I once had a Northwest A320 captain ask for and get a Rwy 19 departure in DCA specifically to get myself and another jumpseater on the airplane. Couldn't do it taking off north due to the restrictive departure.
A couple months later at DCA a Mesaba RJ left 15 revenue pax behind (and me) because the crew didn't ask for a opposite direction departure.
That was probably 8 years ago; maybe they don't do that any more at DCA.