Originally Posted by 2dogs

Since when did the company begin locking us out of open time after a certain number of requests (300)? Friday evening (2 Mar) approximately 10 “frozen” charter trips hit MD-11 open time. I submitted requests for 8 of those within seconds of them becoming “unfrozen” only to get the infamous “DISAPPROVED earlier time stamp” crew notification. C R A P. The other two trips, curiously went away and never became “unfrozen” but were awarded to two other individuals? Interesting. When I checked the calendars of those who were awarded these “frozen” trips (probably the reason the other two individuals block their calendars) -- every single month these same individuals are getting these good deals(2XXX Charters). I’m also curious how do you submit open time bids when you’re flying? Could it be that the open time system is corrupt (insider trading)? Or. . . are they just that lucky (every month? YGBSM!)?

So today (Saturday), five or six more “frozen” trips hit open time and I’m determined I’m going to get one of those, so I keep polling open time every couple of minutes; sometimes sooner. Locked out at 300! No soup for you! “Check again at 1200 a.m.” Really? By contract are they allowed to do that (Sec. 25.A.6.b.i.)?

I was thinking maybe these “lucky” individuals could be using some sophisticated “bot” program, but if that were the case, wouldn’t they bump up against the same arbitrary 300 requests lockout? Appdude, were you aware that the company was doing this? Seems like it defeats the purpose of your FX CAL auto-poll function if we’re locked out at 300 requests.

Whining? You bet I am. But, it doesn’t appear that the “playing field” is very level. . . and in case you’re wondering; I actually do have a life, and better things to do than check open time, just not when waiting for a jumpseat.