Originally Posted by
TimingANDluck
I’m arriving to this thread a couple of days late but I wanted to share my IA experience. First time I tried to get one was about 2 weeks ago. I got a call with a half dozen IA’s available. I call scheduling and wait on hold for 33 minutes. Finally speak to someone and find out the trip I wanted was already filled. I hang up and don’t think anything of it. 10 minutes later I get another phone call for IA and the trip I wanted was again available. After another 15 minutes on hold I gave up and hung up. So extremely frustrating. How does that happen?
Also frustrating is that the first time I called I was offered a number of other pairings that were in IA since the one I wanted was gone. I have to imagine that’s how many of these IA’s are covered out of order.
If you're on the hunt for a properly assigned IA, there is a tight rope to walk. Union guidance is to only call and accept an IA for a rotation you were called for. However, unless you were watching open time and already know the trip that is going out as IA, you have to wait 30-60 seconds listening to the robocall before hearing the actual rotation number being offered. At which point if you call, you might already be several numbers deep in the queue vs those who were anticipating the call (who are also not necessarily dealmakers.)