As stated in recent MEC & NC communications, the company has still not agreed to eliminate the new “Student Lines” which were, unfortunately, negotiated into our failed TA1.0.

While the union’s initial position was that these new “Student Lines” would only affect a few select, senior First Officers, the union's understanding and position has (supposedly) changed.

A group of pilots collected the specific data below and presented it to the union leadership.

It’s shared here to help educate all pilots, so we may collectively understand the many negative primary, secondary and tertiary, effects on ALL First Officers in each fleet.

The first, critical step, is to understand the number of LCAs in each fleet

As of mid December 2023:

B757 – 57

B767 – 54

B777 – 57

A300 – 30

MD11 – 30

Total LCA’s = 228

(Note: 777 may be as many as 30 LCAs undermanned based of scheduled fleet growth & training. This would increase total LCAs to 258)

In order to understand the full impact of blocking off 40% of all LCA hard lines awarded, we must first understand and track the total number of LCAs being awarded hard lines in each bid back.

For example, in the MEM 757 bid pack for September 2023 there were 45 active LCAs total. 5 of those were in a PAY ONLY status, leaving 40 LCA's eligible to bid a hard line. While we do not know what each LCA bid, we know 36 were awarded hard lines, while 4 were awarded Reserve or Secondary Lines.

Under the proposed Student Line metric, the company could have identified 40% of those 36 awarded hard lines as Student Lines. 36 x .40 = 14.4 lines. Thus, 14 FOs would have been denied the lines they wanted to fly, and would have been directed to the View/Add Window to rebuild their month.

Assuming an AVG BLG of 74 hours, those 14 pilots would then be choosing the best 1,036 hours worth of trips they could obtain in the View/Add window. These hours equate to 172 single-day, 6 hr trips - a very significant number of the very best trips before the Secondary Line process even started.

The #1 VTO would effectively become the #15 VTO, and every subsequent VTO would fall back an equal amount. The bottom VTOs would have a far lower chance of getting actual trips, and would most likely receive more R days.

Assuming the number of pilots needed on Reserve is unaffected by the number of Student Lines, the natural next effect is the total number of FOs needed is reduced.

Let’s now extrapolate this 757 example across all fleets.

Traditionally, about 15% of LCA’s are “Pay Only” each month due to the requirement to administer line checks. Additionally, 10-15% of LCAs bid VTO or Reserve. Thus, in any given bid month 25-30% of the LCAs do not bid hard lines.

This yields 70-75% of LCAs bidding and being awarded hard lines, of which 40% could be designated “Student Lines”. This means, 28%-30% of all LCAs in each fleet would have “Student Lines’.

To see the first order effects we multiply # of LCAs in each fleet x 30%:

B757 – 57 LCAs x .30 = 17 lines

B767 – 54 LCAs x .30 = 16 lines

B777 – 57 LCAs x .30 = 17 lines

A300 – 30 LCAs x .30 = 9 lines

MD11 – 30 x .30 = 9 lines

Total LCA’s = 239 x .30 = 68 lines

Of course, this is only the first order effect. There are additional second and third order effects, which are equally critical. Every FO in the bid pack will be affected!

Allowing designated “Student Lines” WILL…
- Lower the total # of hard lines available to bid
- Decrease the chance of EVERY first officer from holding their preferred line
- Increase the # of pilots picking up the trips in the View/Add window
- Decrease the # of trips available to ALL Secondary Line holders
- Increase the chance Secondary Line holders are assigned R-days due to less trips
- Increase Reserve Utilization when the LCA is not assigned a student, and the seat must be filled
- Decreasing the overall need for FOs due to increased efficiency

In conclusion, agreeing to a scheduling concession, which reduces choice, seniority, quality of life, increases reserve utilization AND reduces the number of FOs in each fleet/domicile, is certainly NOT a core mission of ALPA, and shouldn’t ever be an acceptable negotiation chip.

Hopefully, our union representatives remain steadfast in removing Student Lines from any future TA.

In Transparency, Integrity and Unity (for Everyone),
DLax