I attempt to utilize the privilege of jumpseat travel often as both a necessity of commute and for personal travel. More often than not, I encounter uncooperative gate personnel that have an attitude that jumpseating pilots are creating more work and should not be accommodated. This seems especially so in busy understaffed noisy commuter concourses.

The canned question "Are you listed?" is usually the first indication that the gate agent may have an attitude about jumpseaters, and tone of voice in how that question is asked is key. Listing for non rev travel is a concept from the 1960s when a listing was made to insure that a meal was catered for the non-rev. In that pre GUI era of computers, a listing also minimized the workload at the gate. That work load now is often one or two keystrokes or mouse clicks, so an agent that starts with that question may be implying, "If you aren't listed, I'm going to start out with an attitude and make you uncomfortable at least and not accommodate you if I can." I try to list but offline every airline has subtle differences and listing it self can be difficult if your jumpseating is plan "B".

In today's CASS environment many carriers have a link that creates a listing when CASS is properly accessed. If the flight is full and you're asking for cockpit access CASS does most of the work formerly associated with creating a listing.

I applaud ALPA for the attempt to bring jumpseat problems to the attention of our peers with the "No pilot left behind" campaign, but it doesn't go far enough to educate gate agents and ground staff persons. For the past several years I have been trying to get up and take a walk up the jetway to have some dialog with the agents in the terminal especially when the flight is a domestic segment and booked full. I make an effort to assure pilots at the gate that I will make every effort to get them on board. I attempt to do so in full view and earshot of the gate agent(s) working the flight. That usually sets the tone as to how jumpseating pilots will be treated. The agents almost always are watching and listening, so it makes it difficult for that agent to continue to exercise any personal anti-pilot agenda without a lot of risk.

On the flip side, I have mentioned gate agent resistance, nasty personalities, violation of established procedures etc... to captains after suffering the process expecting them to be proactive only to hear things like, "Dude, I just want to get off the gate and on the way to the layover..." So there you have it, who should we blame? ourselves.

I recently was told by and outstation gate agent working one of our own 737s, that "the jumpseat wasn't available." I kicked myself immediately for not having approached the captain as he had been in the terminal for coffee. I then asked for some specifics and she replied, "I don't know, it's just not." I said well why don't we go ask the captain? She told me she, "didn't have access to the captain"!!!! At that point I informed her that I would make a call to the company dispatcher working the flight and find out for her. while I was still dialing, magically the jumpseat became "available".

The whole point of this ramble is that we need to fight to continue to have access to jumpseats. Once again a professional attitude on the part of the pilots working the flight can set a tone that carries though for the pilots that may not take the time to bother seeing if gate agents are getting pilots on. If however your the requester in the terminal you are at the mercy of the agent and how their supervisor interprets and establishes pilot jumpseat protocol.