Originally Posted by
Herkflyr
I suppose I'll let the cat out of the bag. The beauty of rolling thunder is that it in effect functions as a GSWC...but is covered under the earlier, GS step of coverage. The company has no choice but to award the reserve GS. Often times they will do everything that they can to avoid GSWC, and they are still rare for the most part.
Originally Posted by
Nantonaku
Which really doesn't make very much sense, you are still robbing Peter to pay Paul. Reserves are almost guaranteed a trip in many categories right now, so in the end what is the difference? I keep GSWC slips in but never get a call. Almost every single day I look at reserve coverage and it is always right around 0. It is amazing to me the wheels don't fall off more often just by looking at the reserve coverage in my category.
It doesn't make sense, but remember, in the past we usually didn't have multiple GS being passed out like Halloween candy. Also, reserve was a much worse deal back in the day, so 98% of the time the only guys on reserve were the most junior. When this provision was put into the contract it was likely decades ago, and a reserve GS was so rare as to be a statistical outlier. Now they are far more common. Nevertheless, if you want the benefit of GSWC, you likely won't get it as a regular lineholder except in all but the most extreme cases--even with our current staffing issues. Scheduling is going to do everything they can to avoid a GSWC, since as you noted it just solves today's problem to create tomorrow's. But since a reserve GS is coded as a GS--and most importantly,
the GS coverage step doesn't discriminate between regular and reserve--scheduling has no choice but to award the reserve GS, if that pilot is next in line for the GS award. That never really struck home to me until a couple of years ago. Think about it. In nearly every other step of the trip coverage ladders, a reserve assignment is a specific step, applicable to reserves only. But not for green slips! It just says "green slip." NOT "greenslip to a regular lineholder" followed several steps later by "reserve greenslips." Just...GS.
Want a GSWC-like schedule? Reserve GS is the way to go. That may or may not be what works for you but there you have it.