International Jumpseating
 

Hello All!

Do EU airlines such as Lufthansa, KLM and Air France accept jumpseaters from the US?
What about jumpseating from Europe to Asia on one of there carriers?

Your help is much appreciated! Thanks

You gotta be kidding
 

29 of you looked and didn't care to answer! common guys and gals! Help!

Your best chance may be Iberia. A friend of mine, also an intrepid airman from Miami jumped from KMIA to LEMD. He had to wait in the terminal to talk to the captain before talking to the personnel at the checkin counter. Same applied from LEMD back to KMIA. This was about 6 or 7 months ago. Other than that... there are no jump seat agreements in the sense that we have in the US.

Calling us common will not help your cause!

With reference to your question, if you have a valid ID90 or ZED fare ticket we will gladly offer you a seat in the passenger cabin subject to load. Paid the right fare and you can go anywhere on the network, so Asia is no problem.

JumpSeating in EU means basicly sitting on an FA-seat, if any left.....

And yes, you will need an id tix.

No chance to get a ride without a ticket, you can ask on Iberia and maybe Alitalia, because these Airlines have jumpseat agreements with national airlines, so in general its is possible, chances are very low, but you can give it a try. But you have to talk to the Cpt. Good luck.

What on earth makes you think that you can fly without a ticket?

You gotta be kidding mannnnnnn !

How about I come over to the States and sit in a jumpseat there ........ Yeah Right!!:ugh:

Why kidding?
 

Hi there,

as far as I'm concerned no airline other than spanish ones will give you this benefit and thanks to Mr Danger and friends it's not possible to or from the US, at least with IB. I've traveled many times to and from southamerica to LEMD, Spain-EU, domestic, ... and as somebody said above just talk to the Cap, show him your licence and company id and he'll tell you what... if he wants to take you he won't give u a jumpseat unless biz class is full, they'll treat you like any other biz pax and if available you'll be given biz class catering too. Of course this works on a reciprocal basis, so no LH, BA, and the rest will be given the benefit, but if you do in the US...

Unfortunately these are old colleague deals that we're letting die...


Cheers

If you work for a USA 121 carrier you can jumpseat on most USA 121 carriers, some allow you to jumpseat int'l.

Forget about jumpseating on international [non USA Part-121] carriers, because it's unheard of; and even with occasional exceptions as mentioned, [IB-Iberia], it's completely unreliable.

You're best solution would be to have your carrier arrange an I.D. 90% ticket with a foreign carrier that has a reciprocating staff travel agreement.

FlySaab,

Unfortunately, you're not going to get too many qualified responses from guys who don't work for a US 121 carrier. Jumpseating, as you know it, is unheard of out side of the US. The concept that you can just turn up at the departure gate as an FAR121 pilot and get a seat for free, let alone in the flightdeck itself, will be met will disbelief by guys working for non-US carriers.

Most overseas airlines only allow crew members to travel once they've purchased a staff discounted ticket. Some do allow crew members to travel in the flightdeck jumpseat but only after they've bought said ticket. CX is one, for example.

With most of the legacy carriers scaling back the amount of flying they're doing, you're best bet for getting around for free are the cargo airlines....Kalitta, Polar, Atlas and Evergreen. They go pretty much everywhere in the world and don't charge you a penny for the privilege. Atlas and Polar will treat you very well and feed you to the point of bursting. If you don't mind taking your chances with the rest of the un-washed masses, contact your staff travel dept. and see if you have ZED agreements with any of the overseas carriers. I ZED on QF every year when I go home and it's costs me US$45 each way from SYD-BNE!

So, you already got a lot of answers which tell you the situation.
Momentarily I work for a major European carrier.

As far as I have seen: It is not allowed to take anyone on the cockpit jumpseat. It is written in their Operation Manuals that it is forbidden because of several safety agreements after the 9/11: no-one on flight deck who is not in charge with any direct flight duties.
And the European cpts sometimes don't even allow relatives of the first officer (me in that case as my experiences) to sit in the cockpit when we fly to USA - because they don't want to get any penalties. Sometimes they are not so rigid when going other destinations than USA.

But you can have a stby ticket when there is any agreement with your company and the one you want to travel with. It would be quite cheap, and as far as I have seen, the crews don't refuse to take anyone on home travel with a stby tx as long as there are free seats. To get offered a cabin jump seat in case the a/c is booked out - just a matter of luck, I wouldn't count o it.

But anyway, what is the airport you want to go to USA from??
edit: sorry, I just read: you want to go to Asia. So, there shouldn't be any interferences, you would get any free seat with a stby ticket, and the aircrafts are not booked out. And the flight deck will invite you for some visits, I am sure, because they are curious to talk to other pilots and talk a bit about airline matters... ;)
I think you want to go to Korea or China? Just get stby tickets or try as the other one told: Try it with some cargo airlines.

Lets put it this way..
You have more chance of flying to the moon .

2 things in the UK
1) can't do it without paying the tax.
2) can't do it post 911, period. (more restrictive than the US even though it was the US which was attacked 911)

Thanks a bunch!
 

Thank you everyone for replying! I appreciate your help.
I work for a NWA regional carrier. I know that i can jumpseat with US 121 carrier or buy a ZED fare for anybody else we have agreements with.
I don't really want to take any US carrier though...as their service is pretty horrible...i've heard of great things about Lufthansa, Air France and KLM...so that's why i posed the question...looks i'll be ZED fare'ing it with one of these airlines.

Thanks again to all!:O

FlySaabXJ,

Forgive some of the answers you've received, but most of the European pilots and gate agents I've spoken to about jumpseating honestly don't understand the concept. They aren't being rude-- they just don't understand.

