Originally Posted by
Elusive Napkin
My memory from flying the -8 at another company is that the limiting factor is the number of descent reels on board. Which is 8. So the limitation is on upper deck occupants and not necessarily on jumpseats. So, if you have a 2-person crew operating ANC-SDF, there should be 6 available cabin seats.
Definitely makes no sense why Boeing didn’t just put 10 reels on the thing. But I’m no engineer....
Correct on all points. Here "there should be 6 available cabin seats" means there are only 2. Four are routinely used by the company for P3s which are known as "must rides" at pax airlines.
Our 400s have 6 jumpseats (2 in the cockpit and 4 in the cabin). All 6 can be used for jumpseating however usually only 2 P7s are available (P7 is what pilots use for commuting).
Our -8s will technically have 8 jumpseats (2 in the cockpit and 6 in the cabin) however only 6 can be used for jumpseating due to the limitation you mentioned.
(Note - I haven't seen our new plane yet so I'm just basing it on what I've heard.)
So the "unused" seats will serve no purpose unless the planes are re-certified. Ain't gonna happen..
My contention is that commuting to and from Anchorage will only be getting worst. I wish our company deadheaded our crew members the way FedEx does (passenger airlines). It'd open open up jumpseats for commuters.
Alternatively I'd like to see a matrix limiting the company to 1 or 2 P3s per 74 going to and from Anchorage.
I might be a dreamer but I certainly ain't the only one.