TOTD goes to agent wouldn't let me jumpseat without checking my bag. I asked if I could at least ask the captain for a ride and they probably have space for bag too. "The captain is not in charge. I am. Either you check your bag or you will not board the flight"[emoji35]

Captain asks where my bag is. I tell him it's already down below. He said sorry about that. I then see that about a 1/3 of the bins are empty in back.


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Funny guys, all of you. :D




You'd be surprised the difference in turbulence between the front of the cabin and the aft. I've seen my fellow FAs start service in the front while we were in our aft jumpseats. Sometimes they're able to complete it, sometimes they end up stopping and returning to their jumpseats. It all depends, I guess....but glad to hear you listen to your FAs. I'm sure it's very much appreciated and they love flying with you! :)

Was relief FO once pre-9/11, and every time we hit barely a ripple the aft FA's started obnoxiously yelling to turn on the FSB sign. During this era in our crew relations, it was difficult to sort out real problems from general beetchyness.

CA directed me to go back to see what the problem was, before I even got to the front part of Coach, I was set upon by the Wicked Witches of the East and West in tight formation. The situation degenerated quickly into me informing them the CA was in charge and me heading back up front.

I probably would have figured the problem out had I gotten to the aft galley and not been "attacked".

One week later while on the same flight on my break, it was the same light ripples in front, so I wandered back to the aft galley to see the difference in the ride. In the Aft Galley, it was swaying all over the place and I couldn't walk without bracing myself. I called up the CP, and after switching to the other Yaw Damper, it went rock solid smooth. It was the same jet as last week. Problem solved.

Pretty commonsense approach to an easy problem. The 'I'm the captain' crowd unfortunately has a bunch to learn and sometimes make this job much more complicated than it needs to be.

The other problem we're having is the 'don't mind me texting during the middle of my PC or oral' crowd as well..... Right, Shy? :D

I thought the cool cats can fly a V1 cut with one hand, text with the other, one foot pushing the rudder, and the other foot jamming to the tunes that are blasting in the headset via bluetooth :D

Tool of the day is..... https://mobile.twitter.com/JiHyun42

I've had this happen several times. I just go along with it, thank the agent for the hospitality and the ride, wheel my bag down, ask the crew if there is room for my bag, then remove the tag and store it in a bin or the cockpit. Winning friends and influencing people makes commuting so much easier.

This is usually my strategy but this gate had the bag chute at the podium. When I tried to go down with my bag the agent ran down and stopped me. His way or the highway, so I had to without getting security called or something.


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This is always the story when commuting on AA.

Whats she going on about?

Yep. This has happened to me also. Sorry man. I had a ramp guy in CLT once (AA) decide he didn't want to carry a crew bag up the jetway stairs so he took my gate checked bag, hand wrote a check tag, and sent it to the bag belt without telling anyone. After having the gate agent, captain, and ramp supervisor try and find my gate check on the aircraft, the station manager finally told me that it had been sent to baggage claim as per their policy of no gate checks.

Just FYI, this is a TSA violation that can get you, and everyone else, in some hot water. We got a memo about this awhile back at UAL. Once the bag has been tagged it MUST be checked. Unfortunately some agents are quite obstructionist about the whole thing. Sure makes me appreciate jumping on airlines like SWA that usually let me pre-board, or Alaska and Virgin that will kindly put a gate-check tag on there for me

That's what I thought, too. I'm pretty sure when bags are gate checked, they're scanned into the system, which could lead to problems if it doesn't show up down below. Not 100% sure, though.

BTW, jetBlue is also WONDERFUL about gate checking crew member's bags. :)

Usually the gate agent at the desk doesn't scan the bag into the system. That's done by the rampers at the bottom of the jetbridge right before the area you get on the plane, where the door is leading to the ramp. They'll scan it then and take it out the door. I haven't heard of the chute by the gate agent system. In that case it's probably scanned right there.

You're correct for the most part, but I've seen scanning done at the counter by either supervisors (not sure if gate or ramp). May just be an occasional jetBlue thing, though.

I can't tell if you guys are talking about ripping off valet-tags (pink, green or red colored) or white tagged checked luggage.

I recently found out that some e-145 operators can't allow wheeled luggage in the cabin even if it fits.

This is correct. Roll-a-board luggage at my regional was not permitted in the cabin. Only the small personal item. I believe part of the reason was the certified W/B program was based on only the small personal item.

I nominate the Delta baggage handler or TSA agent who took the time to untie a tightly knotted, heavy cloth ribbon attached to the handle of my girlfriends roller bag, remove two charms and then sloppily retie it.

The ribbon was tied right next to her "Delta Flight Crew" luggage tag.

Well that's a certified whackadoodle!

I've had the same experience. One gate agent hero made me check a garment bag on the way to an interview. Get onboard and sure enough, bins are AT MOST 3/4 full and the crew are asking if they can stow a bag for me :mad:

Vlogging hard.
Disbelief.

I tell ya, that sh** needs to stop. ORD is hands down the worst. I had the head FA tell me to go back upstairs and get my bag because nearly half the bins were empty. Got chewed out by the agent in front of everyone up there. I appreciate the ride, but the way we are treated on them vs. the way other airlines treat their pilots is not fair. Speaking of which, we always give offline jumps premium seating if available. Why is it AA agents can't be bothered to put us in something other than a middle in the back when the front is wide open?

Yup. AA is the worst to commute on because of the agents. My experience as well. Always my very last choice even if their flight happens to be most convenient.

