Originally Posted by
forgot to bid
Sink, I think the thing to remember here is that many of us who don't like the bucket system are not necessarily opposed to the bucket system. We don't like the 80 point threshold on some categories.
and
I want arbitrary out of the system and the 80 point threshold is arbitrary. Make it mathematical.
OK. I don't actually know how they're chosing the number. Seems like they're making it 80 when there isn't much flying. 80 is about 40 hours, or a four-day trip and three SC. 80 is about as far as I would stretch it, and 80 means senior probably doesn't fly in a very low month, but since junior is 40 hours ahead max... I can live with it. Then again I would probably say that if you've done 2 3-day trips and one SC, senior should go out. So... 70 max?
I sit reserve and hate that SC is so arbitrary. It should be predictable and I should be able to say, just like with a YS, "IF you need me to sit SC then I want the following time slots..." Instead you have to guess whether they want you and sometimes you screw yourself that way.
I agree. Aren't we getting predictable SC, starting in May?
As to the overriding issue, should we go back to a pure seniority based reserve? I don't want to and I'll fight that. That's my personal preference. I'd rather more benefit then few. Which is why I bring up the GS vs WS system. If seniority matters then the GS system should be seniority only like WS, no more wait til everyone else gets a chance. Which I guess was how it used to be done?
Of course, my favorite "go back to the way it used to be..." was this little one my buddy overhead in ATL. "We need to scheduling back in the pilot lounge and not on icrew!"
OK, it's not a winner take all, so we agree mostly. When we had a pure seniority-based system, we also had ~30% Reserves. Nowadays, Reserves in the summer merely become unscheduled lineholders, at which point the RAW buckets are really mostly about letting senior step up and volunteer early, to pick the flying he's going to fly, because he sure
is going to fly. I'm all for distributing the flying according to seniority, but I'm not trying to create a privileged elite.
Which is why I sometimes don't understand how you look at senior and junior as if they are two distinct groups. It's a graduated scale. It's not "the senior" that benefit, and "the junior" that lose, it's always a question of letting the more senior of two pilots get the first shot at picking first out of two assigned trips in the summer, and about letting the senior pilot have more opportunities to sit out the winter. More, not all.