Just because it’s been in effect for 15 years doesn’t make it right. It just goes to show you 90% of AS employees drive to work. The only time this overwhelming majority flies on Alaska is for leisure purposes and of course they are at the gate more than 30 prior. We’re talking commuters running to catch their flight home. It’s not like they purposefully show up 25 prior to depart.

In my commuting days I’ve run to the last Delta redeye home after a long day and sometimes getting there just 10-15 minutes prior, and they got me listed to jumpseat and I got on the plane, offline. I can’t imagine being a CA and watching someone get left behind on my plane because they got to the gate at 25 prior, for our own employees!

This represents beat down Stockholm syndrome, you shouldn’t be defending this. Yes NY closed and my app is in with other airlines. And the attitude of “don’t like it, go elsewhere” needs to be changed to “let’s see if we can fight to improve this.” Hence the ALPA recall thread. The days of OTZEagle kind of people are limited. There are lots of newer pilots and a sizable VX portion at some point these will become majority over the old guard.

 

Perfectly said

 

Airbus captains need to start making the walk up to the gate, and checking for jumpseaters. We need to make sure commuters are getting on regardless of when they get to the gate. To hell with this 30 min rule.

 

I don’t agree with leaving jumpseaters behind but there’s no reason to disparage the gate agents. They’re just doing as they’re told. It’s not their personal policy. You can’t expect mutual respect from fellow employees and then call them trolls. After all they’re YOUR gate agents too. This kind of rhetoric needs to end.

 

Calling her a troll has nothing to do with her enforcing this policy upon a uniformed crew member. It has everything to do with her attitude and the manner in which she addressed the issue. Her nastiness is what made her a troll, not applying a policy, and it’s an attitude that many legacy AS gate agents have. You are correct, they are now OUR gate agents.

 

We all understand that there are many things corporations do not have to do for their employees but they do it non-the-less to foster improved labor relations and employee retention, among other things, which in turn positively affects the company's bottom line and operational efficiency.

The typical pilot career sees us away from our homes and families for multi-day stretches several times in any given month. That is incredibly disruptive to family life. Additionally, pilots often do not have control over where and when their airline may close a base; but when it does happen, because they and their families are typically already firmly entrenched in their communities, they typically make the decision to commute to the new base.

Commuting is a way of life for pilots and most airlines actually do build some amount of commutable trips because they understand this reality. It is also why jumpseat agreements exists throughout our industry.. Alaska airlines is an outlier in this regard but now that they have bought and absorbed an airline where the majority of the pilots are commuters, they would be wise to make some accommodation for this new reality. A disgruntled workforce is not to the advantage of any company.

If you weren't aware of these facts then it really underscores the alternate universe that some of you guys are living in. If you were aware, and still decided to make those comments on this forum, then it just shows that you lack empathy and that you're a real piece of work my friend..

 

The company did put out a memo that exempts crew from the new bag rules...

 

Thanks for the info, I guess I missed. Will be helpful to bring up next time they try to check my bag.

 

We had some issues with some of our gate agents at my airline, which were finally addressed. However, some agents still tried carry on with their old ways. Showing them the actual company policy in writing almost always convinced them to change their minds.

Find the exemption for crews and print and carry it with you.

 

Airlines have had this backwards for years.

They should be charging for carry ons with checked bags flying free.

There is a reason Spirit can board an Airbus in 15 mins.


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