Originally Posted by
studentpilot
The benefit is concentrated pretty heavily towards really senior, commuting, line-holding pilots. If you don't commute to a line, and you're not in the top (let's say) 20% of the category, it's a loss. Fewer PB days. Trips not being broken up into multiple overlapping greenslips, no effective leveling mechanism. And it contributes to the greeslip limit so someone flying SS all month can still be first in line for double pay when a GS call comes. The end result is very senior pilots are flying a whole month of double pay (SSs and GSs) while simultaneously reducing the chance of a greeslip for everyone below them and reducing PB days for all reserves (senior or not).
My guess is that, as a whole, the company is spending less money to add coverage than they would without silver slips. In isolation, I would call that a concession. The real question: did we get enough in return for the concession. The answer, of course, is subjective.
You bring up some fair points but your argument is based on a never ending GS palooza. There have been years with few GS going out in certain categories and only to the top Pilots in category before, and many of the recent hires have never experienced this. Like I said exploit it while it lasts, but do not plan on any category being woefully short staffed forever.
Scoop