A much better option would have been an extra ALT, which could have been enjoyed at zero personal expense, by the whole family, in the comfort of the cabin.
If you believe the jump seat in conjunction with all the hoo-hah about lifting the restrictions on days off will result in regular trips abroad, you're as disillusioned as they are as to the staffing numbers. Lifting the restriction on days off was just lip service, as the bid engine is in place to ensure the flying program is covered. At present manpower levels (and levels in the foreseeable future), I doubt sizable day off strings will be possible. Add this to the fact they only said they would remove the restriction from the bid engine, and failed to promise that they wouldn't alter the results after a solution was derived (ATC), and you see my skepticism.
Jumpseat privileges might benefit the (minority) freighter pilots, single guys, or a few (semi-suicidal) commuters among the ranks. How it will be implemented remains to be seen. Years ago, they used to let you go airside in DXB on a standby ticket even without a seat in the hopes of no-shows at the gate. That highly sensible option didn't last long. They might figure out a way to streamline this process, but given their poor planning in other areas and their inability to give with one hand without taking away with the other makes me wonder.
Just wait until they've announced the improvement in the "efficiencies" of 4 pilot LRV flights. Making extra room on a jump seat, because there's a one in a thousand chance that a pilot may want to ride on that flight, having paid for a ticket, but with no space in the cabin will be floated as one of our great improvements. Excellent stuff!!!
Too many ideas were provided at the forum, and true to form they cherry picked the ones that were the cheapest. They polished the unattainable turds and presented it to us as part of the pay review, and labelled it as proof that they are listening. While it could be taken as a positive, they left much more beneficial, practical, and achievable options on the table.