Sniper

Check-in time is the only way to go for those pilots not on their own metal. Why though? Read on, if you want to be confused.

Say US Airways mainline and Colgan do priority by seniority for jumpseating, while Mesa and RAH does priority by time of check-in (I have no idea if these are accurate, just pretend they are).

So, on a US Airways mainline flight, the following people check-in in the following order for the jumpseat:

1. Delta pilot #1 (DOH 1990)
2. Colgan pilot #1 (DOH 2008)
3. Mesa pilot #1 (DOH 2005)
4. US Airways pilot #1 (DOH 1991)
5. RAH pilot #1 (DOH 2007)
6. Colgan pilot #2 (DOH 2007)
7. US Airways pilot #2 (DOH 1990)
8. Mesa pilot #2 (DOH 2003)

So, how does it all shake out (using just jumpseat priority)?

1. US Airways pilot #2
2. US Airways pilot #1
3. Colgan #1 or #2?
4. Colgan #1 or Mesa #1?
5. Chaos!
6. Bickering!
7. 
8. Delta pilot #1

US Airways goes first, it's their metal. US #1 checked in first, but US #2 is senior, so US #2 is first, then US #1, b/c US does it by DOH, and US's DOH policy and US DOH can be verified by the gate agent in their computer.

Now US Express pilots go next. Any wholly-owned? No. So, non-wholly-owned next.

- Colgan #1 is next. Does Colgan do DOH? Colgan #2 says they do, Colgan #1 isn't so sure. The gate agent has no idea, nor does the computer. Is there another Colgan pilot? Yes. Is he senior to Colgan #1? Yes. Do we swap Colgan #1 with Colgan #2, or give Colgan #2 this spot, and just bump Colgan #1 down one spot? Hmm . . .
- Next is Mesa #1. Does Mesa do DOH? Nope. So Mesa #1 stays.
- Next is RAH #1. Does RAH do DOH? Nope. RAH #1 stays.
- Now we have Colgan #2, but he took Colgan #1's spot. Should Colgan #2 be able to leap-frog two pilots who checked in before him? Should Colgan #1 go in front of Mesa #1, b/c he checked in before Mesa #1, or should he lose 3 spots simply b/c he's junior to Colgan #2?

The system breaks down @ this point. Assuming the gate agent and all the pilots actually know how each airline prioritizes jumpseaters (almost certainly this information is not available to the gate agent, and about 1/2 of all pilots don't know either), what do you do?

The answer is, the agent does it by time of check-in for all of those who aren't on their own metal within each priority group (priority groups being US Mainline, US Express Wholly-owned, US Express Contract, off-line pilots).

This is for 3 reasons:

1. An airline can't dictate how jumpseating priority is done on flights that are not operated by them. Colgan jumpseat policy is irrelevant on US Airways.
2. The chaos stated above. You can't have Colgan #2 jumping ahead of Mesa #1 and RAH #1, all trying to follow Colgan's policy. And you certainly can't have Colgan #1 bumping anyone down the list either.
3. The reality of non-rev priority (see below).

Non-rev priority is done by DOH. So, if there are only 4 seats open (2 in the cabin and 2 in the flightdeck), the reality is, the US Airways guys are getting 2 of them (they have highest priority not just for jumpseating, but for non-rev'ing too). Now, the other 2 seats, who gets them? . . . the two Mesa pilots, b/c they have a higher non-rev priority than any of the other US Airways Express pilots, and non-revs have a higher priority than jumpseaters. The agent assigns the two flight deck seats to the US Airways pilots, waits till the very end of boarding, then assigns the remaining cabin seats to the non-revs by non-rev priority. The Delta guy, being an off-line pilot, cannot non-rev, and is last on the jumpseat list.

And, the last little twist to the whole story? Mesa pilot #2, with a DOH of 2003, is junior to Mesa pilot #1 (DOH 2005) on the Mesa pilot seniority list, but has a earlier DOH (and thus a higher non-rev status) b/c he was hired as a flight attendant for Mesa in 2003, and, while working as a F/A, got the hours to get hired as a pilot @ Mesa, keeping his original DOH.

So, if it's not your own metal, it's first-come, first-serve for the jumpseat (within each priority grouping, of course). If there's enough seats for all of you, it doesn't matter the priority. If the seats are limited, those with the ability to non-rev can reshuffle the order of all the cabin seats by DOH anyway.

Confusing? Yep.

As always, talk to your jumpseat committee about these issues to get the definitive answer to your specific issue, rather than relying on an internet forum answer.