Originally Posted by
sailingfun
We once did it that way at Delta. You bid for either the flying or relief seat. It was not contractual but company policy. A pilot filed a grievance for being moved to the RP position to allow the RP to maintain currency. Shortly after a FOM change came out eliminating the RP position and stating everyone was a FO. The Captain would decide seat positions. You are correct that having a designated relief pilot eliminated a lot of the trip swapping BS.
By the way Captains should allocate landings based on currancy. Many Captains take a landing every trip.
Common practice at UAL. CA takes a landing, flying FO gets the other. Senior bunkies LOVE it. We have some senior bunkies who love getting dropped from trips and paid while they wait for a landings class. I personally prefer to know how I’m supposed to be properly rested when I show up for a trip to Asia with a departure close to midnight. I always found it fatiguing to “guess” when I’ll be on break.
I will admit I love the DAL policy of 2 CAs over 12 hrs! Cudos to y’all for keeping that. I always have a CA bunky to HKG but it’s the exception not the norm like I wish it was here.
Different strokes for different folks but there’s something to be said for knowing your roll a month in advance when lines are posted.