Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors
Another airline flight attendant introduced herself to me; the Captain; as a jumpseater and took seat in the airplane. Shortly before closing the doors we received the passenger count from our flight attendants. They counted 149 passengers; which included the jump-seating employee. When our FA's do the count it matters not whether it is a paying passenger; a non-rev or a jumpseater. All they do is count bodies on the plane. When the FO called customer ops to run the weight and balance he was informed that the system showed 152 passengers on board. After confronting station personnel with the discrepancy they re-counted their tickets and finally confirmed our count of 149 people. We ran the weight and balance and departed shortly after. When I checked the delay comments that were left by the station personnel on the next day I was shocked by what I read. In order to get the count corrected they removed the jump-seating flight attendant from the passenger manifest. This is a copy of their comments pasted straight from the delay comment box:'FA advised agent that they had 149 PAX on board after all PAX had been on board for over 30 min. Agent at the gate had 150 boarding passes counted multiple times at the gate. Not only did she count them but so did XXXX and myself. We believe that they were not counting YYYYY (Their Jump seater per their discretion) So we unchecked and unboarded her.'There are several things wrong with this comment:1. We had 149 passengers on board including the jumpseater. She was physically on board all the way.2. We did not forget to count anyone; as we only count bodies on the seats and do not differentiate who's who.3. In order to make the count correct in the system the station personnel removed her administratively from the passenger manifest by letting the computer think she was removed from the airplane (unchecked and unboarded).4. We took off with her still being on board without knowing that the station personnel had removed her from the flight to make the count seem correct.There are several huge problems that I see with this:1. The passenger manifest was altered and falsified to get the count correct; albeit with the wrong passengers on board.2. Had I crashed the airplane with no survivors nobody would have notified the family of the jumpseater since as far as the paperwork was concerned she was never on board.3. Since we had 149 passengers including the jumpseater; yet she was not part of the official passenger manifest then I must ask who was the 149th passenger that we show on the passenger list? Since the jumpseater was not counted in the system; yet the body count was correct with her on board; then the station must have counted a passenger that never was on board. Not only is that a security risk; but imagine the same crash and burn scenario. We would have notified a family of the passing of one of their loved ones believing he was on our plane when in fact that person never boarded. It is beyond my comprehension what risks the station personnel are willing to take to dispatch a flight to avoid a delay. Instead of taking the time to get the count right they rather prefer to manipulate the system; falsify passenger manifests and create unnecessary security risks. I guess since they are not flying on the plane they just don't care. Well; I do! This was not an accident or bad training. It was done on purpose to cover incompetence. My previous employers would fire someone who intentionally disregards security and falsifies official documents.
MD-80 Captain checked delay remarks on a previous flight and discovered that to get the passenger count to agree with the tickets; the Station Agent administratively removed a jump-seating Flight Attendant from the count even though she was onboard.