Jump seat

A jump seat (or jumpseat), officially known as an auxiliary crew station, is a seat in an aircraft cockpit for individuals not operating the aircraft. These might include training pilots, off-duty crew in transition to another airport, government officials (such as Federal Aviation Administration staff), or other airline staff.

The term is also used to refer to the crew seats located in the cabin which are occupied by a flight attendant or other cabin crew during takeoff and landing. These cabin jump seats are typically located next to or near emergency exits so flight attendants can quickly open the exit in the event of an evacuation. Also, these seats usually fold up and out of the way when not in use to keep aisles, workspaces, and emergency exit routes clear.

Some aircraft have no jump seats in the cockpit, while others have one or even two. There can also be extra flight attendant jump seats in the main cabin, depending on how the airline has configured its aircraft and how many on-duty flight attendants are staffed. Both types might be stand-alone seats, or fold out or up. Either type of jump seat may sometimes be used by authorized off-duty staff (and in some cases the employee of another airline or some other specifically authorized person) engaging in personal non-revenue travel, when no passenger seats are available in the cabin (a practice known as jumpseating or deadheading). Increased security requirements for the flight deck since September 11, 2001 have meant a tightening of restrictions on who is allowed to use jump seats.

CASS (Cockpit Access Security System) is now utilized by most Part 121 US carriers as a means for allowing a crew member to have access to a cockpit jumpseat.