Staffing and the QSO
It baffled me when everyone received the disclaimer that our QSO would not entertain discussions about basing or staffing.
Likewise, many communications from the scheduling committee contain a disclaimer that they have nothing to do with staffing.
If both of these are true, then we've got a pretty unique system for determining how many pilots it takes to run the airline. And - as evidenced by near constant dips into "staffing crisis" we don't seem to be doing a very good job. The 190's are not going to help matters.
I've seen staffing at three airlines and in every case it was tied very closely to pairing creation, planned absences, military reserves, simulator time, aircraft orders, attrition, FMLA, management pilots, pseudo-management pilots, etc.
Staffing and scheduling must work in close harmony.
It is going to be very difficult to claim that any particular "crisis" is just a short-term bump in the road when it happens year after year or month after month.
I wonder if the people doing staffing understand what open time means to the pilot group?
Open time = the chance to break 80 if you got short changed = Swaps = PTO = Schedule Flexibility = the chance to break 90 if you have the days off to do it. Open time is an accumulator that ensures pilot quality of life.
Breaking 80 is a big deal and 75 sucks. Staffing is part of the equation that ensures that we can provide at least 80 hours to our line holders and provide some realistic rules for our reserves. If more and more people come in under 80 hours and when FO's realize how far out the $120,000 mark is getting - the time-and-a-half pay system will be seen as a bad deal for a lot of people. When straight pay will provide higher career earnings for more pilots than our current system. I would hope that we have the integrity to change the system.
The big question is: does anybody know who does the staffing at jetBlue and do they have any interaction at all with our committee pilots?
If we're essentially being told that staffing is none of our business, I would strongly disagree.
Maybe we can get a detailed description in the White Papers at some point.
Realistic