Fedex DX

[DX Jake]

I am 100% sure about UPS... We are flying peak season for them this year, 7 airplanes. I was going to jumpseat on them PDX-SDF then catch one of our birds, but they said no, no dispatchers allowed.

Ouch. OK. I didn't know any of that. I wasn't sure about fedex, but I thought "brown" was ok. We get numerous calls from Louisville, and were always under the impression the agreement was reciprocal.

 

[SKC]

Maybe the UPS restriction is a holiday thing because I know that dispatchers in CASS, with a reciprocal agreement, can jump on UPS.

 

[dispatchguy]

Yeah, it must in the FOM at SWA that they have to treat jumpseaters like were a king or something

Not that I mind, mind you I LUV jumpseating on SWA. Whenever I ride, I always ask for a seat in first class

I have had only one negative experience, with an ops agent at MCI, but the crews (and all the other ops agents I've met jumpseating) have been top notch.

 

[bcp7]

DX Jake - is a reciprocal agreement and/or CASS required for dispatchers to jump seat at Southwest. Our J/S coordinator at Cargo 360 on the pilot side has not had any success getting a reciprocal agreement with SWA.

We have all the CASS carriers that consider participation as a reciprocal agreement, which is mostly some of the ACMI outfits, JetBlue and United.

 

[flyjumpseat]

SkyWest jumpseat agreement page says:

UPS (5X) **NO DISPATCHERS**
NORTHWEST AIRLINES (NW)*NO DISPATCHERS*

The FEDERAL EXPRESS (FX) line does not indicate dispatchers included or not, leading us to believe we/they are included. FedEx used to be a nice option for me, MNL-HKG but I haven't even called to ask about it since 9-11 since I believe international flights are not available for jumpseaters anyway. MNL-NRT on Northwest would be nice also, but again there's that "NO DISPATCHERS" issue along with it being an international flight.

We, the SkyWest dispatch association, are trying to gather some info about how the agreements can be corrected. The process is moving very slowly.
Here's the thing, the agreements are ambiguous. Most don't actually state that DISPATCHERS are included or excluded, so it ends up at the discretion of:
#1-the gate agent, to even let us talk to the pilots.
#2-the pilots, who 99.9% of the time welcomes dispatchers aboard.

Over the past few years, there are some that have been amended/renewed to include us dispatchers. But we don't have access to them for reference and verification. WE SHOULD NEVER GET INTO ARGUMENTS REGARDING JUMPSEAT ACCESS, but if the gate agents and/or pilots are simply uninformed regarding procedures or authorized persons it would be nice to have the references.

Let me say this again: WE SHOULD NEVER GET INTO ARGUMENTS REGARDING JUMPSEAT ACCESS.

That statement is, from what little information I've been able to find and possibly is just rumor, the very reason the agreement with Northwest says "NO DISPATCHERS". The info I heard is that somehow a Northwest dispatcher bumped a Northwest pilot for the observation seat, to which the pilot took his complaint to the pilot union, which got dispatchers everywhere banned unless doing their FAA required 5 hours per type, yadda yadda yadda.

Since dispatchers are (at this time) not allowed at the jumpseat conferences held every 6 months or so, we have no representation. Unless one or more of the pilot group jumpseat coordinators are willing to help clear up the ambiguity, jumpseating as a dispatcher will continue to remain a mystery of trial and error.

We'd like to help fix what is broke, (ie, UPS/Northwest) and clarify the qualifications/authorizations for those of us dispatchers that do travel here and there. Sitting at a gate watching a flight depart after getting denied, and especially knowing there are empty seats, is frustrating.

So with approximately 2725 pilots and 100 dispatchers here at SkyWest, we dispatchers represent only 3.54% of the POTENTIAL jumpseaters from SkyWest. Factor out the dispatchers who never travel and we're down to about 1.17% of the total POTENTIAL jumpseaters from SkyWest.

