Frank the Tank,
what exactly, does the Variable Pension Plan have to do with the topic at hand?
If I tell you, accurately, that I was a Proud Proponent of Hysteria (not really, although I did vote against the FDA LOA and advocated, vocally, against it...didn't agree with the burn it down mentality then, or now. Democracy is ugly at times.)
Does that make my comment that Real Time Trip trading eliminates OTP?
See, the nice thing now is that you can go out and mow your lawn, go to church, eat dinner, all without having to be constantly scanning Open Time for that primo cherry trip to regain the hours you've elected to drop versus remaining in Substitution.
I have heard other airlines Don't have Substitution. Great, I've also heard other airlines have an airport hold option if the trip cancels but they don't always use it.
Great, CRS can release you early from SUB as well...but they rarely use it.
Sometimes we're in SUB for legality, thus there's NO way CRS can use us.
And Sometimes, CRS cancels trips weeks in advance. Recent history there's been an individual with a Carryover trip pondering his options after CRS cancelled his trip. And wondering how that impacts on his November bid.
At it's core, I see the complaints about real time trip trading and I have to wonder is it really that painful to have to wait for something that's days or weeks in the future. And, it absolutely is for those people who are refreshing open time every 30 seconds.
I tend to wind up with OTP occasionally. Think twice this year. But just because it's rare for me, doesn't mean I think the ability to use it should be severely impacted by a change in typical processing times.
It's a nice ability to be able to say No to CRS when they come up with a BS Sub trip early (or a RAT trip you can't\don't want to fly)
All that being said, I would happily give up OTP in exchange for FedEx totally eliminating SUB and agreeing that the Pay is guaranteed once assigned and all of the things that trigger SUB today mean I get to go home with 100% of my pay.
I just think that there's no way FedEx agrees to that in CBA 202X