ALPA magazine letter

x15

Member
Nov 17, 2005
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I saw the referenced letter in the Nov/Dec ALPA magazine and thought the same as this letter writer from another forum:
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In the Dec issue of the ALPA magazine, a UAL pilot tells the story of jumpseating on Spirit Airlines. The gate agents made him buy a non-rev ticket for $24. When the Spirit Captain heard he had to spend money, he "nearly jumped" out of his seat and said "As an ALPA carrier, United has a reciprocal jumpseat with Spirit" and proceeded to the gate and got a refund for the UAL pilot . The United pilot goes on to say that this "reinforced my commitment to my ALPA work".

Now, as an airline pilot for a non-ALPA airline I find this odd. My airline has a reciprocal agreement with Spirit also. What the heck does both airlines being ALPA have to do with a 'brother' pilot helping a brother pilot from getting screwed by a gate agent? I'd like to think that the Spirit Captain would have done the same for me, ALPA or not. Actually I find it unlikely that the Spirit pilot would have mentioned ALPA but more likely said something like "you have a reciprocal agreement with us and shouldn't have been charged and let me look into this...". I think the letter writer is highly exagerrating the ALPA connection. I am sure the Spirit guy would have done the same for a UPS, AA, or SWA pilot.
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I agee with the letter writer. The Spirit guy should do the same for any airline pilot they have a reciprocal jumpseat agreement with whether ALPA or not. For this guy to be a cheerleader for ALPA because the Spirit Captain did what he should have done for any other airline pilot anyway was a disconnect in his thinking.
 
The Spirit guy should do the same for any airline pilot they have a reciprocal jumpseat agreement with whether ALPA or not.
Exactly, but do you think it would have sounded as good in the magazine had they not hyped the fact that it was "ALPA helping ALPA"? That use to be a pretty good magazine, with some good articles. Now I hear pilots saying that it's the most expensive magazine subscription they have :lol:
 
Air Tran and Spirit charge any airline employee $25 to 'non-rev' on their flights, without any tickets required, just an ID, or I believe that's how they do it. I've also heard of JetBlue doing the same.

Now for a jumpseat, that's a different story. If XYZ Air already has a jumpseater listed, the the others should be listed as a non-rev instead of jumpseater...