Originally Posted by
Adlerdriver
Hopefully guys who choose to exercise this option will do so with a little bit of SA.
Bumping a guy who is on "plan-C" trying to get to work just so you can go home is a pretty lousy thing to do. That kind of etiquette breach rarely happens when you're face to face with your fellow jumpseaters at an airline gate. Schedules and jumpseat reasons are compared and the guy who needs the seat usually goes, regardless of where he works.
Unfortunately, there is a large population of sheltered guys at FedEx that (through no fault of their own) have never dealt with that. Add to that the ability to pull the "bump trigger" via phone in relative anonymity and we have the option to really screw a fellow pilot over.
I couldn't agree more. At previously company, several times I have seen a group discussion about why folks were on the jumpseat and what priority they had in getting there. In several cases, I have seen pilots elect to ride on the FA jumpseat so as to get off-line pilots to their destination (off-line pilots aren't allowed to sit in the FA jumpseats). Personally I have done this a couple of times.
I couldn't in good conscious bump someone without first asking the person what priority they have.