Originally Posted by Cipri
Hi, there is a nice tradition in Spain going on about this, although its just a non regulated tradition which depends on the captains good will, and most are willing to give you a ride because theyŽll need the favour back some day. The problem is that depending on your company policies, you might not be allowed to do this yourself, so the captain might think that since you donŽt carry crew around on you flights, its not very fair on him to take responsability for your transport, and you will probably end up grounded. In fact some people have been sacked for this practice and therefore it gets harder by the day.
I would encourage you to try to implement this tradition on your own airlines, and that way all our lives would be much easier... iŽll keep dreaming, and in the mean time try and no to ask for many favours until I can correspond!
If it was up to me, any pilot who works for an airline should be able to ride on any other airline regardless of country. I'm glad that the Spanish extend this courtesy. However, I think it's all the other European airlines who are resistant and not US airlines. The US TSA maybe, but not the airlines.