What is the Process to Jumpseat on Hawaiian?

[pave driver]

Was told by a gate agent in HNL that I was required to have my uniform on to jumpseat. The Captain came up, I introduced myself and I inquired about a uniform. (I knew this was BS but was still polite). He said it's not required and to come on down otherwise I would have been left at the gate. I go to Hawaii 2-3 times a year and HA are the WORST to jump on. I have bought tickets from SFO before to avoid the hassle. Sad really. Sorry to all my HA bros who are top notch. Just call it as I see it.

 

[Dash Power]

Thanks for everyones info.

I seems like LAX is the best for us to get to the islands with all the options.

Thanks again.

 

[Huskers1]

I hate to say it but HAL has been a nightmare for jump seating and I have ridden with them a great deal. I have been accused of deadheading for work and even after explaining to the Captain that I was commuting to my base like normal, he called my jump seat coordinator and Chief Pilot to report me. I have had a Captain tell me on a red eye after my 14 hour duty day that sleeping wasn't allowed on the jump seat. At one point during cruise I had my eyes closed and was told I need to stand up and get my blood flowing so I could stay awake. I had a Captain throw away an entire crew meal because he wasn't hungry after he asked me if I had eaten, which I hadn't. A gate agent told me she did not have time to process my jump seat request, it was 45 mins prior and the plane left with seats available in back. I was told by a FO that he hoped my airline goes out of business and we all lose our jobs because we have no right flying to "my island".

I have run in to some great people but unfortunately there have been way to many a**holes and classless people. My goal when jump seating is to be as small and unobtrusive as possible and am usually very quiet until I can get a feel for the crew so to say it is just me would be a mistake. If you are going out of LAX, I suggest UAL or AA. I use them all the time and everyone has been fantastic and very accommodating. To all the great people I have met at Hawaiian, thank you for the ride.

 

[Jim]

I had an Allegiant pilot on my jump seat a few months ago flying flight 4 (red eye) to LAX. He showed up in a pilot shirt that looked like it had spent the last month wadded up in the bottom of his suitcase and smelled like it had already flown 6 or 8 days since it had been washed. He got pissed when I told him since anyone seeing him in uniform in my cockpit would assume he was a Hawaiian pilot, he needed to change to a different shirt. Then on taxi he pulled out some headphones and his iPad and started to watch a movie when we were in sterile cockpit. After putting it all away at my direction, he promptly put his feet up on my flight bad and went to sleep letting out a huge snore right before we rotated (which is when I found out he was asleep). After we leveled off, he woke up and promptly asked when he would be fed. This is when I told him that he needed to brush up on his jump seat etiquette. I said during taxi, take off and until at least 10,000 feet he needed to be paying attention to what was going on in the cockpit and around the plane. When he asked for a jump seat, he needed to be properly attired. When jump seating he was considered by the FAA and the airline as a crew member and needed to conduct himself as such - before breaking any FARs (i.e. sleeping) he needed to make sure it was OK with the Captain. And that if we had extra food after feeding the pax and crew, we would gladly give him some but don't come on board expecting it or demanding it. Was this you? (No I didn't call anyone on this guy.)

I've take quite a few Allegiant pilots on my jump seat and have enjoyed their company. I also have many Allegiant pilot friends who I flew with at Scenic eons ago. I had one bad asshat Allegiant pilot on my jump seat but I don't hold that against the rest. Heck, I'd even take asshat again if he wanted a ride.

I jump on SWA a lot. Every time I do I thank them for making jump seating easy. 95% of the time I end up being thanked for how nice and easy it was for them to jump on us and for their families to non-rev. I would guess that I have an offline jump seater on at least 25% of my flights to the mainland. Never have I heard of them experiencing any hassles. We as Hawaiian pilots take pride in making our jump seats easily and readily available. Most of the Captains check to make sure there are not any jump seaters or nonrevs left behind if we have empty seats.

There are no doubt a few instances where someone had had a problem getting on or did not liked our ride. It happens at Hawaiian and every other airline. But it is not the systematic or epidemic problem you guys are making it out to be here.

 

[FLYN4LVE]

Give Um! Looks like he deserved everything he got. Now let's see if he'll own up.

 

[Turbine Pilot]

I hate to say it but HAL has been a nightmare for jump seating and I have ridden with them a great deal. I have been accused of deadheading for work and even after explaining to the Captain that I was commuting to my base like normal, he called my jump seat coordinator and Chief Pilot to report me. I have had a Captain tell me on a red eye after my 14 hour duty day that sleeping wasn't allowed on the jump seat. At one point during cruise I had my eyes closed and was told I need to stand up and get my blood flowing so I could stay awake. I had a Captain throw away an entire crew meal because he wasn't hungry after he asked me if I had eaten, which I hadn't. A gate agent told me she did not have time to process my jump seat request, it was 45 mins prior and the plane left with seats available in back. I was told by a FO that he hoped my airline goes out of business and we all lose our jobs because we have no right flying to "my island".

