What one LCC does (I'm not going to say who because I don't want the competition!) is takes one "other airline" pilot and one "other airline" flight attendant for free and puts them in open passengers seats. They are considered jumpseaters but do not really occupy a jumpseat. If there are still seats open and more "other airline" crewmembers waiting, they are also taken but if they are not the first ones then they have to pay $25.00. I hope this keeps up because as far as I know, we don't reciprocate, which sucks for them. US Airways could easily take extra "jumpseaters" but they would sit in the cabin. Of course, there's a fair to midland chance that some of the agents and flight attendants would treat them poorly since we don't even know how to treat our own nicely here. (I know, I know, there are exceptions and I appreciate those people!) Overall we really need to adjust our attitudes here. I don't like to pester anyone but I shouldn't get knots in my stomach before approaching a gate agent to ask a question.
Having employees from other departments sit on the actual jumpseat probably works okay at Southwest. Unfortunately, the folks here at US don't tend to think in that "needs of the many" sort of way. I think it's partly our airline's culture. I remember working at Continental and we let Continental Express stews ride with us on our jumpseats. Not here at happy ol' USAirways, though. Anyway, I like the idea of taking jumpseaters and putting them in coach seats. Who needs to deal with ID90's if they don't have to?