Well... it kinda sucks.
You can't ride in the cockpit any more except with your own carrier or one of your family members if you're "wholly owned". That means you have to have a seat in the back. You are now the absolute lowest standby priority and your ride to work is very unreliable if your airline doesn't go there.
Also, with the increases in security, jumpseaters have become suspects with non pilots. I actually had a Contintental GSC tell me "she doesn't allow jumpseaters on "her" flights because a jumpseater hijacked the plane on 9/11". This was about a month ago, and I kid you not. Unfortunately, because jumpseaters are now treated like standby passengers, the power has gone from the Captain to the gate agent to determine whether you go or not.
If they do let you go, you will probably get a "random" search at the gate since they now issued you a ticket less than 4 days out and you got flagged by the computer profile. I guarantee it will be non discreet.
As I said, an era has passed. Jumpseating just isn't much fun anymore, and hardly reliable. I hope ALPA, APA, and the FAA find a way to "positively identify" crew members with a national ID or smart card of some sort and being cockpit jumpseat privilleges back.
