Jumpseat to Sydney Australia

[mattjenna]

My wife's a UA FA and we live between SYD and SAN and I do that trip about 10-12 times a year as an NRSA pax usually out of SFO-I'm an Aussie.

Visa-you can call up and get an electronic visa-UA will help you with that when you call, even as a JS PAX-18002416522.

I do suggest ID90 backup on Qantas and ANZ as well as UA.

I was trying to get out of SYD for SFO last week and seniroity down to 68' got bumped off-so definitely get the backup passes.

Happy to give any otehr info anyone may want on SYD-it's been my home for about 37 years-on and off.

Matt

 

[halfmoon]

rjcap,

I make the trip about 5-6 times a year, been doin it for about 3 years. All four seasons, i don't travel on particular dates, all has been on UAL. (it's probably my bad luck that i'm getting bumped all the time...who knows)
Used to go on FEDEX,UPS till atta came along! It takes an extra 12hrs to get there, but it's almost a guaranted seat when you show at the a/c.
Things will change soon hopefully to make the jump easier.
When are you going over there?
Fridays and Saturdays are usually packed

 

[rjcap]

jumpseat to Aussie

half,

Planning on 2nd week of August. I can pretty much pick any day during the week so I can go with the flow. I would prefer to skip the id90 but if I have to grab one I will do it. I will try for the jumpseat though. I assume its the same routine, show up at the gate and sign up for it.

 

[halfmoon]

rjcap,

Yep, same routine.
Go to ticketing first.
The gate agents got to know my face and they realized I wasn't paying taxes when I was jumpseating, so they sent me back to ticketing and I only just made the flight, plus get your OMC pass in order.
Just a reminder, when your coming back from SYD you HAVE to goto ticketing first, they will tell you you have to get permission from the Capt before they give you the GO to pass through customs. This means you have to approach the Capt outside of the terminal as he gets off the bus from the hotel. Stand ouside and wait for the 22 person crew, look for the UAL uniform.
They show always 1hr before departure.
It's a hassle, but it's free!

Oh yeah,ID90's run over $500 roundtrip!

 

[rjcap]

jumpseat to Aussie

half,

OMC pass ??????

Jumpseat - taxes ?????

IS that id90 refundable if you get on the jumpseat???

 

[mattjenna]

Yes ID90s are refundable we've bought a few thousand $ of them before taking the family around Sth America.
Matt

 

[Twotter76]

rjcap,

when you jumpseat internationally (at least to Australia in my experience) you need ( or I have anyway) an OMC pass to get through customs. Just go to the ticket counter and check in the with them a few hours before departure and they will print it out for you there. Take it through customs and give it (and license/id) to the gate agent. Normally they will charge departure taxes when you get that too (its only about $30 or so). In theory we are supposed to be paying those when we ride internationally, but they seem to miss it a lot of the time. Most of our ID90s are refundable but I imagine that will vary from airline to airline.

 

[Zarathustra]

OMC = (think) Observing Member of Crew

ie, UALspeak for jumpseat. Ask the ticket agent to OMC rather than jumpseat and they understand better.

Similar to UAL C/L/R which = everyone's CRM

No worries.

 

[halfmoon]

If you roll up to a UAL gate and ask for a jumpseat, they will think you are a flight attendent wanting a FA Jumpseat..
No biggy, they'll get it sooner or later.
Don't mention that you want to pay taxes, if the gate agent wants you to pay they will ask. Technically everyone has to pay the international taxes!