Originally Posted by
SMACFUM
I'm sorry, I may just be really stupid, but I don't understand this. It doesn't make sense.
PSA is understaffed right? They can't hire enough pilots, correct?
If they are so understaffed, how is it possible that a reserve is only flying 120 hrs in 7 months. I would think that they would be using reserves all the time
Part of the reason they are understaffed is because they are so inefficient. Especially in utilizing reserves.
A lot of the flying assigned to reserves is stuff left over from the SAP, things such as 6hr 3 day trips and 13hr 4 day trips. They could recombine those trip after SAP and put them into opentime, but instead they want the trip to be undesirable because its cheaper for them to make a reserve pilot fly them instead of paying a line holder 125% pay.
Also it has happened twice to me now as a Captain: I will see a trip on Flica the night before I'm supposed to be on hot reserve, so I call and ask if I can just be notified, the answer is no. So I report at 0500 then get assigned the trip, somewhere down the line we get a delay and I time out because I had to report at 0500 instead of 0930 when the trip started.
Also consider the fact that 50% of the pairings contain at least 1 deadhead. If you are a reserve in DAY you can almost guarantee that any assignment you receive will begin and end with a deadhead.