Originally Posted by
nakazawa
There’s certainly a difference between ‘booking’, and ‘permission’. What appears to be happening now is, the non-crew members will be booked in the cockpit without the knowledge of the Captain, and on review of the release 1 hour prior to push-back, he’ll realize there’s a non-crewmember cockpit jumpseater. He’s THEN obligated to either take the jumpseater, or explain in a letter to the VP Flight Ops why he bumped [him]...
Management would love for you to feel this way, and (IMO) wrote FOM 2.93 so that a casual read would create this impression/intimidation.
However, a careful read will show that a Capt can exclude any jumpseater from a cockpit jumpseat. Furthermore, it's inappropriate for management to ask the Capt for a reason for bumping someone from the cockpit. This is the battle that was fought and won with the horse handler issue.
The note that talks about submitting a justification letter to the VP of air ops is in reference to denying a jumpseat to someone traveling under the provisions of 121.583. (i.e. cabin jumpseats OUTSIDE the cockpit, aft of an IRCD).