Spanair/Iberia "extra crew"

[DOJETDRIVER]

I heard on another board that Spanair and Iberia allow "extra crew" to ride similar to the US Jumpseat. Anybody there heard of this before.

Also, are there any limitations as to how many are allowed on board.

[richiya]

mas de uno nos metemos en un lio con esta....:E

[Ugly Duck]

De perdidos al ...:}

[LEVC]

A few years back it was a common parctice to let other pilots jumpseat in domestic flights,it used to be directly asked to the Captain,which in turn would ask you to show somw proof of being a comercial or airline pilot.

Nowadays, the biggest company in Spain, Iberia has been causing lots of trouble o his Pilots if they did dare to do so, some people have been fired for it, some of them did deserve it , as it was the case of captain tht wanted to get his friend, who was not a pilot as extracrew, he even was wearing a pilot uniform.

You stand good chances to get a jumpseat in the other companies, if you manage to talk to the captain or the people at the company office at the airport and ask politely to be given a jumpseat and probaly explaining why you need it (you need to reposition from home or you need to get home from a last flight of your roster etc......), you´ll need to prove you are a pilot, your licence is a must, and company id card is very helpful in some cases .

The people working there are usually very friendly and helpful, if they can, you´ll get the jumpseat.

Some companies will issue you an extracrew ticket to board trough the borading gate with the Pax, some times you´lll get in with the crew with no ticket.

Just bear in mind that it is a favour they do, and they are not obliged, so be patient, and get there with plenty of time, look also if there are other companies doing the same destination and do not hesitate to contact them all, you misht find out just before boarding that there are no places left, soto look beforehand for an alternate jumpseat is a very good idea.

Iberia is an exception, you may get lucky, i know people that have got jumpseats recently, but it´s more a more dificult and it will pretty much depend on how much risk the Capt. is willing to asume, as he can be in trouble.

[prat_eegle]

hi friends,
though i know most of you are pilots I just want to "complain" (reinvindicate?) the discrimination that we cabin crew feel when it comes to trying to get a jumpseat as "extracrew" member, because some airlines, especially iberia, will take pilots (or at least they used to) but not flight attendants. I agree that we are carrying out different jobs and professions, but arent we all in the same boat. Dont we all have to sometimes commute to and from our hometowns because the only way for us to work in the profession we love and have chosen is to work outside our towns or countries of residence? And in an evacuation, wouldnt a cabin crew member be suitable and well prepared to help as an ABP/PSP/Pre-pax, and be tyhe right person to operate a door and an evacuation slide?
I think it is very unfair and just because our document says "Certificado" whereas pilots´ say "Licencia", we are very often discriminated and made to feel unvalued in comparison.
My respects and sincere good wishes to all pilots and aviation commnities.

[LEVC]

I don't work for Iberia, but as far as i know it`s specified on their ops manual they cannot give jumpseats to non pilots.

That might be the reason why they denied the jumpseat to to you.

Some of their pilots even take it further and if you are not rated on the aircraft you wanna jumpseat on they wont give you the jumpseat.

I know for a fact that Spanair , Air europa and Air nostrum do give jumpseats to Cabin crew, last time i jumpseated from Madrid to Valencia was about a month ago , it was with Spanair, and there were two air hostesses from Aireuropa jumpseating along in the same flight and had no problems.

In any case it appears that most of the pilotsfrom iberia don't want to bother to give aa jumpseat if you are not working in their company, and pilots from other companies are getting fed up with the situation , because they are repeatedly denied a jumpseat with Iberia, and now they are doing the same with pilots from Iberia asking for a jumppseat in other carriers.

As we say in Spain: "Donde las dan, las toman"


I personally have got jumpseats with several spanish carriers ( so far ,Spanair, AirEuropa and Air nostrum) and had no problem except for Iberia, i tried them several times and was denied it every time, last one, the Captain even made a rude coment about my jumpseating intentions, which i didn't take notice or reply to, but as you can imagine, whenever i am in the situation of deciding if a pilot from iberia is to jumpseat in the aircraft i am flying, the decision will be obviously a big NO.

[Lightheart]

In the US the company you fly for has to have an agreement with the company you want to jumpseat with.

I wonder if I could jump seat with Iberia back to Spain from Miami or Santo Domingo, even though the company I fly for doesn't have any agreement with Iberia? I wonder if it would matter if you had a FAA or JAA licence?

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[LEVC]

try it , you ma get lucky i never got a jumpseat frm them, but a guy that did hi FIC course with m got a jumpseat from madrid to Florida, and later, back to madrid.

I guess it pretty much depends who happens to b the captain this day.

[pablo]

Hi,

I have to agree with LEVC on this one.

I have never been denied a jumpseat with Spanair and Air Nostrum so far (i think it made it around 10 times +/-) but with Iberia most times had been denied.

Even to visit the cockpit and greet the crew (as I don't have the opportunity to fly I enjoy quite a lot spending a few minutes in the cockpit or jumpseating in an approach), from Spanair I always got at least the invitation to stay in Business Class (I don't mind flying flying in the back, but I mention it because is a detail of kindness and airmanship) from the cabin crew as well as a chat with the flight crew (or at least they told me to drop by after the flight). With Air Nostrum I got a somewhat special attention as well.

From Iberia, to be fair is a 50-50. Sometimes they even don't tell me anything, and some other times they do treat me really well. Although there's a bit of everything in all the company, the MD fleet crews are normally much friendlier, specially the flight crews. The reason may be that they're former Aviaco employees, and don't have so much arrogance as many of the pure Iberia-breed staff have. Some people (me included when I said I was flying a Bonanza as safety pilot) have been denied the jumpseat for flying "small artefacts" (happened as well to corporate pilots and instructors).

Anyway, my suggestion, as LEVC said, is just to drop by and ask for it. There's nothing left to loose.

Good luck and best regards,

Pablo

[nitrowired]

i`ve only flew as extracrew with air nostrum but i did it about 6 times with my ppl! and never had a problem although the last itme i did so the captain looked at me in a strange way. i used to do it when they were at the T3 at madrid because it was wevy easy to get to the aircraft to speak with the crew, but now they moved to T4 and i have no idea how to do that now mainly `cause i`ve never been to T4. to be honest i know a lot of people who travel at jumseats and everyone used to tell that air nostum was the easiest way. although i`ve never thaveled at the cockpit. their policy is to put you in pax seat atleast the aircraft is full :(. that was the only bad thing i found.
and one last advice- try it, the worst thing that can happen is that you will have to buy the ticket, if not you can spend that money flying c172 fo an hour, :)

an finally, i knew a captain who used to fly the 747 at iberia and he took once a guy from madrid to miami with only a title of student pilot( not even a ppl), but that was some years ago when iberia was great company, not like now.