Originally Posted by
Whidbey
Talk to your reps.
I went to the Atlanta lounge visit before direction was given to the NC and told the DALPA guys that improved rigs were my number one priority. They told me straight up they don't hear this from many pilots.
My opinion: Delta guys are more focused on rates than rigs. We either fly long haul, or think we will soon (which is largely true).
The move to ADG while giving up the duty period rig in the FAR 117 negotiations has resulted in some particularly onerous rotations. Flying at night is part of this job, but the repeated circadian shifts in many of these rotations is eye opening. Ironic that this change occurred as a part of our adaptation to FAR 117.
As far as Herkflyer's comments, it is possible to prevent a company end around work rule improvements. We need more than just one rig (ADG). A min day plus a duty period rig with the contractual requirement to pay the greater of the two.
We still have duty rig, we still have trip rig. But especially for shorter trips, they did not do as much for the pilot group in terms of minimum expected pay per trip. ADG was a vast improvement over what we previously had, which was a DUTY period average (as in 30-hour layover on a three day trip equals only two duty periods, which equals a three-day trip worth 11 hours; those were very common, now don't exist in any form ever).
No trip will ever pay less than 5.15 per calendar day, and this also applies to reserves--every time. Both were unheard of in the 18+ years I have been here, until our recent 117-related side letter brought this very nice provision to the contract.
But trip rigs are still there. As an example, check out this (edited for clarity and deleting layover hotel info) DTW 330 trip, to see the value of trip rig, especially for longer trips. The trip pays a bit over 75 hours, of which 20 is trip rig!
DTW PILOT 330 *** ROTATION OPER
A### POS-B
DAY FLT T DEPARTS ARRIVES C BLK M/U TURN M EQP
3 D 582 *DTW 1944 LGA 2128
4 418 *JFK 1828 MXP 0845 8.17
7 419 MXP 1055 JFK 1348 * 8.53
8 476 *JFK 2033 BCN 1035 8.02
10 477 BCN 1335 JFK 1622 * 8.47
11 418 *JFK 1838 MXP 0855 8.17
14 419 MXP 1055 JFK 1348 * 8.53
D2312 JFK 1630 DTW 1851 2.21
20.06TRP
REGULAR--
75.36TL 51.09BL 24.27CR 0.00MU
RESERVE- 75.36TL 51.09BL 24.27CR 0.00MU