Originally Posted by
sailingfun
The MEC was not out of touch. They had a list of items where there was a lot of feedback pilots wanted improved. At the very top of the list was a higher daily min and getting rid of 30 hour layovers. CDO's were part of a option to put a package together to achieve that. There were a lot of former NW pilots who flew and liked the trips and that feedback went to the MEC via reps in those bases. I just talked with a NW guy who is mad they removed them.
When CDO's went public it became obvious that overall the pilot group by a substantial margin did not want them and they were removed. The cost to the company to fly a CDO under the TA was going to be so high they would have been the choice of last resort anyway so it was not hard to get the company to agree to the change.
5:15 per day is huge and is going to improve all pilots Schedules. I had a international guy tell me it did nothing for him. He flies KEF and DUB a lot. I pointed out that a 3 day KEF now pays 15:45 and the 4 day Dublins now pay 21.
There is however always a downside to work rule changes. When 5:15 is programmed into the computer I suspect we are going to see more longer trips to generate minimum credit. As a commuter that's fine but guys who live in base may not like it. Watch for whining when the new trip mix shows up.
While the MEC might not have "been out of touch" they did make a huge flawed leap of logic. "We don't want so many 30 hour layovers" does not mean that we want backside of the clock/no rest kind of flying. They made that decision (apparently) based on a very vocal minority. So there is one fNWA guy that is pizzed that they are gone. I can give you the names of about fifty that are ecstatic they are gone. (Insert Spock quote here) The MEC should have known that this would be a lightning rod kind of issue, and should have polled the group. I can see where some think they are out of touch, because those of us that actually fly the line with regularity know what fatigue is on an ongoing basis. Flying a trip or two each month doesn't really qualify you to make a decision that affects guys that fly a full month, because the cumulative effects of those rotations is simply not the same.
The last part of your post is interesting too. If it results in longer trips, this might be the one time in all of history where other bases are happy when ATL is not. NYC and DTW are heavy commuter bases, and there will probably be a lot of guys that will like longer trips in those bases. So for once, the world might not revolve around Peach Tree City residents. (No offense to those of you that live there.. it is a lovely place) But I see no downside in longer trips. What WILL be interesting is to see if international remains as senior as it is now....