How hard is it to jumpseat a CRJ flight
 

I have tried 3 times so far and failed because the aircraft is overweight. I am in training now to fly the CRJ so I haven't exactly been on the line to see how man y times this actually happens. I'm suppose to be connecting through Memphis tomorrow on a CRJ. Not many seats are available so I'm trying to decide whether or not to take another flight.

It's more about the time of day and the day of the week you try and jumpseat more than the aircraft you're flying in. Besides... It's Spring Break, everyone is travelling, which probably explains why I'm stuck in PHX right now...

If it's close, many times the crew can play with the numbers and make it work. Today I was trying to get on a full Pinnacle flight. It was over booked and the gate agent kept telling me it was weight restricted and there was no way i was going to get on. The captain saw me at the gate and after I introduced myself and he checked out my credential he was like "let me see what I can do". Sure enough I got the jumpseat.

WOW....:confused:

it's late and i'm updating my logbook..cut me some slack

Agree, the KEY is to try to get in contact with the flight crew... I've been told many times by gate agents that a flight is weight restricted when I KNEW for a fact that it wasn't.. I knew because those were my own company flights and I knew the crews and was talking on the phone with the captain at the same time that the gate agent was telling me about the alleged "weight restriction." I was able to get on those flights because I knew about the real (non-restricted) situation, but if I hadn't, I would've gotten denied for no reason! For that reason, if I'm trying to commute on my own company, I ALWAYS look up the crew for that flight before leaving for the airport so I can call them up if I encounter problems at the gate.
And like the above person said, if the flight IS genuinely weight restricted like it often is in winter (and not the result of a prick gate agent) sometimes the crew will be nice enough to find some kids in the back or even ghostride you... but ONLY if they even know you are there! If the crew never comes out to the gate area and a prick gate agent never tells them that there is someone trying to jumpseat, they will never know.

all good :D

On my aircraft, we don't push back without the jumpseater. Regardless of what the button pusher at the gate may think, it's my decision. 99% of the time, we can sort out W&B or weight critical issues. It just takes some creative thinking and a backbone... I routinely re-educate gate agents on this concept. If they are courteous and helpful, I gladly extend them the same courtesy. If they are not, they're in for a very bad day. I'll take the delay and explain it later. The problem of course is getting the crew's attention faced with an uncooperative gate agent. If it's your company, you can always try to get hold of the dispatcher and ask them to alert the crew if you can't get their attention.

We rarely have a wieght issue unless we have extra fuel due to an alternate, a full boat, and a ton of bags. Like Wolf said, find a crewmember. 99% of the time they will do their best to get you on. I have found that some companies (i.e. Eagle) are taking the wieght and balance out of the crews hand. Then you are at the mercy of the gate agent.

At AWAC I can honestly say I have never left a jumpseater behind, even on a full boat with lots of bags and lots of gas we will find a way to get whoever, were they need to go. Just make sure you get in contact with the crew, gate agents can be a pain.

You guys with CRJ-200/700 experience. Is the 700 a lot better about not being overweight? I ask because I got on no problem on the 700, but hear complaints about the 200..

If you can get in touch with the flight crew you stand a pretty good chance of getting on, unless the airplane is overweight to the point of pulling bags. It seems like gate agents often go out of their way to let you know the plane is full, and you're not getting on. I'm pretty sure they get points for bumping the most pilots - added points for bumping the competition crews. If it's YOUR company's flight and/or YOUR company's ground handling you should be ok. I've been compelled many times to reach over the counter and manhandle an agent or two (SYX GRR, r.i.p.) but ALWAYS keep your cool. Know your boarding priority code and be prepared to regulate. NWA may not have the greatest agents, but you have to get a signature from the CA so it takes the bitter anti-pilot agents out of the loop

i'll answer the origional question now....the CRJ 200 isn't a great airplane to jumpseat on, but it's definately better than many. if there is an alternate, the extra fuel may push the weight limits over the max or it could push the CG too far forward. personally, i have had to leave a jumpseater only twice in my 2 glorious years in the CRJ, and i've been bumped only a couple of times myself.

CRJ 700/900 are much less likely to be weight restricted. The CRJ200 comes in real close a lot, but you can usually fudge the numbers. Full boat with alternate fuel is where the numbers sometimes can't be made to work.

Funny, the only time I've ever run into trouble is with my own company...in my own domicile. Ever other single gate agent I've run into, company or competition, has been phenomenal.

I'm able to get the jumpseater on about 90% of the time in the 200 and I don't recall ever having to turn one down on the 700/900 but it can happen. Having an alternate in the 200 makes it tough

Alot of times it depends on the carrier in which you are trying to jumpseat. I may be incorrect, but doesn't pinnacle and other carriers have gate agents and or dispatch do the weight and balance by hand? At AWAC its done by the crew and its automated at that so its easy for us to get people on because we just push a few buttons. Like everyone before me said, you got to get in touch with the crew. The 8 dollar an hour gate agent is not going to want to re-do the math to get a jumpseater on at the last minute.

My last experience on the jumpseat went like this.......I listed on a noon flight out of XXXX airport. When I arrived at the gate to get my JS pass, I noticed that there was a company aircraft waiting for pushback (not the aircraft I was supposed to JS on). As I walked up to the window to look out, the Captain noticed me standing at the gate. He motioned at me as if to ask if I wanted on the aircraft. I shook my head "no" and gave a thank you wave to him, since the next flight was due to arrive in 15 minutes. They already had the door closed and ACARS had started the block time, so I didn't want to hose the crew out of $. What a great crew!!!!

