I'm not beating up on you. Repeat, no criticism.

By saying you will evaluate all pairings, including DPs, yourself (which we do anytime we pick something out of open time) I gather you will fly one if it looks good enough.

Unfortunately, you and I don't have a seat at the table when pairings are put forward for dispute. Not every pairing I think ought to be disputed is disputed. Maybe some we don't think are too bad for us on a given day are disputed. But they may be setting the stage for giving ground on other pairings and need to be disputed.

One thing I can guarantee is PM makes the SIG justify every single dispute. If it can't be justified it is not approved by the company for dispute.

We have to support the SIG because, if we don't, ALL disputes will go away and our bid pack will eventually look really terrible. Worse than it does now. I have seen DPs change for the better when left in open time for a couple of months.

The PSIT reps are trying to minimize fatigue for us. They fight an uphill battle even with our support under the current contract. I believe your frustration may be with their inability to make all the fixes they want to make. Don't confuse the PSIT and SIG with the regime that negotiated the LOA and the last contract. Totally different crowds.

I don't think the company pairing builders and king of the optimizer have any incentive or desire to build better bid packs, do you?

Not only that, I believe the runner of the optimizer is under scrutiny. Rumor is he left his last job because he upset the pilots too much. It is not good for him when pairings have to be chopped up to give to reserves (and made more expensive) when his charter is to save money. We have some power, we just have to realize it.


If you want to know why a pairing is disputed...E-mail your PSIT rep. They literally beg for more e-mail.