Originally Posted by flapshalfspeed

There are various reasons why they do this from time to time.

The amount of block hours is not always constant throughout the month, and other things like historical absences, changes in route structure, etc. can shift what they do with that number.

Personally, I think it is totally insane how autocratic and unscientific buffer-setting is--it would make much, much more sense to algorithmically determine those buffers based on historical absences and reserve utilization relative to block.

It would be very easy to develop a formula that takes into account all of the variables affecting reserve utilization, and spits out a weighted number for every day of the month, but try telling that to anyone in Crew Line and VV will just say "no...bye."

Additionally, I find it insane how they determine swaps based on this "difference of 2 or greater" concept...if there are 9 reserves on one day, and 10 reserves on another day, who the eff cares if I swap out of the day with 10 to the day with 9? They're going to have 9 on one day and 10 on another day--why do they care which day has 9 and which day has 10 (assuming equal buffers)? It's a wash on their end!!! But nooooooo VV's rules say I can only swap from a day with 10 net reserves to a day with 8 or less net reserves, because they will only approve swaps if it the difference is 2 or greater. That policy has always made me think they can't do basic math.

Originally Posted by milehighskyline

With refence to the buffer mentioned above. How long is it taking fo new hires to be able to hold phx as a base?