Yes, DL GAs do the same thing and hand the final paperwork (including final headcount) to the lead FA; however, knowing the number of F pax. vs. actually counting them is a different thing (I guess the FA just assumed everything was in order). I'm sure that if this was an MD88 or a 738 or an international BE flight, it would have been much more noticeable. F on these 752s has 26 pax and when the cabin is not really full (somewhere in the 60% range), it could easily go unnoticed if the FA wasn't focusing on the pax. count.

LOL...actually, there were more than 4 empty seats; the correct F pax. count that day was 15 (not including the stowaways) with 11 empty seats

When I told the FA precisely where they were seated, she looked up the manifest and noticed that there was only 1 NRSA in row 7 (seat 7D) - and she knew that the NRSA had moved to another seat. When she first approached them, she simply asked them if she had made a mistake because she couldn't seem to find their names on the pax. manifest.....


No, it was already near the end of the flight...the FAs on this flight were just too darn nice...they were incredibly friendly and pleasant throughout the flight - might not have been in their nature to have a potentially ugly confrontation....

Not that rare out of JFK. JFK is kind of a secret. Not many people know how many F seats are taken up by non-revs outta there!

It's pretty easy to do an FC head count on most RJ's ... zero! :D

I try to sit in Row 1 on the CRJ. One time flying SYR-ATL the ASA FA referred to my seat as "First Class" :D

Similar thing goes with Medallion upgrades. Often the SEA-->JFK flights leave with 2-3 open F seats and at least 5 NRSA's up front (for example last night's redeye had 10 NRSA's up front and a host of opup's). Less than 1/2 the cabin was paid/medallion!

I just can't believe that flight had empty first class seats --- every flight I'm on has a first class standby list 10-15 deep....and I'm usually number 15.

Back in college I tried that twice and got asked to move twice. Before I was even offered a tasty beverage.

OK, stupid question here. What does NRSA stand for? I'm assuming Non-rev somethingorother but what's the somethingorother?

I believe it is "Non-Revenue Space Available". Means they get the seat if there is space available, but the space is not guaranteed. If there is a seat in F they get it. If there is only one in Y, that is where they sit

Ha... true unless it is the 170 or CRJ900. But, I meant how they do a headcount to make sure the number of pax matches the manifest, as I guess it would be easy to confuse RJ flights.

It also means non-revs sit in B/E while medallions are in the back :rolleyes:

Why would a non-rev get the seat in B/E over a medallion? That's ridiculous!

Because there are no Medallion upgrades to B/E.

It is most definitely not ridiculous. It is the only reason there are employees at airlines these days. Would you like to work with dirt-cheap wages and putting up with customers screaming and bitc*ing at you day after day? It takes a toll on your health. I guarantee you if there wasn't this benefit, airlines would have an extremely difficult time hiring employees. Think about it when your on your next transatlantic crossing. Those people sitting up front assisted you every time you desired an earlier flight at the airport, helped you in desperate weather conditions at the CRC where there was less havoc than in the rest of the airport, and the same smiling employees serving you for years. There are not wild animals sitting up there.

Not meaning to shill for another airline, but I'm aware of at least one US LCC that has no B/E or F sections for their NRSA's to enjoy, yet they don't seem to be suffering from the hiring problems you've forecasted.

Perhaps you'd care to offer us another reason why non-rev's should be upgraded over frequent flyers.

It is also for revenue protection....


(Yeah, I just opened up that can of worms again....:rolleyes: :) )