this is probably a silly question to all you 'aviation-junkies' but I'd like to know how the principle of jump seats works exactly?
I've heard they are the folding chairs that the FA's take place during take off and landing. And that when they are not all fully taken you can buy these places at 'ridiculously low' prices. But do you actually have to know someone that works for that airline to get a jump seat? Or can you just contact any airline to ask if they have jump seats left on a particular flight?
I'd like to fly from Brussels to Geneva this Saturday or Friday (August 14) just for the weekend to join friends of mine to a gig but alas i'm 'rather' (understatement LOL) short on ze money ...
Thanks and cheers!
I Can Fly (but I want his wings...)
jumpseats are for cabin-crew use only. I've never heard you could buy a ticket for it.
On some flights, where the cabin-crew number exceeds the number of jumpseats, a cabin seat is blocked for the crew and cannot be used for sale on that trip.
Well, that is the situation post 9/11.
Before, you could, providing you knew the right people, turn up and buy a jump seat ticket. But those times are over I'm afraid...
I Can Fly, did you make it to Geneva?
I worked as OPS officer with Denim Air in Spain (operating for Air Nostrum) and always travelled on the jump seat in the cockpit. Normally these are for use by flight and operational crew only. Sometimes pilots would take their girlfriend or so along, but this is strictly not allowed. The general idea is that the person occupying the j/s in the cockpit can take control if something happens with both pilots, or at least have enough knowledge to assist during an emergency situation.
Most of the time when I fly I ask the cabin crew to sit in the cockpit on the jumpseat. Is it so much fun and it gives flying an extra dimension. I used to get the jumpseat a lot while I was working for Sabena. It happens still a lot if you have a free ticket and the cabin is full that employees get the jumpseat. Even now after September 11 this still happens quite frequently in Europe.
Last time I flew with an Iberworld. A close friend of mine is pilot with this company. So he proposed me to fly once with them. I flew from Brussels to Menorca, then from Menorca to Ibiza and back to Brussels. Ofcourse this was on the jumpseat in the cockpit and I was put on the list as a crew member.
What I want to say whith this is that this is still possible if you know the right people or if you end up with a friendly captain. Only in the United States it would get really hard to get permission to sit on the jumpseat. They got really paranoia there.
But buying cheap tickets to fly with a company on a jumpseat is not possible. Only crew and employees who get free tickets are mostly allowed on the jumpseat and even then it still depends on the goodwill of the captain.
If you want to fly on the jumpseat in Europe I suggest you book a flight on Air France. From what I 've seen on A.net's pictures, a lot of people can easily get a jumpeat ride on AF planes.
but I'd like to know how the principle of jump seats works exactly?
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