The APA Jumpseat Chair is well aware of AA's limited issue - when you represent the largest airline in the world and virtually every airline has better jumpseat rules than you, you're gonna' stand out from the crowd. I'm quite sure the vast majority of AA guys who commute are aware of the issue as well - it is not a good feeling to ask for a jumpseat every week and be told "sure, grab any seat you want, we take unlimited" and not be able to say, "thanks, we reciprocate".

With that being said, while AA sticks out like a sore thumb now, 10 years ago limited jumpseats were all the rage - all the majors had them, if they had jumpseats at all (Delta was late to this party, in particular). It took a lot of work by the pilot groups to get them. Most major pilots actually secured unlimited only when they ate HUGE concessions after Sept. 11th - "as long as you're taking our retirement, or income, and our QOL, we'd like to have unlimited jumpseats for off-line pilots" was essentially the way it went. APA Jumpseat Committee also was a leader in CASS coming to fruition - and it's no easy sell to stubborn management when your airline lost 2 aircraft in a series of flightdeck breaches recently, as it was for AA (and UA).

The only entity that's really told AA management "give us unlimited on ALL your flights, or go pound sand" is the folks at Southwest. They're the largest domestic airline, so they have a bigger stick than anyone else, and their management was swinging the stick with SWAPA, not just SWAPA.

Is it even reasonable to ask APA and the AA pilots to take concessions to get unlimited for off-line? Tough to say - they've lost a lot over the past decade, and it's not easy to get a group of pilots (AA, or anyone else) to take a concession they won't directly benefit from. Would you take concessions so AA could have unlimited @ your airline? Would you do it after taking a 50% pay cut and losing many of the benefits you've fought so hard for for decades? Would you do it if you don't commute and don't value jumpseat benefits? It's hard to sell concessions for off-line jumpseats to everyone with the pitch "well, everyone else reciprocates with us, so we should do it out of principle". I believe the AA Flight Attendants are not exactly being helpful on unlimited off-line pilot access to all AA flights either (please correct me if I'm in error here).

AA will eventually go unlimited on all flights for all pilots - but it will take time. A dialogue is good on the issue, but, rest assured, the biggest supporters of the change are likely the AA pilots who you see at your flightdeck door, asking for a ride to work or home. A jumpseat denial due to AA's management hang-ups will only hurt those who are the biggest cheerleaders for change to the jumpseat policy @ AA - the AA commuters themselves. Just keep asking if they're unlimited yet - it keeps the pressure on so that one day, that AA pilot will happily answer, "YES!"