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Reciprocal Cabin Jumpseat In-Depth Review

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Reciprocal Cabin Jumpseat Agreements Clarified 

Last year, AFA announced that we had achieved reciprocal cabin jumpseat agreements, effective June 1, 2020 with some United Express (UAX) Carriers.

The agreement reached allows Flight Attendants from those designated carriers to jumpseat on United flights, and where an additional jumpseat is available, for United Flight Attendants to jumpseat on the UAX aircraft that are operating within the United system. 

Flight Attendants from the following UAX partners can jumpseat on United Flights:

  • Air Wisconsin
  • CommutAir
  • GoJet Airlines
  • Mesa Airlines
  • Republic Airways

The following UAX partners operate aircraft in the United system with a cabin jumpseat available to mainline United Flight Attendants:

  • GoJet Airlines: CRJ-550
  • Republic Airways: Embraer 175 (Note: Republic operates both the Embraer 170 and 175. Only the Embraer 175 is equipped with an additional cabin jumpseat.)

Things to know about these expanded agreements:

  • Self-listing can be accomplished through employeeRES or the United App.
  • A single listing cannot contain both UAX and UA mainline flights. Separate listings must be completed.
  • This reciprocal cabin jumpseat agreement applies to flights operating within the 50 United States.
  • Alternate jumpseat assignments on certain aircraft may need to be assigned to promote social distancing.
  • United Flight Attendants always have priority for mainline United cabin jumpseats, which may affect the listing priority for UAX Flight Attendants already cleared for a jumpseat, up to 10-minutes before departure.
  • Flight Attendants of the operating United Express carrier have priority for their cabin jumpseat.
  • All other jumpseat policies and guidelines between UA and UAX remain unchanged.

A Reciprocal Jumpseat FAQ document was developed. The FAQ is applicable to jumpseat qualified employees in Inflight, Flight Operations, and dispatch.


Cabin Jumpseat Authority (CJA) - How to Identify the Number of Available Jumpseats

Whether commuting for work or for leisure travel, knowing how to determine the number of available open jumpseats can be very useful is planning our travel accordingly.

The Fleet Reference Guide can be found on Flying Together >> My Work >> Fleet Guide is a resource that displays all aircraft configurations, aircraft numbers, capacity and total number of jumpseats. The Fleet Reference Guide is found in multiple locations:

  • Link – Content Locker- Fleet Reference Guide
  • Flying Together >> My Work >> Fleet Guide
  • SHARES- Enter “GG JUMP FLEET” & then “submit”

Once the total number of jumpseats is identified, the number of working Flight Attendants needs to be determined for the respective flight number to find out how many open/ available jumpseats there are.

To determine the number of working crew, in CCS on the SCHEDULE tab, choose CREW LIST from the drop-down menu. Simply input the flight number and the date of the flight you are interested in, then click on the orange “Crew” next to the flight details.

For more general information about Cabin Jumpseat Authority (CJA), review these previous articles:

Cabin Jumpseat Authority (CJA) on Weight Restricted Flights – Contractually Protected

Section 3.A. of our JCBA ensures that Flight Attendants following established procedures when requesting Cabin Jumpseat Authority (CJA) will not be denied boarding on weight restricted flights when cabin jumpseats are available.

Additionally, should seats be available in the cabin after other stand-by passengers (revenue and non-revenue) have been accommodated, Flight Attendants may travel in the cabin, that is be cleared into a passenger seat on jumpseat authority, even if the jumpseats are occupied, provided that such travel does not displace revenue passengers.

If you encounter difficulty or are denied CJA authority on weight restricted flights, immediately contact your Local Council Office.

Cabin Jumpseat Authority (CJA) Listing and Award Procedures

As negotiated, Section 3.A. of our Contract provides Flight Attendants with access to and the use of the cabin jumpseat (CJA). And, while the use of CJA is subject to company regulations, policies, and procedures, which includes the ability for Flight Attendants to list for both non-revenue standby and jumpseat authority at the same time on the same flight.  Additional information regarding our contractual cabin jumpseat (CJA) privileges can be found in Section 3.A of our current Contract.

The procedures for listing and awarding are listed below:

  • If a (physical) jumpseat is available and the aircraft is weight restricted, jumpseat authority will not be denied for any Flight Attendants.  The number of Flight Attendants using jumpseat authority on weight restricted flights may be limited to the number of available (physical) jumpseats.
  • Flight Attendants must check-in for the jumpseat no later than 30 minutes prior to scheduled departure.  Flight Attendants who have met the 30-minute check-in shall be awarded available jumpseats in Jumpseat Seniority order.  In an instance where self-service electronic means are not available, Flight Attendants shall have the ability to list and check-in with Customer Service Representatives (CSR) no later than scheduled departure.
  • Walk-up jumpseating shall be permitted to the extent consistent with the needs of the operation and shall be awarded on a first come first served basis, and only after Flight Attendants who have met the 30-minute check-in have been awarded jumpseats.
  • Available Flight Attendant jumpseat(s) may be awarded prior to awarding non-revenue seats or other jumpseat authority riders.  Flight Attendants who decline the award of the jumpseat will be removed from the jumpseat list.  The targeted guideline for the award of available jumpseats is 25 minutes prior to scheduled departure.  Flight Attendants must have checked-in and be present at the time of the jumpseat award.
  • ­The Flight Attendant must be at the gate in person when called by the CSR for a jumpseat assignment, otherwise the next person on the list will be awarded the jumpseat.
  • When seats are available in the cabin after other stand-by passengers (revenue and non-revenue) have been boarded Flight Attendants may travel in the cabin on jumpseat authority, even if the jumpseats are occupied, provided that such travel does not displace revenue passengers.
  • When seats are available in the cabin after boarding has been completed, Flight Attendants awarded a physical cabin jumpseat may assume an open seat in the cabin.

As a reminder, our AFA-CWA Constitution and Bylaws establishes that development of reciprocal agreements with other airlines is a priority of our Union.  AFA has been successful in our campaign to date, and we continue to advocate for additional agreements.  For more information regarding the agreement with each individual airline, visit our website at www.unitedafa.org.

For more information, please contact your Local Council Office