Even though we don't have a "legally enforceable" contract, they do abide by what is in writing. The saddest thing is that every pilot I have talked to doesn't even know the policies or try to find them out!

For example...

I am flying with a three-year CA and he doesn't want to pick up a trip out of open time, not a drop by another pilot, but out of open time. I asked why, he says because it only has one leg on the last day worth 1 hour. I said you get the 3:45 guarantee if it is in open time, regardless of what it says on trip details. He says, "I don't think so". I say, "yes, I have been in this situation, bla bla bla". Then the CA I flew with the other day was telling about how he picked up two hours of flying on his days off coming up. I asked if it was in open time or a drop request, and he didn't know. If it is in open time, you get paid for 3:45 and he didn't know that. He has been at SkyWest 7 years!

Then, the training dept. was sending people out of domicile for IOE. However, they were not paying us for being TDY-ed. We get paid for the DH and it should have been part of our duty day. I asked about it and it ended up being 12 extra hours of pay for me. I told my friends about it and they had no clue. SkyWest pilots would be too lazy to even read a contract if we had one. Anyways, I know you ALPA guys at least know how to read a contract.