no need to check in if you have a pass. you only look like an idiot

 

??? Where do you get that idea? The feds don't care as long as you stay out of the cockpit. It was no secret that I was j-seating. The FAs were happy to serve me. Please give me a source other than some FOM BS. BTW, sure it is probably not a great plan to drink while j-seating but the times I did, I was flying international long haul in first or business. I'm not going to pass up the vodka with my caviar. (PanAm circa 1990)

 

I think part of it is that as a jumpseater, if you were called upon by the captain to enter the cockpit if the FO conks out, or vice versa, you would then be operating an airplane after drinking. If the feds find out that you declined and stated that you had been drinking, then thats a problem too because you filled out the jumpseating form. Other than that, I cant give you any FAR's on it.

 

Mike's right, this is one technicality that would never be enforced unless maybe the head of the enforcement branch was sitting next to you and he cwas in a really bad mood that day

I don't drink onboard, but I don't worry about the 8 hour rule either.

 

At TWA, we took a lot of pride that we were able to treat fellow aviators from guest airlines to a first class seat, a first class dinner and unlimited beverages-alcohol or not. Part of the culture at TWA was that our pilots and the pilots of other airlines were "somebody important". In fact, our FOPM prior to 9/11 made reference that any Airline pilot had access to our cockpits unless they have consume alcoholic beverages inflight. And remember an FAA approved FOPM, GOM,FOP, etc...is just that, approved by the FAA.

It's too bad that airline pilots are no longer treated like somebody important, by airline managments and of recent, by other pilot groups.

 

Thank you. I knew I was not crazy. I took a TWA L-1011 to London one time. It was a Gulf Air paint job and the TWA crew was super nice. I flew first class. I was young and still had my strips on. Joe corr was also flying that day. Someone rushed up to me and told me, "Get those strips off, the president of the airline is about to board!" I kept a pretty low profile that flight I can tell you. (But I still get to drink)

 

I guess I am assuming that there is a difference between jumpseating and deadheading. Jumpseating is "thumbing a ride", deadheading involves crew scheduling. If you are on your own airline, you would most likely be catagorized as a company business travel, and most likely will have a seat assigned. End of hassle. Of course, deadheading in the cabin or the cockpit is up to you and your company.

But assuming that you are jumpseating with another carrier, you had better not be a deadheader without [the company]buying a ticket for you. You may lose your jumpseat privelege with that company, or your company may lose JS priveleges (Great Lakes got spanked with this back in the mid 90's. They were having their guys jumpseat from MSP, DTW and ORD to cover reserve trips, even though they were based somehere else). This is a no-no. They should have gotten them there via their own airline, and if service didn't allow for that, they should have bought a ticket.

 

Absolutely. A lot of guys I know won't take 135 jumpseaters (even though it's allowed) because their companies often tell them to JS to assignments when they really should have bought them a ticket.

I'm happy to help a fellow pilot out with his PERSONAL travel, but I have no interest in subsidizing his employer (who is competing for MY most lucrative customers)