Sadly, there are increased barriers between us and the jumpseat. From my experiences, the main factor seems to be the gate agents who may have little to no training on this matter. Also, I've discovered that the less an individuals knows, the more random stuff they create to back up their lack of knowledge, ensuring you don't get on. Some insane things I've been told:
- "we only take jumpseaters on weekends"
- "only major airlines can ride in our jumpseats" when I asked about Soutwest, JetBlue, ect, the he stated that he'd never heard of them so probably not. This was in Canada.

Good luck getting in the jumpseat when you're dealing with people who've never heard of Southwest.