Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
That would have to be either staff or a staff relation / staff ticketing. Since 9/11, and despite knowing a lot of BA captains, I've only once been able to cadge a standby jump seat, and that was in a set of odd circumstances from just NCL-LHR. Jump seats don't get allocated to general passengers, let alone Transatlantic.
[Actually one exception would be if he or someone in his party was boarded, and it turned out a seat was unusable or dangerous after pushing back from the gate].
Actually there is no prohibition on commercials on a jump seat but BA will not allow commercial standby. A captain does have the authority to put a commercial passenger on a jump seat but there are very many reasons why this is very rarely done. Obviously this does not refer to flight deck jump seats which are covered by very specific rules.