Originally Posted by
Les Habitants
The things you guys are saying about jumpseating is blowing my mind.
Here in Canada we consider the ability to "jumpseat" a complete privilege. There is no such thing as walking up to the gate and asking to "use the jumpseat." You call ahead of time, pay the applicable taxes (yes, our jumpseats aren't free here), and IF there is a seat available on the plane in the back-you cannot sit in the jumpseat-you may sit there. If for ANY reason the gate agent cannot or even does not want to put you on the plane they have every right to refuse it and you are not allowed to complain or say anything.
It seems like the culture down south is very different. If anyone ever said a word about being bumped, no matter how unfair it is, you can be sure his bosses would hear about it.
It is somewhat the same here, except its ultimately the Captains jumpseat. MY argument was that most pilot contracts when deadheading require a seat in the back, and if the flight is full they bump someone (if your needed to get a flight out and thats why they are deadheading you). No one should volunteer for the jumpseat and bump someone who is trying to get to/from work, the company makes taking from the pilots a game, and pushes to see how far they can push. I see no reason to help them out and bump someone else, they should learn not to oversell that far.
In Canada is seems you guys also get treated much better than down here.