For whatever it's worth, I've had just about the exact opposite experience jumpseating on AA. The flight crews have always treated me like one of their own and bend over backwards to make me feel welcome. The only time I've had a extreme coach seat was when there was nothing else left. I've had a few gate agents who turned me away when the jet bridge was still attached, but each time that was clearly because they were working as a single and were under pressure to get the flight out on time. A Captain who "did the walk" would've fixed that, but not everybody does that, sadly.

Jumpseating on AA is at least as nice as doing it on our own metal, and sometimes better. I appreciate all of their consideration.

I think this poster was referring to the gate agents, not the flight crews. In my experience the flight crews have always been terrific. Even riding up front on AA has been a good time with the crew. However I have had more than one "less than pleasant" experience with the agents and the overall listing process. I know that my carrier doesn't make it nearly as difficult.

I agree that the gate agents are the weak link, and that's probably what the poster I quoted was talking about. I just don't think that the AA gate agents are appreciably worse than anybody else's. If anything, they seem to have to put up with more electronic obstacles than other carriers. You would think that after all of the hoops that myidtravel makes you jump through, the actions of the gate agent would be previously completed and all they would have to do is verify the listing and check our IDs. Instead it's like that scene from Meet The Parents.

There is absolutely NO WAY that I could ever be a gate agent. Especially for what they get paid. Life is too short, and I sympathize with their plight.

My point was it doesn't matter how many open bins there are. You will be checking your bag on AA. They WILL also leave you behind when you've been at the gate for an hour and a half. This after the last agent for the flight before turned you away for running up 10 prior but the line is still halfway up the jetway.

Btw I'm always listed ahead of time.

Pilots are always great. Agents for AA hate junpseaters.

Well, for what it's worth, I jumpseat on AA frequently (I live in DFW) and have never been forced to check my bag. I've had the crew store it in the cockpit and even had the FO on a MD88 walk it down to their secret crew storage area AND BACK after the flight to avoid checking it once. I'm definitely with you on the overworked and understaffed gate agents being the weak link here, but I haven't seen anything nearly as bad as what you describe.

Where do you normally ride them? I've used them mainly from IAH/EWR to/from DFW and haven't had much pushback on anything. I've also used them from ORD, IAD, LGA, PHX, CLT, MIA and LAX all with minimal friction.

Is there any recourse for the non-revenue folks for being treated poorly?

Unfortunately, no. The gate agents are well aware that someone traveling as a non-rev has to be on their absolute best behavior at all times or risk termination of benefits or employment. I can't speak for a mainline passrider, but as a regional punk, I have to put up with a lot of downright rude behavior from gate agents. I just have to grit my teeth and smile if I want to go home.

Document everything and pass it along to your Jumpseat Committee head to pass along to the other Jumpseat Committee head.

If it's a problem child agent or station, it should be eventually be addressed.

I try to give the benefit of the doubt. But.... Is there ever any excuse for someone on a DH (on rotation) to bump a commuter off the JS rather than insist on the pos space seat?

No. Never. Not ever.

Nope not at all. Some guys want to get that extra person on which I understand, but they're screwing over a commuter that might be trying to get home or to work. If the airline overbooked the flight then they can deal with the denied boarding compensation.

Well said event happened this morning in EWR, involving an airline that perhaps lately is more sensitive than most about denied boarding....

I'm not the pilot it happened to, so admittedly this is second hand. But apparently the TOTD realized he wasn't positive spaced though he was scheduled for DH, didn't want to call scheduling to get it fixed, and instead bumped the pilot who was trying to commute home. The flight accommodated a few off the standby list.

Really want to give benefit of the doubt somehow but I just can't come up with any way this guy isn't TOTD-worthy. Edited to add: I know nothing changes just by complaining on a forum. I'm sure official channels will be made aware.

Well, from what you've said, I'd have to agree with you. Have the guy file a PDR or submit a note to your jumpseat committee.

That's a fairly major party foul. It's bad enough when there's nobody currently ON the jumpseat. It's heinous when they actually have to remove a dude.

I used some inaccurate wording saying "bumped" - my bad; no need to make it sound worse than it was. The other guy who was supposed to have positive space signed in for the JS when no one was on it - but only barely. But he didn't change his plan even after knowing he was blocking a commuter from getting on the flight and there were still standbys being cleared.

He still should not be doing that for a number of reasons. Our DH procedures are a negotiated benefit. Voluntarily giving that up will get used against us as a status quo argument. Plus (as shown here) it takes the jumpseat away from somebody who needs it.

Document it.

Unfortunately, yes, in the case of Frontier's substandard contract. Here's a direct quote:

"Pilots returning to Domicile for legal rest may be assigned a cockpit jumpseat if all seats in the cabin are filled with positive space revenue passengers or other Deadheading crewmembers and the Scheduled Block is less than 3 hours."

Believe me, I'm certainly not saying this is right or the way it ought to be. (So please don't shoot the messenger). I'm just pointing out one possible way someone jumpseating on F9 could be hosed by a deadheading crewmember forced to ride in the jumpseat. I don't think a crewmember could legitimately refuse since it's spelled out right there in the CBA.

Hoping that our now ALPA union leadership will fix this in our next contract.

EDIT: After reading the rest of the thread, I now see that the F9 issue doesn't exactly relate to this situation (and we don't fly out of EWR), but I figured I'd leave it posted just for general awareness.