I have run in to some great people but unfortunately there have been way to many a**holes and classless people. My goal when jump seating is to be as small and unobtrusive as possible and am usually very quiet until I can get a feel for the crew so to say it is just me would be a mistake. If you are going out of LAX, I suggest UAL or AA. I use them all the time and everyone has been fantastic and very accommodating. To all the great people I have met at Hawaiian, thank you for the ride.

I second this also. HA is the worst to Jumpseat on. Sorry to ruin your parade Jim. Just being honest. Sometimes when you call to list, they tell you 6 hours prior, other times 2 hours to list, they just do what they want. Also, the gate agents in HNL create there own rules and if you can get past them to the pilot, you hope the pilot is having a good day. BTW Jim, Go! pilots do not have ties to wear so you can't bash them for that. It is not part of the uniform so they do not have ties to wear, even if you ask them by creating your own rules. This is what makes HA so bad. Each person at HA makes up there own set of rules. Allegiant pilots also are great guys, but they probably haven't done alot of jumpseating. They mostly were home based prior to this Hawaii base. As far as the shirts go, you can't expect a shirt to be in new condition after they just got off work, so take that into some consideration. Regional pilots also do more legs they HA pilots do, so just remember what it was like. Not saying it is ok, but give the guys a little break if it is the end of the day. I do agree though that the jumpseat's nowdays are more inconsiderate and demanding which they need to be schooled. So I do agree with you on that Jim. I however avoid HA now because of the experiences I have had with them, and only take UA, AA, DL, or Alaska.

 

[crxpilot]

Not to attack but I also avoid taking Hawaiian.....rudeness and difficulty abounds generally as above posters mentioned.

 

[BEECH-SLAPPED]

Allegiant pilots also are great guys, but they probably haven't done alot of jumpseating. They mostly were home based prior to this Hawaii base.

Thank you for the kind words, but to clarify, Allegiant does not home base any of their crews. 95% of our operation is scheduled and we have regular bases like everyone else. Our crews are no more or less experienced in jumpseating than any other carrier. Unfortunately, Jim just came across one of our "5%". I have never had a bad experience on Hawaiian, but I do find it perplexing that you have to go either outside security or to Gate 55 in order to be approved for CASS.

 

[atpcliff]

I recently jumpseated from KOA-HNL. I was told I had to list at the ticket counter, not at the gates. At the ticket counter, I was told by two agents that I should have listed. They did get me listed, and got me on the flight. I had no problems getting through security normally (I was in uniform). It was fun flying on a B-717. Haven't been on one since TWA days.

Thank you Hawaiin!
cliff
HNL

 

[Jim]

While I have rarely had a jump seater in either my time as a Hawaiian FO or Captain complain of any problem getting on our flights, where there is smoke, there is obviously fire.

I once again talked to the pilot manager who handles jump seats. He has confirmed that a pilot should be able to just walk up to the gate for interisland and domestic (mainland) flights, get a jump seat form from them and get on a flight. The only time they should be sent to the ticket counter or service center is if that gate does not have access to CASS and it is questionable whether there will be a seat in he back available. He is going to contact the station mangers an reenforce this.

We are having some problems with international. These flight require making a listing through reservations because of the pax fees and taxes the other countries and international airports collect. A jump seater will need to pay theses foreign fees/taxes with a credit card when listing. He said he is working on this process to standardize it and make it as painless as possible.

Turbine Pilot - as far as attire goes, it is not too much to ask that if you are wearing a uniform it be acceptable. You can easily change shirts. Our interisland pilots don't wear ties either yet they seem to find one when they jump. When I was at Scenic, we didn't wear ties but I always carried one to jump with. Go! pilots are part of Mesa and Mesa pilots wear ties so I know it's not that far fetched to ask if you have one. I also realize that there are companies like Virgin America that do not wear ties. I have never asked a VA pilot to wear one nor have I turned away any pilot for not wearing a tie. But as I said before, when you are a guest in a Hawaiian cockpit, our pax think you are a Hawaiian pilot. You need to dress and act like a good representative of both your and our companies. If you can't or won't, don't come asking for a jump seat.

If those of you don't report your troubles via your jump seat coordinators, any issues will never get fixed. Report the dates, times, flights, circumstances and if possible the gate agents name. The follow up with your jump seat coordinator to ensure he contacted our coordinator. Both our jump seat coordinator and the manager I talked to have said there have been very few complaints and what they have received have been either due to the lack of CASS at the gate or international flights.