Comments

1. I thought cockpit visits stopped after “everything changed”, but it seems that they’ve loosed the restrictions, thankfully — this was something I fondly remember as a kid. Last year they invited us with our 3-year-old while boarding, and he loved it!

   I suspect the success rate of requesting is low without a small child. 🙂

2. Dot is a government agency and it wants to FORCE the airline to provide FREE and or Discount travel to government employees. Ethically ‘‘this is wrong and they know it. Would this also be considered a bribe by the airline to a government employee who receives services that they do not pay for.

   There would be significant fraud with all of this.

   Service members are compensated for the job that they are hired for. They have family health benefits, pension plans, time off and life insurance benefits. They have signed a contract to perform a job for a period of time for a rate of pay that they agree to. They have a right not to enter into this contract and a right not to renew upon termination. With any contract there are risks and rewards

   This is not going to be offered to everyone else who are in the same situation then why segregated it to one class.

3. About 15 years ago I was Captain on an A330 flying from SYD to HNL. showed up at the gate with the crew waiting at the gate for the cleaners to finish. . Lead FA pointed to a young family that had asked her if their son could “meet the pilots”…apparently the trip to Hawaii was secondary to his excitement about meeting the pilots. I went over to where they were sitting, introduced myself to the family and had a nice chat with them. Told them to be sure and visit when they boarded and told the agent to be sure and let them board early. As we sat in the cockpit with Mom taking pictures, I noticed her eyes actually watering up a bit. As a Father myself I was moved….nothing better than seeing your child experience joy……….what gets me to this day is when we deplaned in HNL, Mom popped her head in the cockpit and said “I just want you to know, my son said today was the best day of his life”

4. The military provides ID cards for the spouse and dependents of service members. If your family member is hospitalized at Walter Reed for example, you could stay at the Fisher House on campus free. Arrangements for travel also could be made with the family services ( cannot recall the exact name). Shame on a US carrier that gives a service member’s family in need any more grief.

5. Captain Oveur: You ever been in a cockpit before?
   Joey: No sir, I’ve never been up in a plane before.
   Captain Oveur: You ever seen a grown man naked?

6. Maybe over half of couples break up after their first trip together but for others it is different. My wife and I decided to get married on our first trip together and we are still married decades later. She wasn’t enjoying herself on that trip as much as planned so we broke it off and went back to her home. There have been plenty of trips together since.

7. @ JohnW.. Thanks for sharing the memory. Many of us have had the pleasure to introduce children, and sometimes parents, to the cockpit. I recall one young boy who asked a question that I had never been asked before or after he visited. I was so impressed I went back and congratulated his parents for their son being so inquisitive . . . and original. The question: Do you use cloth towels or a squeegee to clean the windscreen?

8. I’ve been an AvGeek for years. My new boyfriend had never flown overseas before and never traveled much. I took him to London and got J seats for us on BA. He was like a kid in a candy store and had never experienced anything like it. I walked up to the FAs at the front and asked nicely if he could visit the cockpit. They had one of the pilots come back and bring him up and they even let him sit in the seat of the 777 and hold the controls and get a really cool photo of it. It is a memory that will last a lifetime. You just have to be respectful, ask nicely, and understand that for whatever reason, it may not happen and that’s okay. But when it does, it’s out of this world for the recipient who gets the experience.

9. That’s classic @One Trippe….another time out of Japan I hosted a young family in the cockpit while at the gate. The language gap was easily closed by the universal language of astonishment on their son’s face and of course some pictures were taken……by the time I landed home the Chief Pilot called me. The parents posted the picture on social media before we took off and JCAB (Japanese FAA) had contacted my company to inform them that passengers were never allowed in the cockpit in Japan, even when parked at the gate.

10. A different take about visiting the cockpit….. on vacation traveling from Auckland to Queenstown NZ….. introduced myself to the crew and asked about ANZ’s rule about foreign pilots in their jumpseat (me!)….They thought for a second and said the wording in their manual was somewhat ambiguous but they interpreted it as it’s ok….. they qualified that with a request to please don’t put anything on Social Media just in case their take was different from their Chief Pilots…..The VNAV approach into Queenstown has to be one of the most scenic approach’s in the world and unusual as it winds through the mountains and lets out onto the airport. Fantastic, but I didn’t want to risk being a distraction so I didn’t even take pictures for my own library. Great memory though, not just the scenery but the universal brotherhood of flight crews regardless of nationality. I know a few Kiwi Aviators…..incredible people.

11. What a Blessing to have been able to enjoy some of the perks of being an airline pilot before 9/11. My former wife, cabin crew (stewardess), and I were stuck in PRG and were told we would not be getting out non-rev. The LH gate agent, without our knowledge, went down to talk to the Captain. He came up checked our ID and I rode cockpit and she rode the FA jumpseat to FRA. Yes, incredible people. Hezky den.