Now take all the pilots and all the dispatchers in the country and do your own math. We dispatchers represent such a minority of jumpseaters, the possibility of us bumping a pilot on a full flight for the observation seat is slim. So what is the problem? It is usually an empty seat, and we are qualified and authorized by the FAA and individual companies to occupy the observation seat. Why is it so hard to get past the gate agents? Because they don't know where to look for authorization, or the authorization is too vague. CASS was supposed to eliminate that, but there are still companies that require 'the reciprocal agreement' in addition to CASS. So they look us up in CASS but when they see DISPATCHER on our ID, they don't know what to do.

Sorry DX Jake, I wasn't trying to hijack your thread. But it was your comment "The gate agent was a little unsure about them being allowed to jumpseat, as was the captain..." that got me started. All we want to do is help clear up the confusion.

Out of the 8 years I have been dispatching, I only remember three hiccups in trying to hitch a ride. One was my own airline (SkyWest) which I attribute to a gate agent training issue, one was another company pilot/flight (which I will leave as anonymous), and the third I eliminate as a problem because the captain (Alaska Airlines) picked his butt up out of the cockpit and ran up the jetway last minute - appologized to me for not knowing that dispatchers were allowed, and welcomed me aboard. Nuf said.

 

[dispatchguy]

If you need a NWA jumpseat committee chairman contact, PM me - I know the ALPA vice-chair of the JS committee, who is the NWA MEC JS Committee Chairman.

I know for a fact that, at NWA, the dispatchers union controls the jumpseat access - and to be put onto the list in the NWA FOM for NWA jumpseat access; I had a contact at NWA DX a few years ago, but I dont know if he is still a good contact regarding jumpseat access.

 

[XPOO]

My only problem with Southwest, which I really loved jumpseating on, is that they wont allow dispatchers on at all now without being in CASS. Not even to sit in the back of the aircraft in an open cabin seat like before CASS was implemented. However, Flight Attendants, who are not part of CASS, can jumpseat and occupy a cabin seat. Its bassackwards. I guess I will just stick to non-rev on my own company's aircraft and their major partners.

 

[WalterSobchak]

I have had only one negative experience, with an ops agent at MCI, but the crews (and all the other ops agents I've met jumpseating) have been top notch.

Same here...would not even let me speak with the captain and claimed she "called dispatch and they said 'no way'". It was my last resort and had to buy a $300 ticket to get home. Not sure what the deal is in MCI. When I got back to work the next morning, I called Southwest Dispatch to see if something had changed in our agreement...they apologized profusely and said that no one had called regarding a jumpseater...and, if they had, the answer would have been "yes!". Of course, I was still out 300 bucks.

Why is it so hard to get past the gate agents? Because they don't know where to look for authorization, or the authorization is too vague. CASS was supposed to eliminate that, but there are still companies that require 'the reciprocal agreement' in addition to CASS. So they look us up in CASS but when they see DISPATCHER on our ID, they don't know what to do.

This has been my biggest problem. United has been the hardest in this aspect....however, I was almost once denied a the actual on DL by a gate agent in DFW that I knew personally...a woman I spent 2+ years working the counter next to hers...because she wasn't sure if dispatchers were allowed, even if we were in CASS. This is an agent with 20+ years with DL...she had no idea where to look and had never had a dispatcher ask for the jumpseat. And she is one of the best CS agents I know.

It would be nice if our respective companies would put out a customer service bulletin or something outlining dispatch jumpseat procedures, who is allowed up front, and where to find the agreements, etc.

 

[WalterSobchak]

oops...

 

[SKC]

United actually had been the easiest to deal with for me. I had to commute for almost a year between ICT and RFD, so I was transiting DEN and/or ORD nearly every week. DEN was the friendliest with most of the time getting upgrades to Econ Plus or First if I was in the back.

Only time I've been through MCI on WN was as a rev passenger. Had a quick connection from DAL and almost missed the departure out of MCI because of that crazy security set up they have.