Originally Posted by
Bluedriver
I still don't really understand. Even if you're just middle seniority, the trips in open time are almost never better than what I got in the bid. Maybe last second, but certainly not weeks ahead of time. How are the "good" trips sitting in open time weeks in advance?
A lot of us don't want to work 72 hours. A lot of us like to drop a trip or 2 and spend more time with the family. It's a weird concept for pilots at airlines who are forced to carry a certain block hours or under constraints of trade boards. So for me, it's a drop to have more time off, not to pick up open time scraps in the pot. Now we have guys who drop their entire schedule and wait for the phone to ring for 200% trips, and many of those pilots do very well at that. Personally, I drop to 45-50 hours every 3-4 months just to "reset" from work and get away from the nonsense.