OCCP

Can any southwest guys shed some light on this. In the past few months I've been told on several occasions the flight is weight restricted on a 1hr flight out of LAX with between 30-70 seats open in back. Each time the gate agent acted like it was a process to get it lifted to accommodate a jumpseater in the cabin and said the captain has no say in the matter. Seems strange to me.

sandlapper223

I just had this happen a few days ago as well. DCA-FLL. Approached the gate, requested jumpseat. Agent said "flight is completely full - let me check to see if we are weight restricted first". I asked if the jumpseat was included in the zero fuel weight and she replied, "no".

Now, I get the not including in the zero fuel weight part (depending on the company). But 200 lbs is going to tilt the 737 from carrying a jumpseater or not, and the gate agent is the gatekeeper?

This needs attention ladies and gentlemen. Even on a grossly "weight restricted" flight - The Captain can easily manipulate the 200 lb with dispatch to accommodate the jumpseat and make the flight legal and safe. But gate agents throwing statements like that out there need to be checked - and ASAP.

We must file a notice with the jumpseat coordinator at each occurrence - as I did. Every time.

(I did get on, and the flight wasn't even anywhere near over-weight - so why the preemptive statement by the agent)?

e6bpilot

This again...
As alluded to above, this is completely unacceptable. If you get the weight restricted excuse, please find the Captain or FO. If they don't address it (we have a few who truly don't GAS) then please please bring it up to your jumpseat committee so they can forward it to ours.
This is a complete line of BS by a ground employee who is either too scared or too lazy to get a jumpseater on. It has been brought up by our VP of flight ops as a priority and it shouldn't be happening as long as you are showing up 15 before push time. The captain absolutely has authority on this and most will hold the flight until ops and dispatch work out how to get the extra 200 pounds of meat on to a 130,000 pound aircraft.
If you need to get the captains attention, stand in the window with your ID held up to the glass. I have had to do it and I work here.

Firsttimeflyer

Ill add that I've had the conversation with gate agents as well telling me it was weight restricted. One time the captain was there and got me on no problem. The other time they magically said it was no longer weight restricted.
Hopefully you guys can pull the right strings and get this addressed, and as always, I appreciate the ride!

WelcomeToBen

I have also had this problem several times over the past couple of years. Usually the gate agent acts like they did me a favor (after telling me they were extremely weight restricted) and gives me a seat, even though the flight ended up leaving with dozens of open seats. The couple of times the gate agents said they weren't able to accommodate me, I managed to find either the FO or CA and they were able to get me on no problem. This is definitely not an issue with SWA crews, as they will do whatever they can to get you on, but it is a serious issue with some of the gate agents. I hope the SWA jumpseat committee can get this resolved.

MikeF16

Dammit, I clicked here hoping to see this was an FA hiring thread.

V169

A few months ago a change came down requiring the ops agents to coordinate with dispatch if the actual TOW was more than 2,000# than the planned TOW. (It had been 5,000#) With all the pressure on the ops agents to get flights pushed on-time some were cutting off adding any additional pax that would put them over the 2,000# limit to avoid taking a delay. A part of the problem is that the child weights are not accounted for until a child's boarding pass get scanned which can explain how the flights suddenly become "unweight restricted" once all the pax are onboard.

Sliceback

With empty seats the 'weight restricted' sounds fishy.

With a full flight of 175 seats it can be weight restricted. I've been weight restricted with 160 passengers on the 737-800 so another 3000 lbs of passenger payload would have resulted leaving with open seats.

full of luv

I usually get told weight restricted on an older 73 on 45 min flt out of Atl if any wx. All three times I've been told they are wt restricted I've gotten a seat in the back at the end of boarding. So now I just take the gate agents comments with a grain of sand and wait around. It's almost like some want you to walk away despite already being listed over the phone.

WHACKMASTER

This is complete horse#%^*. Folks, find the Cptn or FO and if that does work BY ALL MEANS WE ASK THAT YOU FILE A COMPLAINT WITH YOUR JS COMMITTEE!