In Europe, Jumpseating means sitting in the jumpseat. Usually you need a ticket of some sort (revenue or non-revenue) to get on the plane, but you may be allowed to sit in the cockpit for some or all of the flight (depending on the regulations and how willing the crew is to deviate from those regulations).

In the US and Canada, jumpseating means extending a free ride, as a professional courtesy, to pilots of other airlines to return the favor. No ticket, no fee, no taxes (within or departing the US; departing foreign countries usually involves paying that country's taxes of anywhere from US$15 to US$65). The jumpseater will usually sit in First or Coach unless the flight is completely full, in which case the jumpseater will be allowed to sit in the cockpit if he is in the national database of pilots (CASS-- gate agents can enter a pilot's employee number and two-letter airline code and see a picture of the pilot)... except for flights which cross the US border (in or out) which do not allow a pilot from another airline to sit in the actual cockpit jumpseat.

Most European crew members I've run into don't understand the concept of walking up to a gate while the plane is being boarded, 25 or 30 minutes before departure, showing your airline ID badge, filling out a piece of paper, and walking down the jetbridge to get the Captain's signature and First Class seat for free on any one of the 32,000 flights a day across the US.

As for you, I assume you fly the Saab for Mesaba (XJ), right? Here are some pointers:

• Northwest: You can jumpseat in or out of the US to any destination for free, except that countries outside the US may charge you the departure tax. Figure on about $17.50 out of Tokyo or $60-ish out of Europe. Beijing is free, or was the last time I did it. As a jumpseater, you will almost always get Business Class on an International flight. If you fly as a non-rev (e-pass) only coach going overseas is free; coach coming back to the US will run you about $117 or so, and add about $100 for Business class in either direction. Thus, better to jumpseat instead of using a pass.
• Delta: Delta charges US$2.50 to jumpseat out of Atlanta, but someone said they weren't charged out of Cincinnati. I've paid about US$30-35 to jumpseat out of South America and US$50-65 to jumpseat out of Europe. They will almost always give you Business Class if available. NW/XJ's new agreement on Delta for non-rev pass travel is better than on NW-- absolutely free with automatic First or Business Class if available at no charge, but you will pay the departure country's departure tax-- US$60.90 out of Frankfurt, US$30.50 out of Tel Aviv, just to give you a couple of ideas. You do need a paper ticket, though, to non-rev, even for a free non-rev. order the ticket just like a ZED ticket, but there's no charge (except for taxes when returning to the US).
• United: Their policy is to put jumpseaters in Business Class if available (otherwise Coach). First Class is only for United jumpseaters, but sometimes the crews will put you up front anyway. Free out of the US, but departure taxes to return to the US. Forget non-rev'ing on United, their passes are expensive.
• Continental: Always free out of the US and they are supposed to charge departure taxes to come back into the US, but I have never been charged anything to jumpseat on them. Others tell me that they have to pay departure taxes out of foreign countries, but I've never been asked to pay. They always give a Business/First seat, if available. Great food, and the last time I flew them they have these new noise-canceling headsets in Business/First. I will always owe a debt of gratitude to CAL because they once got me back to the US on a completely full flight by allowing me to sit in the crew rest seats for takeoff and landing and hanging out on the aft galley during the enroute portion of the flight. Non-rev tickets on them are ZED, which will run about $75 out of the US and $115 back to the US (depending on where you're flying-- figure on $60-75 out of the US and that plus the country's departure taxes back in). They used to always upgrade the ZED passengers to Business/First, but lately they don't seem to.
• US Airways: Only used them once, Europe to the US. Can't remember if/what they charged for departure tax, but they were going to put me in Business Class until a paying passenger came down at the last minute. They're free to Europe to jumpseat. They are also standard ZED tickets (see CAL for price examples), but I don't think their overseas stations upgrade ZED passengers.
• American: XJ is not on their International Jumpseat Agreement list, so you can only jumpseat on them domestically. They are standard ZED tickets, but I've never flown them so I don't know of they upgrade ZED passengers or not.
• Air Canada: They allow jumpseaters, but it's a little different than with a US airline. The gates don't have the jumpseat forms, only the Captains do. It is basically a blank carbon-copy 3-layer hand-written ticket, and they have to do some telephone coordination with their dispatchers. No riding in the cockpit, even within Canada. I've always been put in Coach when I've jumpsat with them, but I think it was because their First Class was full, not because they don't allow jumpseaters in First Class. I've only jumpsat with them within Canada and between Canada and the US, so I don't know how they treat jumpseaters across oceans. I do know that I was signed up for the jumpseat out of Frankfurt once, though, and they said they never charge jumpseaters any fees, not even departure taxes.
• ZED Tickets: I have never flown on a non-US airline that will upgrade a ZED passenger. Most gate agents just look at me funny and say, "Why would we do that?" There are two airlines, Lufthansa and someone else (Qantas maybe?) that NW/XJ/9E crewmembers are allowed to purchase Business Class ZED tickets on. If I recall, it was about double the price to fly Business Class on LH instead of Coach... and totally worth it across the Atlantic. Round Trip LAX-FRA non-stop in Business Class was about US$500 or so.
• Misc. jumpseat: Bringing cookies for the crew AND gate agents will go a long ways toward getting a Business/First class seat as a jumpseater on an International flight. Outside of the US and Canada, I have only heard of Iberia and some Caribbean airlines offering free jumpseats to US pilots, except one US based pilot from Panama who got jumpseats on COPA when he went home to visit his family.

Hope this helps.

Correct. BTW we have the same in Italy, you come to the gate and ask for the jump, no ticket, just your id. Quite unusual for EU but very nice.

If you wanna come to europe you shouldnt choose LH, at least if you have an eco ticket, very poor service, business is very nice.

Try Iberia, they will most likely treat you well.