FDX MD-11 Jumpseat to HNL

[dojetdriver]

Airline mgmt would love to be able to position crews via j/s instead of having to buy their pilots a ticket. That's not very surprising, as we expect that behavior from mgmt.
What's disheartening is how those pilots accept that travel instead of demanding a ticket. I would quit on the spot if I was a mesa pilot and mgmt tried to make me ride a FDX j/s to get me into position instead of buying a ticket.

Agreed. I'm not saying any MESA guys actually did it. But I thought I remember them asking their guys to try to get to Hawaii via other means than paid DH.

 

[AV80R]

Do you work for Mesa? For those FDX guys who don't know what I'm referring to, Mesa apparently is trying to use airline jumpseats to position crews in HNL instead of buying tickets for their crew. With the demise of Aloha, this is bad juju.

Unfortunately I've heard the same rumor - I hope it's just a rumor because if not it'd be a huge violation of a jumpseat agreement.

If you're riding to HNL to chill with your friends - UPS flies MD11 out of Louisville to HNL and also 2 flights a day from Ontario, California. It's either 767 or MD11. 4 jumpseats on 767 and 5 on MD11.

 

[johndog]

Airline mgmt would love to be able to position crews via j/s instead of having to buy their pilots a ticket. That's not very surprising, as we expect that behavior from mgmt.
What's disheartening is how those pilots accept that travel instead of demanding a ticket. I would quit on the spot if I was a mesa pilot and mgmt tried to make me ride a FDX j/s to get me into position instead of buying a ticket.

One of my good buddies works for Island air and told me of this rumor as well. I work for Mesa. I have never seen Mesa use the jump seat to relocate people. However, if we choose a new domicile it's on us to get there. If we choose TDY (temporary duty) somewhere, the company owes us a ticket to and from. Beginning and end only. However, this would be from your current domicile, not from where you live. So you would have to get yourself to your base then take the ticket. It's the same way for training. They owe you a ticket but only from your domicile. So again, they buy you the ticket but most people don't live in their base so some will get there on their own from where they live. A jump seat puritan may call this a misuse of the privilege. As I told my Buddie, politicizing the jump seat is a bad idea. I know emotions are running high right now with Aloha failing. Which is a terrible thing. I may be out of my seat soon as well as Delta announced they will end the contract for the plane I fly.

However, as someone who hands out jump seats daily in JFK -to pilots of all different carriers Fed EX, UPS, Airtran, Jetblue you name it. I don't care why someone wants a ride. If they are qualified to sit there then welcome aboard.