Offline Jumpseating to come back AUG 10

[stillaboo]

From what I heard ,during the 6 month test period, they are only going to allow 6 airlines in the test.

"
The Transportation Security Administration has agreed to review a proposal for a test program that would allow certain airline and government employees to once again fly on off-line jumpseats. The proposal, drawn up by the "jumpseat coalition" (ALPA, APA, SWAPA, IPA, CAPA, NATCA, ATA and FAA) will be forwarded to us by July 10. we will have 30 days to accept or reject the proposal. If accepted, we will undertake a 6-month pilot project that would restore jumpseat privileges to specific users. Under the pilot program, use of the off-line jumpseat would be permitted for ATA airline employees, air traffic controllers and other FAA employees, plus Department of Defense couriers. At the end of the six months we will assess the results of the project and determine whether to make the program permanent" . . .

So, who's a member of the ATA, right?

originally posed on the ATA site (airlines.org)
"The Air Transport Association Bylaws provide that applicants for membership should be common carriers in air transportation of passengers and/or cargo; operate a minimum of 20 million revenue ton-miles (RTMs) annually, and have done so for one year preceding the date of application; and have a valid operating certificate that the Federal Aviation Administration has issued pursuant to Section 44705 of Title 49 of the U.S. Code."

In summary, it looks like no regional pilots, but mainline dispatch might be able to get on. It seems silly that many airline pilots can't jumpseat, and there is of course no need for air traffic controllers or DoD couriers to be up in the cockpit, though it doesn't surprise me one bit that the government would allow their own to use the JS before most pilots. Congrats to those who are members of the ATA. It's been a long time coming.

-Boo!

 

[jetblue320]

I heard the offline jumpseat is for "participating" major airlines in the 6 month test period. Who is "participating" is the question. I know ATA is.

Just got word from our (JBU) coordinator this afternoon. jetBlue will be participating. Our VP of Ops has already submitted the paperwork. I think it is up to each individual airline and then they have to submit papers of some kind to be in the test program. Then there are additions to Ops Specs, letters from POI and PSI required and some other stuff. It'll take time to get it up and running, but worth it for sure. JBU has always allowed unlimited offline j/s but having two more seats in the cockpit available helps for sure, especially on our flights that run full a lot.

Anyway, good news for certain.

See ya.

 

[PTinbound]

So does anyone actually know what airlines are participating besides JetBlue? I looked on the ALPA site but couldn't find anything. Hypothetically, do you have to fly for one of the six (I think) participating airlines to offline physical jumpseat on another one? Or can any old ATA 121 pilot like me jump on one of the participating carriers in the physical jumpseat? Anyone know if SWA is participating?

 

[stillaboo]

So does anyone actually know what airlines are participating besides JetBlue?

http://www.airlines.org

Go there, and you'll see all of the airlines that are mebers of the ATA, and thus 'can' participate. It is up to the indivdual company to actually choose to participate.

-Boo!

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Does anyone know who is ACTUALLY participating?

 

[Sleepyhead]

Got this from another aviation forum:

"I was talking to some SWA pilots on my commute the other day from PHX-BUR about the jumpseat. They had info in their newsletter about the TSA jumpseat test. They said that beginning 8/10 that they would be able to fly in the cockpit on other carriers by having the bar code on their ID's scanned to verify their employment. Other carriers included in this test according to the article were Continental, ATA, and 2 or 3 others..."

I also read a post that explained it will take several months for other carriers to get the system up and running on their companies computers.

As I understand it, you will not be able to offline jumpseat until your airline gets the system running on their own computers.

 

[tittyjet]

WO Regionals

Pilots for WO regionals whose parent companies are ATA members will be included in the program if the parent company agrees to this.

NWA has agreed to this provision for Pinnacle as soon as the system is integrated in early fall.

PCL ops: the new ID cards are in your base mgr's office, just go turn in your old one.

 

[PCL Flt-ops]

Thanks man, I just picked up the new ID.

 

[Flash]

The latest info from the jumpseat group is that UPS, SWA and CAL are closest to being ready to go. There is more than paperwork involved, money is required also. Many airlines are reluctant to spend anything right now until they wait and see how this program starts up.

 

[UpNDownGuy]

Here is what ALPA officially says about the subject:


Welcome to ALPA FastRead for August 15, 2003

Jumpseat Test Officially Approved

The TSA has officially approved a six month "pilot program" that will
re-institute offline jumpseat access for pilots. This test program will
be known as the Cockpit Security Access System, or CASS. The formal
approval of CASS by TSA removes all of the regulatory restrictions that
had been placed on offline jumpseat after the September 11, 2001 tragedy.

Before the program is again up and running there are some other steps
that must be accomplished. For example, a contract with ARINC to run the
proxy server for the CASS must be finalized. This should take no more
than two weeks. Once this is accomplished each airline will be required
to make some in-house adjustments to their computer reservations system
in order to make it compatible with the requirements of the CASS. The
length of time to accomplish these changes will vary from airline to
airline.

Once each airline has met these requirements and made their system CASS
compliant they will then have to "end to end" test their system with
the other airlines participating in the CASS. This should be a relatively
straightforward hardware/software issue. Once these tests are completed
each airline entering the CASS will be required to adopt their
respective Ops Specs to accommodate the requirements of the CASS. This should
only require a written change to the Ops Specs documentation. The final
approval for the system will be through each respective carrier's PSI,
which the TSA has stated will occur provided all of the above
requirements are met.

Once the system is up and running (probably mid-September for the
carriers whose systems are ready) the following procedure will apply to
pilots desiring to utilize an offline jumpseat. The pilot will present him
or herself at the offline carrier's gate, provide the agent with his or
her valid airline ID, a valid US passport and a PIN number issued by
his or her respective airline. The gate agent will enter this information
into the computer and send a verification of identification query to
the pilot's airline through the ARINC proxy server. Once the response is
received, the gate agent will verify that all of the identification
credentials presented by the pilot matches the information returned by the
airline, and the pilot will be allowed access to the cockpit jumpseat.

More information about this program will be provided as it is received,
and pilots should contact their respective MEC Jumpseat Coordinators
for information specific to their individual airlines.





May be available in a workable fashion sometime around November.....