Who takes a 135 Jumpseater

[414Flyer]

I do not have a monkey suit to wear...I do have an air ambulance flight suit, but not sure that would suffice

 

[350DRIVER]

Okay, well how would a 135 pilot proceed to attempt jumpseating now?

You must check in with the gate agent who is working the flight to avoid any possible problems and advise them of your credentials, intentions, and also show them your company photo ID. Most likely they are going to "refer" to that magic list at this point to see if your company is on the list or not. (here is where the problem seems to start).... It is quite possible that you may not have that "magic" agreement with the airline to jumpseat so this is where a silver tongue on your behalf has to get the job done. Even if the airline does "allow" 135 jumpers onboard you still may have a problem since the agent may not be aware of this and may attempt to say "we can't". I have seen many gate agents turn down guys since they were unaware that in reality you are allowed onboard even though your company does not appear on the list. Alot really depends on the "mood" of the agents working the flight as well, I would attempt to speak to the captain of the flight before he goes onto the aircraft and define who you are and what you want to do... I think this seems to work out the best since you can always tell the gate agent that you already have spoken to the captain and that you have his "blessing" to jumpseat.

When I was a DAL agent we would sometimes make exceptions for certain people as long as the captain said he was "OK" with alllowing a 135 jumper NOT on the list to ride along. Post 9-11 things have gotten a tad more strict and IF the gate agents are busy they may not even want to take the time to work with you so you should be prepared to ask quickly and not to hold up other pax in line who are the reason why the airlines are here today.

As far as getting through security

I have not had any problems with wearing my photo ID that my company has issued, I have had a few questions come up however on "who do you fly for"? "I have never heard of them"- easy answer that solves the problem is that "I fly for a "charter" airline".... Usually no more questions will be posed.

AWA will take 135 pilots, its in our FOM (cabin seat required of course)

Good news, I was under the impression that you had to be on a list for AWA jumpseat. I guess they must have changed this recently.??

cheers

3 5 0

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I just jumpseated on AWA.

They DO have a list, and if you're not on it, you're not going, unless the captain feels charitable, which is true for almost all airlines.

I JS within the cont. US, and the capt said OK, and didn't check the list. When I tried to JS to Mexico, the capt said he needed to check the list. We weren't on it, so I had to buy a ticket.

The only airline I know of that you can fly to Mexico on the JS if you're not on a "List" is ATA, as they have no list.

CLiff
GRB

 

[Ty Webb]

Also, guys, please remember that jumpseating is a professional courtesy extended to fellow pilots- it is NOT supposed to be a way for your company to save money on tickets.

In other words- if you are traveling on Company business (such as dropping off an aircraft in Wichita for maintenance) your Company needs to buy you a ticket . . . . . NOT ask you to "try to jumpseat home".

We had two guys get on in ICT going to ATL. About halfway there, the Capt. and I started talking about it . . . and figured out that they had probably just dropped off an airplane for MX. It really pissed us off that their company was probably dropping $50K or so in MX, then were trying to cheat my company out of a few hundred bucks.

I went to go talk to them after the flight, but they had beat it.

I can tell you this . . . as a former 135 guy, I am pleased that we at AirTran still take 135 guys, but if we get more idiots like those two, I guarantee you it will come to a screeching halt. . . .

 

[414Flyer]

Thanks for the info. I know about jumpseat protocol, and did jumpseat when I could from 1999 to 2001, just havent done it since 9/11 and was wondering what to do now, as a 135 pilot who will not be on anyways list (air ambulance)

I live in Tucson and get 10 days off at a time, and am trying to find ways to jumpseat out of here or Phoenix to travel on my days off.

At one place I used to fly for, there was a woman there before me, who while jumpseating, pointed out to the captain how he was off a bit on his altitude. Because of that any some other things, she was pretty much banned from jumpseated on that airline. I believe there was a picture of her up at that airline with a sign or caption about not giving her a ride.