While the impact on the average passenger may be limited, Southwest Airlines is updating its employee travel policy in an interesting way, which is good news for some employees, and bad news for others.
Continue reading: Southwest Airlines Bans Many Employees From Flying In Jumpseats
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I worked in management for 2 U.S carriers and we were never allowed in the jumpseats as non rev standbys... only flight attendants and pilots were eligible. I had no idea it had been an option at Southwest for employees other than pilots and flight attendants.
Crew members of the same airline should have always been the only people allowed in cabin jump seats; some airlines do not allow FAs of other airlines in FA jumpseats just because they have not been trained on emergency procedures for the operating airline.
I believe some airlines do not allow pilots in FA jumpseats because FAs and other employees are not allowed in cockpit jumpseats although the industry generally allows pilots of reciprocating airlines to sit in cockpit jumpseats esp. if no cabin seats are available.
This is just another practical outcome of the death of WN's egalatarian model. Life is never the same for everyone and neither should be jumpseat access.
I swear to dog, if one follows JonNYC, one could skip half the pieces posted on OMAAT. Just kidding! I do wonder how JonNYC is so plugged in to so many carriers and so much info. Quite an impressive guy with both his scoops and his insights/analyses.
As always, thank you Ben!
If I was a pax and saw another pax (out of uniform) sitting in a jump seat for 2 hours, I'd think that was ridiculous.
Tim is correct. Only the carrier’s crew should be allowed to occupy jump seats. Anyone occupying a jump seat needs to be able to react quickly in an emergency without being told what to do or how to do it.
"At" and "to" are different words.
They mean different things.
The more you know...
Most US airlines restrict the cockpit jumpseat to a very narrow and restricted cadre of employees. This includes pilots, pilot instructors and the like. OAL pilots can be accommodated provided their company has reciprocal agreements. This is very useful in case of an emergency where upon the jumpseat rider can assist with the safety of the aircraft. There are circumstances when a non-pilot (dispatcher/flight controller, mechanic, etc.) would be authorized but under very tight circumstances. Those with CAS authority can usually fly in the cockpit jumpseat on a sliding authorization scale. Some US carriers will allow CAS authorized passengers to use a flight attendant jumpseat provided the flight attendants are okay with that. In other words, if another flight attendant wants to use the jumpseat, they would have priority over a CAS authorized person. NO regular employees are authorized to ride in the cockpit or flight attendant jump seats. Southwest is/was obviously different with the flight attendant jumpseat.
I can see your concern but, unlike Southwest, most airlines do not allow untrained people to ride in the flight attendant jumpseat. Pilots and pilot instructors do have some "flight attendant training" but, more importantly, they also know cockpit and aircraft procedures.
Are they familiar enough with the galley? Can they serve coffee while on this free flight? 🙂
Shocking that Southwest even ever allowed this. I've worked with 5 airlines, over the past 30 years, and NONE have ever allowed anyone without safety training to occupy a flight attendant jumpseat.
in the early aughts, I was on a long-haul international flight, and for reasons, I had to give up my first class seat for the last 10 minutes of the flight; as a result, I was seated in the 1L jump seat for landing (it was a 744) at a major US airport.
Did this violate rules or laws? The FAs didn't seem to care; indeed, they're the ones who moved me out of my seat and to the jumpseat.
Not only was it so crazy that WN let all employees sit in the cabin jumpseats, but even crazier than employees from ramp, reservations, etc. would bump a flight attendant out of the seat if they had seniority.
Maaaybe let other groups sit there (though that’s still a big maybe since those other groups don’t have the required safety training), but to allow them to bump actual flight attendants out of the jumpseats is mind boggling.
You people are completely ignorant of the Company Herbert D. Kelleher built. He instituted this priviledge of ALL Southwest employees riding 4th. Ive been with Southwest for 39 years and have used this priviledge extensively over the years. So, for well over my time, it has never been a Safety issue. All this is made up by these so called overworked 556 members who spend their down time on their phones, ignoring passengers boarding, and not wanting to serve drinks and snacks because of non existent turbulence! And yes I work the rear galley area provisioning and I see how useless and sloppy they have become. Thank God Herb isnt around to see what the imbeciles have done to his creation. Pathetic.
Well good was about time They aren’t trained on the ER Procedures so they should not be allowed to sit on a J/S that privilege should be only for the cabin or cockpit crew period
Aircraft mechanics should be able to take those seats as well considering they fix the shit....smh. Alot of swa fa's are physically unable to lift even a raft. Pilots dont even know the safety protocols the FA's know. Ridiculous. They just want more freedom to travel easily without competing for a seat among other employees. Tribalism. Smh
I worked for 2 airlines in the 1980s.
Jumpseat was a rare privilege. Ops had to approve ahead of time. The Captain had to really like you.
I only asked twice in 5 years, and I knew the Captain well both times.
Maybe not so ridiculous for the staff trying to get on a full flight and this is the only option left.
Who cares what it looks like ? One can mind their own business and enjoy their confirmed pax seat and not be so concerned about others' business. I think practically any non-rev occupying the jump seat would be an asset in an emergency, in the presence of a trained/working F/A. This isn't rocket science evacuating an aircraft. I'd be a lot more concerned about the idiots taking their carryon baggage with during an evacuation......
WN sure seems like it's going out of its way to make life worse for not only its pax but staff as well. Safety, my arse. F/A's just want more chances of being boarded, primadonnas not realizing that there's a lot of other employees required to run the airline. This will only demoralize the non-crew WN employees and create friction. But maybe that's part of the new WN management strategy to 'divide & conquer'....
Unions doing what they do best.
Stir something up for the sake of doing something to justify expensive union dues.
You're confusing overworking with laziness.
Just like they're confusing safety with laziness.
They push out the Aircraft Mintenance Technician also From that Seat (Not the Flight Deck) How a AMT can not operate a Cabin Door if they are the ones that fix everything that Make no sense and also AMTs have to Comute to their home. Not to Mention that that Jomp Seat is Part of the AMFA contract with the Company so Grivance the way to let the AMTs to Jomp seat. The Flight Attendance are just securing their Commute whit the Excuse of safety by False report Any other person out of their work group. They want to keep pilots out of that too but they always try to marry a Capitan with $350k year salary that is the reason they did no fight pilots out not to mention that the pilots are their Boss in the Sky.
Mark...SA and Jumpseat travel on SWA is by time of check-in, not senority. Try to get the facts straight before you have an opinion.