flying passenger on a cargo plane (Amsterdam, airlines, 747, carry-on)

[socrates]

looking for cheap ways to fly. I've seen it done in movies but can it be pulled off in real life? Who would I contact? Nothing came up in google so I doubt it.

[Chava61]

I don't know if you can fly as a passenger on cargo plane unless you are airline employee who is "jump seating". But there used to be companies that you could fly as a courier for. The catch with that you must fly on the dates they specify and you can only take carry-on luggage as the courier company uses your check-in baggage allowance for their stuff.

[wheelsup]

Cargo aircraft don't have flight attendants which would be needed if the airline took passengers.

[Dd714]

I know FEDEX doesn't even allow it's employees to ride in the jump seat anymore on it's cargo flights (used to be a perk of employment).
Revenue passengers? Very doubtful - it open a can of worms from the FAA.

[Alaskan Mutt]

Years ago I saw something where some carriers were going to haul revenue passengers on the upper deck of their 747 cargo planes. It would be just like a regular passenger flight with flight attendants and all. I do not think there was going to be much, if any, discount in fares.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Dd714

I know FEDEX doesn't even allow it's employees to ride in the jump seat anymore on it's cargo flights (used to be a perk of employment).
Revenue passengers? Very doubtful - it open a can of worms from the FAA.

Actually for at least a few years, FEDEX ran passenger service on a charter basis for the military. I ran into a few FEDEX flight attendants a few years ago at Lambert in St. Louis.

Here are some links that might help.


FedEx Trade Networks Offers Year-Round Solution with Bi-weekly Air Charter Service from Hong Kong to the US. | Asia > East Asia from AllBusiness.com (http://www.allbusiness.com/transportation/air-transportation-air-charter-services/5621421-1.html - broken link)

Where to find UPS/Fedex flight schedules? - FlyerTalk Forums

[Alaskan Mutt]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

Actually for at least a few years, FEDEX ran passenger service on a charter basis for the military. I ran into a few FEDEX flight attendants a few years ago at Lambert in St. Louis.

20 years ago FedEx bought out Flying Tigers for the sole purpose of expanding their cargo routes in Asia. While Flying Tigers was primarily a cargo airline, they did have a couple 747 passenger planes which they used to hual military passengers on a charter basis. Thus with the purchase of Flying Tigers, FedEx started flying passengers. They had no desire to be in the passenger business, so they got rid of the passenger planes within a couple years of buying Flying Tigers.

[texdav]

I think that many of these went away because of the liabiltiy involved.It certainly wouoldn't be worth the hassle with security now days.

[FlyMIA]

No there are no cargo only airlines that fly passengers with some cargo. Just not allowed. Most of the time only other airline pilots can jump seat on cargo planes.

[FlyingTigers1]

Just found post. I was a Flying Tiger FA and flew from 1980-1989 until FX took us over in 1989. We flew under FX until 1992 when the military agreement expired. FX decided not to continue in the pax business and layed/terminated us. We did fly DC8's until 1982 and 747 until 1992.

Mainly military charters, but also commerical charters (1980-Vietnamese refugees from Asia-US, 1981-gambling charters from east coast to LAS, 1981-Azores to Orlando, Grand Rapids-Honolulu). FTL also went into the commericial scheduled pax business in early 80's under the name of Metro International Airways. Service operated from JFK to TLV via BRU/Amsterdam. At our heigth, FTL had over 450 F/As in the mid 80's and ended with around 250 F/A's.

We were (and still continue to be) a very tight knit group. We continue to have reunions every year. For more info/history on FTL, please visit www.flyingtigerline.org