Originally Posted by
Herkflyr
So you are saying that junior guys have friends but senior guys don't? I think you are making something out of nothing here. We fixed the issue with "trip parking" awhile back. As it is I find the Swapboard to be an extremely useful tool. I have both picked up and dropped trips via the swapboard, but I would guess I have dropped twice as many as I have picked up. That has made my life at home a lot easier. I would hate to even consider not having the swapboard.
Then again I have flown with guys who have never swapped, dropped, traded, in their entire career--they just get their awarded line (line of time or PBS, it doesn't really matter) and fly it.
And you know what? That is great. It works for them. I just don't want them to mandate that that is the only option for me.
Thanks.
1) Not sure I understand your first question... If two pilots are friends, one is senior, and one is junior. Some junior guys have let the cat out of the bag that they get senior friends to pick, and shuttle trips to them. The trip-parking "fix" only prevents the trip from being shuttled back. You can send it to a third friend without any problem.
2) As far as restricting options, I'm advocating no such thing. I'm just saying that if you take pilots such as yourself, pilots that simply fly their schedule, and pilots who bid high via WS, or any other means, everyone deserves to share in any raise/restoration equally via payrates and other means. The guys who volunteer to pick up more via WS don't get to have an additional, extra special bump in hourly rate, which comes at the expense of everyone else, to incentivize extra flying. If they want to be patient, and improve their overall average payrate, they can bid a GS. If they're not patient enough, they get WS at the same average payrate as you and I. It's fair, it's good for staffing, it doesn't incentivize routine overtime, and it doesn't kill GS flying for everyone else.