Reading this post, please allow me to share my own experience of exceptional jumpseat gallantry.
Many moons ago (around 1999) I jumpseated with NW from AMS to DTW and then onward to IND ( working for CHQ at the time) Arriving at the airplane in AMS the crew was exceptionally nice and even apologetic for only being able to offer a seat in economy. Arriving in DTW I proceeded to the gate for the flight to IND. Sure enough, here was the FO from the previous flight as well, trying to jumpseat home. I guess NW had a policy of only allowing the amount of jumpseaters consistend with tha actual amount of jumpseats onboard.
I was shear out of luck and resigned to take the next flight home when this gentlemen out of the blue offered to take one of his passes and ride in the back so I could take his jumpseat. Very gallantry. During the flight to IND we actually ended up sitting next to one another as the captain offered me a seat in the back. We got to talk and I mentioned that once arriving in IND I had to wait for a bit for my wife to get of work and pick me up at the airport. He then offered to even drive me home. How nice can I guy get?
During the drive home I mentioned that he seemed very familiar. It turned out he was the squadron commander of some ANG KC135 outfit just north of IND. He had been on the news a few weeks prior due to his outfit deploying to Yugoslavia or some place. We got to talk about being an airline pilot and running a squadron on the side. The man was so cool, mentioning how he owed the airforce for his training and wanting to do something back.
Ten years later this guy is still on the front of my mind when I read stories about jumpseating . Back then the internet forums weren’t as commonplace as they are today. If somebody knows the guy in question I would appreciate it if they could pass along my admiration, He was a gentleman ( I think the place was called Grissom I could be wrong though).
greetings from a KLM pilot