Originally Posted by
tsquare
Irrelevant. Guys DO answer their phone, or their kids do... get grabbed in the jetway.... or whatever. Not all, but some. I see no difference in asking to fly a GS or accepting an IA when you KNOW it is skeds on the phone. It doesn't matter. You are pressuring one pilot to forego his contractual right while rewarding another for doing the same thing.
Then you don't want to see the difference because the difference is huge.
GS = volunteer
IA = against your will
Now, you can have your critiques of both, but you are making assumptions to get to the point you are putting forth as actual fact. You do not have actual proof or a through analysis to verify your anecdotal conclusion. That being said, I agree that
if a pilot willfully puts himself in a position to accept an IA (especially in this day of quick and easy voicemail and caller ID) then he is just as guilty of taking premium pay flying at the cost of furloughees getting their jobs back. But you can't assume all, or even a majority of IA assignments are willfully flown. However, you
know GS are because those require action on the part of the pilot to seek that flying that could have been done by a furloughed pilot. There is in fact a significant difference between the two.