Originally Posted by
Bobman80
Not true Alan. This happened to me over Easter about two years ago, when Easter was at the end of the month. I had one day of availability and they called me with a two day. I was a Regular pilot the next month and after my one day of reserve I had off days as a regular pilot. Believe me when I say I protested. I talked to multiple schedulers and eventually ALPA. All said the same thing and my own investigation concurred. Basically, It's in the coverage sequence and uses the term " with least interruption". But that's not the best part. You will not be given premium pay of any kind. Of ANY kind. Why? Well it is not a GS, an IA, or a reroute per the definitions in the PWA. Those are the only events that trigger some kind of premium pay. Also, you won't even be given 5:15 or even 4:30 for that day since those are averages only.
In summary, I was forced to fly into an off day for about 2 hours of pay. Day one (the reserve day) had 7 hours of flying. The trip paid a total of 9 hours (since I was a reserve when they assigned it to me) leaving me with the remaining 2 hours that added to my next month as a regular pilot. Most pilots don't know they can force you to fly into off days for potentially zero pay. Zero.
Two different animals. A golden star day can not be violated due to an assignment. An X day can be violated, but you are due assignment pay and your X day back.. It has been that way since at least POS96.
The transition month thing for a regular line holder is exactly as you state though. Regular off days are not protected when going from reserve to block holder. You are certainly better off in that situation to have a golden day, or at least an X day at the end of the reserve month if possible.