As it turned out, the next flight was later than expected and completely full:eek:. My worst fear came true. The aircraft was weight restricted and the gate agent wouldn't let me go down and talk to the Captain. Unfortunately, my attempts to get the attention of the Captain from the gate were unsuccesful.

I ended up driving 3 hours to get to my base. I had missed the first round-trip, got a nasty-gram from the company, and lost pay:mad:.

Let this be a lesson: ALWAYS catch the early ride when it's available.

200s are only weight restricted if it's carrying a ton of gas which is pretty rare. The main problem for jumpseaters is the CG. I've never tried but what I hear are erj are the ones that are hard to jumpseat on because of weight. (I am not trying to start a crj-erj comparison just saying what I hear)

Exactly. The only time we've had to leave someone behind is when EVERY seat on the plane is being used, including the jumpseat. I've never had any issues with weight restriction. Usually if we have CG issues, it can be resolved by throwing a little balast in back.

This thread is a reminder to all of you FOs to run up the jetway a few minutes before push and make sure we're not leaving behind a jumpseater because some gate agent was making crap up. I've done it a couple times only to find crew sitting there with plenty of open seats available and no weight restrictions to speak of. More often than not they just don't want to work.

I have been weight-restricted out of both SKW and Pinnacle jumpseats.

I've been left behind because of this too. Can't fault the crew in the one time it happened because they tried being as creative as they could and still couldn't get it to work.

At least we can agree on something ;)

ACARS can also take it out of your hands. The pax and bags have to match, so the only variable is T/O fuel...you really can't enter less than MINTO for obvious reasons.

True, but you can always try to find half weights that the gate agent may not have included... I've also had the dispatcher re-file, gotten ground crews to use some creativity with ballast when they do not have any ballast available as well as come up with some other solutions.

It's true though that ACARS and not doing our own W&B makes it a little more challenging to get a JS on sometimes.

Different airlines seem to be more or less restrictive. It is very rare to be seriously restricted on an AWAC flight. Everyone (almost) is welcome on my jumpseat and it will be a rare day when I can't take him or her.

I dont like the Idea of Gate Agents or Dispatch doing my W&B in the end if its Jacked up and you get audited by the Feds or Ramp Checked its your Ticket on the line

I don't think some of you understand what that "prick button pusher" understand the full deal so I am gonna explain how it works on the other side of the counter from at least the company I work for. Gate agents get their numbers that determine weight restrictions from the flight release sent by the dispatchers. I think we can all agree that those numbers are not accurate. Not to mention if the flight takes a csa(in this situation, gate delay) delay, the "8 dollar and hour" gate agents may get a write up. With enough of them, a termination is possible. And pilots are not exactly forgiving when it comes to delays on csa. Now, if paying passengers/bags, mail or freight is being bumped, it will be hard to explain the jumpseater being able to ride in the close out reports. I understand that there are some power tripping agents out there as I've crossed paths with some of them(esp the more senior ones) but more often it is probably the case of the agent just trying to do their jobs. It would probably play in your favor if you guys can some how get in touch with the crew early(before they start fueling/boarding) or contact dispatch(for your own respective company) so that it is planned from early on .

The -200 is a whole lot easier to accommodate a jumpseat than the -135/45. But i've seen crazy things happen. For what it's worth, I actually reprimand my agents for not being accommodating to nonrevs/jumpseats. Please remember that when I need a lift. ;)

This is a four-step process:
Step One: Gate agent looks at pax/bag restrictions on paperwork.
Step Two: Gate agent completely disregards restrictions.
Step Three: Gate agent takes 20 minutes to decide whether to pull bags or pax.
Step Four: Ops calls delay on flight crew.

If you believe it long enough, then it may be true. I won't contribute in a CSA vs Flight crew debate on how this works with a flight crew member. Hell I wouldn't expect you to entertain any misinformed comment I make about the V-speeds on the aircraft you fly. I will suggest however that the next time you're trying to jumpseat, if you feel that the gate agent isn't helping you out enough maybe you should offer a helping hand. After all you seem to have it all figured out. :rolleyes:

SLC / SkyWest is that way.

Our gates, our planes, our agents. A regular issue of denying or making it very difficult to get on the planes

If it happens to any SkyWest pilot, please fill out an online jumpseat complaint form. We can't fix the problem if the problem isn't substantially identified.

I think everyone here in FAT has had problems with our gate agents. Most are nice but there are a few there that are down right nasty to deal with! I always try to bring candy with me to help sweeten the mood with all the gate agents I come across! And as everyone has already said on here....always try to get to the crew when jumpseating and let them know your looking for a ride! Thank you to all the crews out there for letting me hitch a ride to work!

eh, that doesn't convince me one bit. the one time that really stands out in my mind, I was at the gate two hours early, and the flight was neither scheduled to be full nor actually full.. and the crew never told the gate agent that there was a weight restriction. I am always polite to gate agents as I am aware that they can be helpful or unhelpful to me. I personally think this kind of situation can only be attributed to a gate agent being a jerk. It's not like accomodating me would've delayed the flight one bit, since I had been at the gate area for two hours. In fact, her denying me was what delayed the flight because now the captain had to come upstairs to resolve the situation.

Mainline US Airways has it written in their contract that a jumpseater is autmatically included in the basic operating wieght of the aircraft. Everyone should jump on the bandwagon and get that done so we can always get the jumpseat of needed.

I am not as evil as you think I am. No need to maul me, wolf.:)

Jumpseating on a CRJ700 shouldn't be too big a deal. The carrier I fly for does all the W&B for us via ACARS so we can't play with the numbers at all. That being said I have yet to see us be weight restricted except on really long legs (DFW to SBA, MYNN to DFW) + bad WX where we carry max fuel.