I will try to clear a few things up here.........
first the jumpseat is "owned" by the FAA. next comes the company ownership, if they want to give the captain ALL authority then that is up to them, but that was a company decision. At skywest management wants a reciprocal agreement before it goes to the third in line.......the captain. Once it passes the first two it now becomes the captains authority to deny or allow the jumpseater. If you meet the requirements of cockpit access (electronic verification CASS or internally for "online" and "codeshare" pilots, then you may ride in the cockpit.
Now let's clear up what CASS is and what it is not.............
CASS requires each individual airline to input a CASS carrier code into their computer so that the agents can look you up. If you do not have an agreement with that carrier the agents can input your two letter code all day long and it will not recognize it. At skywest on the UAX side (which is what SMX would have been to LAX) we are subjected to the limitations of UAL's computer system, so in this case if the agent was attempting to use CASS and you do not have a CASS agreement with UAL you cannot get verified. Having said that there is a mechanism in the system to allow agents to look up skywests agreement list which would allow you to get a cabin seat only. So just because you are a CASS airline does not mean you can automatically jumpseat in the cockpit of any CASS carrier.
As to Ameriflight..........you are not CASS. Ameriflight sells a subprogram that LOOKS like CASS but in fact is not a true CASS agreement through ARINC. In fact here is the latest list from ARINC dated June 4th 2008 ,,,,,,,,No Ameriflight:
ABX Air (GB)
Airnet Systems (USC)
AirTran (FL)
Air Cargo Carriers (2Q)
Air Midwest (ZV)
Air Transport International (8C)
Air Wisconsin (ZW)
Alaska Air (AS)
Allegiant Air (G4)
Aloha (AQ)
America West (HP)
American (AA)
American Eagle (AA)
Ameristar (AJI)
Arctic Transportation Services (7S)
Arrow Cargo (JW)
ASTAR Air Cargo (ER)
Atlantic Southeast (EV)
Atlas Air (5Y)
Aviation Services Ltd dba Freedom Air (FP)
Bering Air (8E)
Cape Air (9K)
Capital Cargo International (PT)
Champion Air (MG)
Chautauqua Airlines (RP)
Colgan Air (9L)
Comair (OH)
Commutair (C5)
Compass Airlines (CP)
Continental Airlines (CO)
Delta (DL)
Empire (EM)
Eos Airlines (E0)
Evergreen Airlines (EZ)
Everts Air (3Z)
Executive (AA) is American Eagle's SJU Operation
Expressjet / Continental Express (XE)
FedEx (FX)
Florida West International Airways(RF)
Freedom Airlines (F8)
Frontier (F9)
Gemini Air Cargo (GR)
GoJet Airlines (G7)
Great Lakes Aviation (ZK)
Hageland Aviation (H6)
Hawaiian Airlines (HA)
Horizon Air (QX)
IFL Group (IF)
Island Air (WP)
JetBlue (B6)
Kalitta Air (K4)
Kalitta Charters II (CB)
Kalitta Charters LLC (KFS)
Key Lime Air (KG)
Lynden Air Cargo (L2)
Lynx Aviation (L4)
Mesa Airlines (YV)
Mesaba (XJ)
Midwest Airlines (YX)
Murray Air (5M)
North American Airlines (NA)
Northern Air Cargo (NC)
Northwest (NW)
Omni Air International (OY)
Pace Airlines (Y5)
PenAir (KS)
Piedmont Airlines (US)
Pinnacle (9E)
Polar Air Cargo (PO)
Primaris (FE)
PSA Airlines (US)
Republic Airlines (RP)
Ryan International (RD)
Shuttle America (RP)
Skyway Enterprises (KI)
SkyWest(OO)
Southwest (WN)
Spirit Air (NK)
Sun Country Airlines (SY)
Swift Air (Q7)
Tradewinds Airlines (WI)
Trans North Aviation (7T)
Trans States Airlines (AX)
United (UA)
USA 3000 (U5)
USA Jet Airlines (JUS)
UPS Airlines (5X)
US Airways (US)
Virgin America (VX)
World Airways (WO)
Xtra Airways (XP)