I respect your views, 747Cap, but we have soft-soaped the non-HKAOA members for long enough; see my post #36 . The present reality is that jumpseats are available, under certain conditions, for captains to allocate as they see fit.
You mention commuting pilots. Some of these individuals are on Hong Kong A-scale and allowances, not paying tax in their home countries, extremely wealthy men by any standards, and are still too 'tight' to pay a few lousy bucks a month to the AOA to support their colleagues and attempt to maintain the contract that has been so good to them.
You mention jumpseating in the US. Would any of our North American Ppruners shed light on how easy it is to get a jump seat in the US if you are not in the union?