Originally Posted by
sailingfun
There are two reasons why the company would not like this if it becomes wide spread. The first is if you have a 2 pilots flying half schedules each month the company has to hire a third pilot to cover the flying. They are now paying 3 benefit packages.
Not at all. The category began the month with just enough pilots to satisfy the manning formula, plus whatever buffer the company chose to use. Every pilot in the category began the month with a full schedule, regular or reserve.
How does the fact that two of them are able to drop half their lines each, whether into open time due to excess reserves or to other pilots, create the need for a third pilot?
Originally Posted by
sailingfun
The second reason is pilots in this situation are more likely to drop trips during peak flying periods like summer and holidays. This makes staffing more unpredictable and increases premium flying.
Again, I just don't see it. These pilots are only able to drop trips into open time if there is excess staffing. During peak flying periods, the likelihood of that is usually slim.
Staffing is predicated on known flying at the beginning of the month and historic reserve usage, and the reserves required formula is also based on historic reserve usage. The more reserves fly, the more reserves are required, both in staffing and in the PCS formula. At the end of the day, the system becomes self-limiting as to the number of pilots who can drop a substantial amount of time without picking up something else.