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Old 01-19-2012 | 04:55 PM
  #86157  
sailingfun
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Originally Posted by Sink r8
Thanks FTB,

I understand your concern, but here are some points to consider:

1) Under the old system, we needed 30% Reserves. Under the new system, 15%. The new system is far, far more efficient, from the company's standpoint. They absolutely hated paying four guys guys CAP-5 hours, where two flew nothing, and the other two flew max. So now they can replace the four with two at 70 hours. Beautiful.

Unless you're a pilot.

Would you like 15% more pilots?

2) Under the old system, the hierarchy doesn't start at 50%, where 50% and below has to pick up "someone else's work". 50% and below might fly more, but everyone along the list had the option to go high, or low, for any given day, any given flying. That ordered all flying, from 1%, to 100%. IOW, everyone, in seniority order, could try to hide from the crap, or go high for the juicy stuff. The bottom 50% flew more, sure, but then again, under the new system, the bottom 50% of Reserves, or the bottom 15%, are unconcerned with Reserves at Delta, because they're busy flying at ASA and Pinnacle.



You have to look at the effects of the entire system on staffing, and the way it worked before, when things were right, rather than worry about about who gets to have maggots in their rice now that we're all in a camp.

While changes to reserve certainly have had a impact on manning the big driver in the companies ability to go to 15 percent reserves is PBS not the reserve logic.
PBS smoothed out all the ups and downs in open time and eliminated the log jam at the start of every month. It allowed the company to start the month with virtually zero uncovered trips. The 15 percent in reserve manning lost was to a certain extent covered with a increase in regular lines.