Originally Posted by
mispoken
Second question; At the bottom of the timecard it says
"NBR Payback days available for use:5"
I don't know why this would be, is it a default entry? I've never been flown into days off and never picked up a GS. The only thing I think it could possibly be is during my wait for OE and/or my OE schedule, but that was about 1.5 years ago.
You're probably correct about the OE timing (particularly if you're certain that you've never earned one otherwise). That timeframe covers the period that DALPA successfully argued the company was illegally working new hires on X days without PB days--and, guys affected got the appropriate number of PB days added to their bank. I think this was finalized in June, so if you look back you can probably identify when those days were added. If you look back to your OE schedule, you will presumably find 5 X days on which you worked (but were not awarded PB days, as you should have been).
Originally Posted by
BtoA
BUT, that is a terrible use for a PB day on a macro scale. Save PB days for when you are a line holder and use them to drop high-time trips.
In principle, I agree--but, that assumes you can hold a line before March. After Dec, you can't just use a PB day(s), you have to get Crew Scheds to place the PB(s) on your line after you've already dropped a trip (PD or APD). After Mar, they become vacation days (and pay at the vacation rate, still less than what BtoA suggests). If you think you'll be RES through Mar, you may or may not want to use them to drop other days (think like putting a PB day on day 3 of a 5-day stretch on call--which may be more valuable to you, in a non-financial sense, than keeping them for when you have a line, anyway).