Originally Posted by
ZapBrannigan
The company made a commitment to reduce JAs... which, in fairness they have done. I haven’t been JAd at all this year for the first time in 5 years. It’s been awesome!
Of course the down side to that staffing improvement is a higher percentage of reserves, less premium, etc.
Hopefully after Hawaii starts and LAX opens they can start to right size the staffing so that the result is ‘fewer’ JAs but still some
opportunity for premium flying for those who value the $ above the time off.
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But that's the whole juggling act of staffing. There's no perfect solution. Having lots of Open Time requires low staffing which will result in some extensions and J/As, which are unpopular with most folks.
I've only been JAd one time and that as an odd situation where I actually overnighted in my own house and then flew one leg at rig pay and flew home a few minutes later. It was gold for me and it was when MDW ran out of deicing fluid last winter. Very bizarre situation and I didn't love it, but I did enjoy the paycheck a month later.
The balancing act of overstaffing and understaffing is not easy (and your post doesn't imply that it is) and in the end someone will feel shorted no matter what happens.
Meanwhile, I just move up slowly and am very curious how the California flying will pan out, especially when Hawaii flying eventually comes online. Being just 21 months in I'm keen to see how those ETOPS captain bids go, with my LAX and OAK Capt. bids at the top of my list. I'm ready to pack pack up and move out west if it happens.
I do think those ETOPS slots will go very junior and may surprise many folks. But I also talked with one guy
(who is way senior to me and part of the merger/acquisition situation I'm not part of and very close to upgrade at SWA regardless of anything) who said he's taking first available, no matter what it looks like.