Originally Posted by
FangsF15
You are conflating two totally different things. (For the record, or any NH reading this, you meant to reference 23.S.7.b). That paragraph is talking about one VERY specific circumstance, where you can call CS, and inform them you are "unavailable for contact during the first two hours of the short call." That is it, period, nothing more. The whole point is so you can be commuting in so as to be at the airport, and can report immediately upon the end of those first two hours. If you are not actively commuting to base in the first two hours of a SC, this provision is totally moot.
But that is totally independent of SC "report time", per se. In ANY other circumstance, "promptly available" is the controlling time frame, be it SC or a Reg GS report, and '2 hours' is nowhere in the conversation. There is intentionally NO written number for what "promptly available" means. If it was, the company would have to enforce it. While many people throw out 'about 2 hours is generally agreed upon', that is not - repeat NOT - in policy anywhere (which, in fairness, you do state). In LA or NY, 3 hours may well be reasonable due to traffic or co-terminal proximity. Having said that, you will not want to have to explain why it took you much longer than about that. As a general statement (and as you said), if you report 2+01 from contact, you will not be in trouble.
This issue is like whack-a-mole. It keeps coming up, again and again. SC and "2 hours" should never be used in the same sentence, ever - unless that sentence is, "SC is NOT 2 hours".
The problem is there is past practice and agreements between the union and the company along with decisions in system board actions that more or less define what reasonably available is. If you live 3 hours from Atlanta and delay a few flights because 3 hours is your interpretation of reasonably available you are not going to like the result. If on the other hand you live 2 hours from the airport and get caught in traffic causing you to need 3 hours that day you will be fine. That’s the intent of how it is written. Shortly after the Western merger the company took action against pilots sitting short call in San Diego. We finally agreed that was not acceptable and also agreed that it must be ground transportation. Like many things in the contract we try to leave wiggle room. When you get guys abusing that the company looks for changes no one likes. Sick leave verification is a example.