Originally Posted by
nicholasblonde
I've seen 9E captains bend over backwards trying to get jumpseaters on...and gate agents in Memphis--both XJ and 9E--are usually amazingly supportive of jumpseaters/nonrevs...I think it's a DTW thing...crappy city, crappy weather, high turnover= bad gate agents...MSP is full of helpful and educated peeps doing it for flight benefits and MEM is fully of people who have actually been around for a while...so DTW is always going to be a cluster for j/s unless they start staffing it with mainline/better-paid employees
I agree. I have never had a bad experience with trying to jumpseat with 9e although I've been bumped off due to weight restrictions on those CRJ200s. Every 9e pilots I've met have been friendly and I make sure they are treated the same way when they try to jumpseat on XJ. There are sour gate agents at DTW and MSP but most of them are NWA employees. Most XJ gate agents are helpful.
As far as rampies are concerned, enough said by others here. It's not unusual to wait 20 minutes for a park job at DTW whether you are XJ or 9e. I've seen tug drivers wait until the last minute to show up while passengers are waiting complaining why NWA does not take off on time. In fairness though, I've seen this at ALB, MSP, BDL, and MEM as well.
I have nothing but good things to say about Pinnacle flight crews. I've met some great people working for Pinnacle and I wish them the best in 2009.