Originally Posted by
Freightpuppy
It's in our (UPS) contract that you can drop trips.
Article 13 D 6 Although it says that you should have made "reasonable" effort to make up the time so it's not like you can just drop to get rid of hours. I have heard of it done but I was told that you kind of have to have an good repoire with scheduling. Sounds like calling in sick is easier.
Do you guys at UPS usually deal directly with crew scheduling, or is your system automated (read computer) enough to where you get reserve assignments, "call in" sick and well, pick up open time, etc, etc, all on a computer? At FedEx, our entire system is computerized and the beauty of it is that one really never has to "talk" with a crew scheduler. Well, almost never. So when we're "calling in sick", we just hit a few keys on the computer, rather than calling up scheduling and then faking a cough.
We do the same when trying to change our line, by picking up an open time trip or dropping a trip. If we drop the trip, the hours are put in our "make up" bank, and then we can either make them up or not. Our choice.
A long used ploy here is that when someone is about to upgrade (s/o to f/o, narrowbody to widebody, or f/o to captain), they will drop some trips before training into the new seat. Then once they are activated in the new seat, they still have those hours to make up, now at the higher pay rate. Works well and lasts a long time. How's it work there?