Airline dispute escalates: United pilots are excluded from replacement seats at Southwest Airlines after a controversial incident

from Gary Leff on May 9, 2024

Several Southwest Airlines pilots have refused to allow United pilots to fly in their jump seats after a “relatively new” United pilot (recently hired at a regional airline) reported a safety incident she witnessed while in the jump seat.

Pilots often live in one city but are stationed in another and do not travel to their base to begin their trips. Being able to occupy a jump seat in the cockpit makes this easier for them than for a flight attendant, as they are primarily competing for space with other pilots rather than passengers on crowded flights. However, access to the jumpseat is at the captain’s discretion.

Boeing 787 cockpit

Aviation Guardian JonNYC reported the issue, along with internal messages from the United Airlines pilots union about how it was handled.

A newer United employee recently came to SWA from SFO-SAN and, after the end of the flight, decided to inform the FAA of the shortcomings of the crew whose jump seat she had kindly offered.

I won’t name any names, but for God’s sake, please support our new hires on how to jumpseat properly and keep your damn mouth shut. If you find something wrong or wrong, at least question the crew very politely if you feel necessary, and let them explain if they want to.

If you decide against it and you are not satisfied, please contact our Jumpseat Committee and let them take care of it. Running to the FAA and skipping Rob’s committee is not the way to go, and I think common sense will prevail, but here we are.

Personally, I don’t say “Jack” when I’m driving and I’m generally a very polite doormat. I have to say this doesn’t surprise me as some of our newer people just don’t seem to get it sometimes and I’m not really sure how we can prevent this from happening in the future.

Rightly or wrongly some of the SWA guys and gals are starting to dislike our pilots as this story (sic) revolves around their seniority list. Please share your thoughts with those you fly with and remind them that jumpseating is a privilege, not a right. Many of our pilots rely on a ride from SWA and being turned away because of someone else’s stupidity is unforgivable.

pic.twitter.com/leV1d9OIN1

– JonNYC (@xJonNYC) May 8, 2024

Surely anyone in the jumpseat should start by not speaking without being spoken to and still being polite. You are a guest in the cockpit and should not initiate irrelevant conversations that could be distracting, especially during critical phases of the flight – unless there is clearly a problem and speaking brings added value.

Multiple second-hand accounts shared by JonNYC indicate that this occurred on a flight to San Diego, causing the plane to slow and the first officer to apply speed brakes without flaps while the captain looked away. The United pilot in the jump seat suggested the first officer add flaps, the captain looked up and asked the first officer to increase power and applied flaps 5. The aircraft never reached an unsafe flight condition. The captain “thanked the (jump sitter) for the intervention.”

Boeing 777 cockpit

Nothing further was said about the incident, but the jump sitter called the FAA’s safety hotline, opened an investigation and spoke to Southwest pilots. The investigation has been completed.

NO

IDEA

HOW/IF EXACTLY: pic.twitter.com/pCEo2Fskps

– JonNYC (@xJonNYC) May 9, 2024

The call to the FAA may have been an overreaction, but pilots generally stick together, and this one didn’t. They stick together even when security issues arise. Pilot unions generally opposed the 25-hour cockpit voice recording included in the current version of the FAA reauthorization bill in Congress. Regardless of whether this incident was serious or not, a pilot’s whistleblowing is not viewed favorably by other pilots.

The United pilot’s name and photo will be passed around, and she will be ridiculed by her colleagues for doing what she thought was the right thing for safety reasons. This is an unfortunate element of the culture that even those who believe it should have addressed the issue through less formal channels should acknowledge.

This will eventually pass – but memories of pilots can be long. United pilots hired over a 29-day period in 1985 were held in contempt in the cockpit for 35 years.