Originally Posted by
Boatbuilder
The original "rationale" for a no JS policy was supposedly because it wasn't a benefit they could offer all the employees so nobody could have it.
Of course if the company needed a pilot somewhere and the jet was full they'd sure as hell put you there!
After the shuttering of the DFW base created hundreds of commuters (those Texans weren't about to leave the lone star state) the company slowly and begrudgingly loosened the reins on the JS. First with some very draconian restriction and eventually to industry standard.
Also back then Delta was VERY anti-commuting.
Mostly correct, but not entirely. To summarize:
1. For years, Delta refused to offer the pilot jumpseat even to their own pilots, much less any other pilot group. This stemmed from a very toxic, anti-pilot mindset from the CEO on down. "If everyone can't have it, then no one can," "nobody forces you to commute" etc. This was also in the days of horrible contractual language, such as, you only got a hotel for qualification training "away from your base." So if you were an MCO-ATL commuter, and were going from M88 to 767, for example, it was all done in a crashpad at your expense. It was so ludicrous, to use the prior example, let's say you were going from CVG 88B to ATL 767B, if your training spanned more than one calendar month, and you converted on the first day of the second month (while still in training) the company would literally kick you out of the hotel at the end of the first month, because now you were ATL-based in month two, and "no one forces you to commute." (we eventually fixed that hotel language years later, so now it is pretty good)
2. We secured "industry standard jumpseat" with our 96 contract. It was mostly concessionary, but we at least got that! (disclaimer: I was hired early 97, so we already had the contract ratified long before I was hired).
3. The jumpseat has been pretty standard ever since. We actually didn't close the DFW base until the mid-2000s, so the two really aren't related.