Originally Posted by
dera
The hotel costs money, doesn't matter if someone stays there or not. Those rooms are booked in blocks, usually a month in advance.
Also, LOA 11-03 says DHD drops don't drop their min adjusted credit. So no real savings there either.
What you're suggesting is custom tailoring a bunch of lines to people who live in these cities. And then hoping they will actually bid for them. Pilots don't always bid what you expect them to bid. We have ultra-senior captains living in DFW bidding for Mexico flying. And some commuters doing the day trips and collecting millions of Red Roof Inn points.
I'm guessing when they increase our West Coast presence, we will see more deadheads to start or finish trips. But to build lines with DHD in the beginning and end, that is unlikely.
As I said, the union should use the negotiating capital wisely. Taking a current 4 day trip, and adding an extra operating flight on day one in the AM to the Hub from a mini-base, and adding an extra operating flight at the end from the Hub to the min-base increases utilization. Why crashpad or hotel crews in base, if you can just start them & release them at the outstation?
Figuring out a way to have multiple mini-bases closer to where people live increases QOL significantly. It would cost them nothing if they did it something like the old Aspen bids. Do it at six months instead of 3 month cycles.
It can help the company as much as the pilots if done correctly. fewer bodies floating around on wasted pre-positioned overnights; guys getting to start & finish their trips from home.
The could do it with just changing the bid line. It would save them money, but not as much as if they got a deal with the union for real mini-bases. The old jetbridge swap LOA was great for guys to swap at outstations if they both lived there. I believe that LOA is still in effect.
Building a commutable trip on both ends (afternoon start and morning finish) is the same type of trip that would work with an early AM DH to the outstation. By adding the two DH's which won't actually be used, they get to make that line to/from a mini-base and save the hotel, and a few prepositioned overnights a month. That reduces staffing and hotel requirements too.
Is doing something to help get rid of lost overnights a bad thing? It helps both sides.
Look at Republic. roughly the same size pilot group. They have 13 bases all over the country rather than just 4. It makes it much more likely that a guy can be home based, which is a huge huge QOL improvement. They have a waiting list of several months to get into class, yet their upgrade time is one of the longest in the regional industry now.... why is that? Yes, their pay is roughly the same now, but they have very good reserve rules, no junior manning and very very limited airport standby. The work rules and living in base obviously have a significant value to the employees. With the shortage about to get worse, they need to get ahead of things soon.