Originally Posted by Dashdrvr

Doesn't sound like you were trying to get on my flight yesterday but the circumstances are eerily similar.
An AS pilot (not JS)checks in with me if were not taking any jump seaters. I tell him we should be. He replies the gate says you are not. I reply thats news to me. I call CLP and they reply that they told the gate to limit to 1 Jump seat. Hmmm. I call ops and he tells me we can take one jump seat. I tell him the above. He says he will check then tells me no Jump seat. By then flight is closed out and we have 74 pax and 1800 lbs usable load even with a fuel burn reduced max landing weight. I call CLP and inquire politically correct WTF!. Then I start getting all the dodges. We were expecting 76, bag load was lighter than expected, blah blah. In a nutshell CLP screwed it up in a big way, stations is too lazy to fix it and you don't get home. All I can say I am sorry for our incompetent people. I have commuted on AS many years and know in these types of situations when the flight is closed out for revenue passengers a quick calculation of useable load is done and that usable is put on in non revs and jump seaters.
We RARELY had that this problem when captains did their own W and B.
To answer your question. A bunch of BS. Thats the reason you can't talk to the captain. Its all about control.