Jumpseat LAX-SYD
 

I work for Frontier, and I'm looking to jumpseat LAX-SYD around December 27th. It's been 12 years since I jumpseated to Australia. Any advice? I remember that on the return trip, I had to intercept the crew when they checked in because the gate agents down there aren't used to jumpseaters. Does there need to be a cabin seat available?

Make sure to get your tourist visa online before you go. It's like $35 USD and will be electronically linked to your passport. As far as jumpseat goes, all offline jumpseaters must have a cabin seat.... I've never jumpseated out of SYD, but have non-revved a few times. It's one of those airports where they make you wait by ticket counter outside of security until they start clearing nonrevs. You won't be able to get through security until assigned a seat. As far as getting listed as a jumpseater, I'm not sure about that....

SYD is one of those moonshot destinations to get on as a standby passenger. Load factors are exceptionally high and standby passengers typically have 30 years+ seniority. There are exceptions, but that's the norm. Add to the uncertainty that those flights are double-augmented, there are no available jumpseats (never mind the offline requirement to have a seat in the back).

Aside from the electronic visa, listing at the gate is fine, just be aware that you're on the hook for any customs fees. More info here:

https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/m...questions.html

Good luck!

And Christmas week, which is also the middle of summer down under, is peak season.

Atlas
 

Atlas has quite a few LAX-HNL-SYD flights. Check out the dark side. Jump seating on a cargo 747 can make the trip pretty painless. Not sure we'll be as much help getting home unless you want to go through China...

Consider FedEx.

No international JS on FedEx/UPS.

Atlas down, ticket back. HNL potential option for stop on return or vice versa. Be mindful of fact that if your too cheap to buy a ticket your not gonna do well in Sydney as its crazy expensive.

Also, be cognisant of the date change. US-Oz your going fwd 15-16 hrs, reverse going back. It's a long trip for anything less than a week imo.

Thank you for all the advice - I have family in Sydney, so that makes the stay cheap(er).

Or buy a standby ticket on Qantas to get to MEL and jump back from there. Just another option if the loads and listing process are that big of an issue out of SYD.