All-
For anyone that has been unjustly denied an NWA jumpseat, I would like to apologize. I speak from experience, as in Oct I was denied the JS on another carrier….with an open JS and a 50% load factor….as soon as they found out I was from NWA. It’s not a good feeling.
I have worked with a couple of you in the past regarding this issue, and had good results. On one occasion, I was e-mailing our JS coordinator while he was on vacation in Chile, and the matter was solved. Back then the events seemed to be isolated, but now seem more repetitive.
During my time at NWA I have seen the JS denied once. We were going from DTW to YUL, and denied a SABENA pilot. Before doing so, however, I personally called the DTW CP to see if there was anything that we could do to get this guy on. He said there wasn’t, since he wasn’t on our list and besides that it was an international flight.
Domestically, I’ve seen guys turn a blind eye to get KLM and other guys on, before they were on our list. I’ve seen many JB, AirTran, Frontier, ATA, etc guys riding along. On several occasions, when a NWA guy has the only JS, and there’s an off-line guy waiting also, I’ve seen the NW guy ride on a pass so the offline guy can have the JS and get home; (when off-line guys can’t ride in the back).
The current situation at NWA may be fueling these latest JS actions. (?) Don’t kid yourself; this is a very challenging place to work. Every day, it’s another big bite outta the sh!t sandwich. Mgmt has been on an employee jihad so fierce that Al Qaeda is taking notes. All the employee groups are at each other’s throats. All the (stinking) employees have taken drastic pay cuts and work rule changes….and it ain’t over. Mgmt sees every employee as a huge liability, and lets us know it. We don’t even put the fun in dysfunctional anymore.
Like they say, it is the captain’s JS, but his personal opinion of where you work, or his frustration with this company, is no reason to deny a legitimate JS request. My advice would be to immediately call your JS coordinator and report the incident. With enough documentation, there’s a possibility for corrective action. Please don’t judge the entire NWA pilot group based on the actions of a few. Most are really good guys trying to deal with a really sh!tty situation.
Happy Holidays,
320AV8R