Originally Posted by
Roadkill
As a guy who picks up WS, I'm always extremely suspicious of greenslippers castigating my WS.
1. Some of us drop our crappy trips and then try to find SOMETHING to at least partly fill us back up. That would LOOK like not filling up to trigger... but the NET effect is MORE flying in the pot for others.
2. I drop from the award down to 50-60 hours a month routinely as my final flying. HOWEVER, I also churn 4 to 6 trips through open time via PS and drops and WS attempting to get the max $$ for the least days, in that 50 hours. You'd see that and castigate.
3. Commuters rarely if ever get GS. I look at every GS given out in my category, and 99% of them I COULD NOT BE AWARDED due to the amount of advance notice (minimum). If it's a trip I like and want, and I'm not going to get it by waiting for a GS because I can't make the commute, why shouldn't I grab it as a WS? My goal is QOL, so if I see an easy/short/high-pay trip, I take it and put something else up for swap/drop/pickup.
I will agree with you on this--IF we had better analysis of a bases greenslip awards, when they are given out (block hours, ALV in the base, % lines vs. reserves, how many trip/days are in open time for each day of the month, reserve coverage), THEN we could educate ourselves for how to maximize GS awards, and maybe I could learn enough that I could even get one as a commuter. This is analysis I'd like to see from the union, but it's fairly complex and I can't imagine who might take on the task if I didn't volunteer to do it myself. And I expect someone might be afraid that publishing analysis of maximizing overtime pay would violate some "status quo" or other work-freedom castration we're saddled with.
I know you're just venting, and I think I usually agree with your posts, but IMO anyone that works > ALV (or awarded line) is much more of a problem to the pilot group. Essentially: HO's <<vastly worse<< generalized WSers.
(PS-- YOU could probably do a decent job of starting that GS education by explaining what you look for as a ripe environment and how to get them. If you don't explain the PLAYS to your team-mates, you can't be mad when they don't run their post-patterns right to catch your pass...)
I completely agree with you and of Buzzpat.
I hoped during my post it was clear this was not just White slipping. I WS at times also. I also understand cats where greens are few and far between and as well commuters being unable to capitalize on them. That being said though my "look a little" is where the frustration starts. I added in the unique situation "Holiday weekend....reserve coverage way down". A few extra clicks to see that the history for weeks has been gs's going to Out of Base with 10-12 hours for report. This on normal weekends. Then add in Holiday and open trips.....That was my point. I have absolutely nothing against ws's or commuters wanting more stability or quality in their schedule, or as you said actually adding to the pot. That was not the case here and I hoped that I portrayed that but I guess I was short. If they had hit GS instead of WS that's how it would have went. My frustration is in the time difference between opening ICrew and putting in the WS vs GS with doing a little checking is about 3-4 minutes. That's all I'm saying.
Check - res availability list, daily trip coverage history, sc assignments, open time list and you can create a very good guess at the possibilities. It sounds like a lot but after only a few minutes you get the hang of it. Actually if you get good at it you can narrow it down to the actual trip you get as an green and no you don't have to be super senior to do it. Not that everyone wants or cares to go to that length but just a couple of minutes of checking can go a long way.