seen it denied. I was directed by the jetBlue FAs to the CA just the same as it should be. It's a problem most likely with your FA's not being clear on what they are supposed to do is what it sounds like to me. Maybe include that in your "briefing" that we're all so good about at the beginning of a trip. Also, I don't know if it's experience, but when I see a pilot coming on board (my company doesn't have FA jumpseat available) I ask them if they are a nonrev or a jumpseater so I can direct them upfront. Unfortunately, that's nothing we're taught, I just know policy and I realize maybe not everyone does.

 

[fried chickens]

Sorry Dave, I'm gonna go ahead and disagree with you here. One our a/c we have an extra FA jumpseat. This may be given to FA's who work at XJT or CAL. They know the procedures. They know they are supposed to ask to ride as well as the appropriate dress code. Believe it or not the biggest problem we have at XJT is with FA jumpseaters. FA's throwing the slip into the cockpit and saying "hey I'm riding your jumpseat". Showing up in shorts or flip-flops. This is not acceptable. We strive to maintain some sense of professionalism and ceremony. The jumpseat is a professional courtesy administored by the captain. The least a jumpseater could do is respect that courtesy.

Do my panties get in a wad? No. Do I get worked up over it? No. I ussualy just remind them of the procedure. The only time I've kicked anyone off is after I've gotten severe attitude. Unfortunatly when other airlines and captains don't hold people to the same standards we see why we're in the situation we're in. The FA's don't have jumpseat committees that work tirelessly on these issues. They don't engage the TSA and help the process. They just show up and expect a free ride. And in my opinion it's rude to not at least follow the protocal and respect the fact that the captain and all captains and jumpseat committee's are doing to help get them a free ride.


BTW, I do know a little about the subject being the jumpseat chair at XJT for 3 years now.

I thought everyone in the airline biz knows to travel in business casual. I know there are a few places that let you travel in jeans if in coach.