Originally Posted by
trent890
. . . text from the Flight Operations Manual which describes the Flightdeck Jumpseat boarding categories . . .
You might notice on the Jumpseat Travel Request form that there is a location for the gate agent to record your time of check-in, but there is no where on the form to list your date of hire. That is because we use time of check-in for most of the jumpseat priority subcategories, DOH only comes into play when non-reving for a seat in the back.
. . . printed on the backside of the jumpseat request form there is also the computer file path for the agent to read the "FAQ" and how to handle the flightdeck jumpseat request and boarding process.
Exactly.
No airline (call me out if I'm wrong) uses DOH for jumpseating (they do for non-reving, which is
not the same as jumpseating, though Continental has made it seem this way to the average agent and pilot by the way they clear jumpseats at the gate - that's another topic for another day).
All airlines use use
pilot seniority for jumpseat priority, not DOH, for their own pilots on their own metal (and first come first serve for everyone else, within priority groups).
Think about a merger with an integrated list - DOH doesn't necessarily translate to seniority. A quick perusal of the disagreement between the US Airways East and West pilots should be evidence enough of this.
It is impossible for the agent or the PIC to ascertain who is senior, unless the computer has this information. The computer often only has your seniority list info if it is owned by your airline. For mainline, this isn't a huge deal. Most of their flights are operated out of gates that have their company's computer available. For Express . . . it is an issue. You have an agent who is likely untrained in your company's procedures, so give the agent some assistance.
Please, if you are confused about this stuff, contact your jumpseat committee, especially if you're a CA. It is your responsibility to determine priority on your jumpseat, not the gate agent's.