Originally Posted by
APC225
Yep. They're calling it, so-appropriately, "meat on the hook." When a CAL line pilot starts a trip, he's basically a reserve pilot who happens to be flying a trip. During poor-planning-ops they can cancel a trip 24 hours prior, modify the trip limitlessly, return you later than the pairing end time, and reduce rest (and much more), all by fiat and at minimal cost to the company. And let's not even get into reserve rules of rolling days off, downline 24-hour breaks, and losing pay for calling in sick.
We can be reassigned, but they have to at least attempt to restore the original trip downline. In the event they can't, we're required to be back in base no more than 16 hours after original arrival (can be extended to 20 for mechanical issue), and we get trip guarantee or actual whichever is greater.
Originally Posted by
APC225
A good example is accepting reduced rest to affect an on-time push. At CAL, it's just assigned and the only recourse is to call in fatigued with loss of pay. At UAL, the CA must approve it, and if they do approve it they get 5 hours of override/add pay, even for just a few minutes of less rest. Oh, and I believe their contractual min rest is 10 hours, not near FAR as at CAL.
Called operational integrity, and if approved by both crewmembers independently allows reducing rest to FAR's. Otherwise we have 9 hours behind the door at the hotel as a minimum (so 1/2 hour to the hotel, + 9 hours, + 15 back to the airport, + 30 minute preflight = approx 10.5 hour min layover under normal ops). F/A's have 9+45 block to block if we accept Ops Integ, so that generally becomes the min at the smaller stations for a layover time. Other restrictions on operational integrity include only one leg back to a hub followed by rest. No add-on flying after the reduced rest, so we'd either have to go home or to a layover with contractual rest before continuing...
Originally Posted by
APC225
Of course, the CAL folks are pretty shocked to be faced with such a difference in core philosophies of the two contracts. They can't imagine not having meat-on-the-hook, and the UAL pilot reps can't imagine their pilot group accepting such a concept (even in BK they kept dignity and respect provisions like first class DH).
It's a big reason they can't get out of the scheduling section of negotiations.
I believe that the UAL pilot group as a whole has never been more angry and disillusioned with UAL (UCAL, now) and their tactics. We collectively accepted (right or wrong, mostly wrong) the strategic bankruptcy, but the paradigm has shifted and I'll be damned if we intend to give even an inch. With that, this whole shebang could take a while as I refuse to give anything back, and fully expect to regain a lot including scope to ensure that the collective "we" will have jobs if UCAL survives. Doesn't matter what the job pays if it doesn't exist because we allowed it to be outsourced...
Scott