e6bpilot

The cockpit jumpseat is one of the last vestiges of old school pilot to pilot courtesy and I consider it a huge benefit. It has saved my bacon on many a commute. To hear a few FAA guys chest puffing about it disappoints me greatly. We understand that the Feds have priority when they are conducting checks. That doesn't make it their personal travel seat or entitle them to use it as such under the guise of "official business".
PistolB above has the right attitude and is the type of inspector that everyone welcomes up there.
The guys that are abusing it...shame on you. There are pilots who commute to work who depend on that seat. I was a government employee for 20 years, and uncle never had a problem buying a ticket for me when I was on official travel. If it is required and you absolutely need to do the check, then fine. If not, you are part of the problem and are perpetuating the stereotype that so many 121 guys have about Feds.


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Flydaplane

Good friend of a FSDO mgr who I talk to frequently. No FED initial training done in TX. No ASI goes to training with FEDS right away. ASI's start in an office and do a bunch of CBT until they get assigned a training date months later. All new hire ASI training is done at their academy in OKC. If he was still with a regional he was probably using that ID (airline) to jumpseat to his newly assigned domicle which could have been TX. ASI new hires don't get a 110-A until they've completed a bunch of training, which takes close to a year to get.
ASI must ask for your id and medical so he can document the trip in computer when he gets back, otherwise he will get flagged for using jumpseat for personal use, which isn't allowed. All of their jumpseat forms are audited so as long as they've filled out their form and given it to your gate agent they are on legit business.
Travel to Dallas area for flying currency purposes of ASI is considered official duty, they are conducting inspection of carrier, and the NAS (National Airspace System) and must document the trip upon return (most ASI's are upset by this as they'd rather be flying on a ticket).
Not allowed to travel in jumpseat for personal use. No exceptions. ASI's who are MX are allowed by same rules cited earlier.
FEDs can take families on longer trips they are going on but they have to pay for the tickets of their family...so if FED has to go to DFW to observe Simuflite training, and the wife wants to come see Aunty Edna she could go too...but she's paying full fare ticket price.
Estimates 90% of all ASI's hired nationwide since 2007 have had 121 experience. 1 in his office hasn't but is ex-military and he had to hire due to vetran's preference points and lack of applicants.

NEDude

I remember the incident very well (it was at VX). The captain was, at the time, our lead line check airman too. Our POI was new at the time and was rocking the boat big-time. This incident was just one of several that ultimately resulted in what has to be one of the shortest tenures as a POI in FAA history. And BTW other than some initial headaches from having to justify his actions, our lead line check airman was 100% correct and faced absolutely zero disciplinary action for kicking the POI off the airplane.

ThreeGreens

I was flying with a old salt leaving JFK to CVG years ago. A guy walks past the FA and says he has our jumps eat and wants to see our license and medical right now. My captain turns around and says, how about you walk back out on the jetbridge, knock, politely introduce yourself, show me your 110-A and THEN ill accommodate your request. The FED didn't know what to do. But, he complied with the captains instructions and did it with a better attitude. I had been bumped by the same little weasel 4 times from HOU to ATL, aggravating to say the least.

saxman66

Up until reading this thread, I really had no idea that FAA guys had to be conducting safety inspections. Though, as a brand new captain, I'm still going to have serious qualms over kicking an FAA guy out of my jumpseat for any reason. Next thing I know, I'll have a LOI in my mailbox for a loose screw on a tray table or worn piece of carpet. Thinking back eight years, I can only think of one or two guys in our jumpseat that was there to do a line on us. The rest were commuters returning or going from other duties. I just assumed they were required to give us a line check/safety inspection anyway.

Now I'm checking my manuals carefully and see that FAA inspectors doing flight checking on a must ride basis, and they must have Form 110A.