Originally Posted by tennisguru

So I think everyone is in agreement that the trip coverage process is broken. The current usage of auto accept bogs down the process as it works 12 minutes per pilot though all the AA on each step of coverage. Obviously the company doesn’t like this as it leads to increased costs (23m7). But one main reason that pilots started using AA in the first place was because we were getting so many nuisance calls from ARCOS when a pilot was so far down the roster that they had no legitimate shot at the award. The one basic fix I’ve seen thrown around a lot is to just eliminate AA in its entirety. But while that solves the company’s speed problem it just brings back the flood of nuisance calls for pilots.

So, today I had a thought for a possible solution (inside section 6 negotiations): what if we got rid of AA but at the same time brought back batch sizes?

Ever since ARCOS rolled out, AA was always an option as everything was always a 2-step process. First the offer window then the acknowledgement window. Batch sizes reduced or eliminated the need for pilots to use AA since on any call out a pilot was at least in a much smaller pool and had a much higher chance of actually landing the trip. But what if we eliminated the 2-step process (like we already have for QS) but pair that with smaller batches? So let’s say we set it at a batch size of 15, and bump the window time up to 15 minutes to allow people more time to make a decisions, check commute options, etc. But just like QS, if you raise your hand in that window and are the senior pilot to do so when the window closes then you are obligated to fly the award. If no one in the batch raises their hand then ARCOS just calls the next 15 pilots in the next batch. What actual batch sizes to use would be something for the union and company to decide on.

So in that example you could work through 60 pilots in an hour, whereas right now if every AA pilot lets the full 12 minutes lapse you can only go through 5/hour. So trip coverage would move much faster than it is currently while not going full-tilt toward the blast-everyone-at-once solution if we simply just dumped AA. In this setup QS would still be available as an emergency step of coverage if report time was closing in, along with the required 23m7 payment to the skipped pilot.

I feel like this setup moves reasonably towards the company’s goal of faster trip coverage without just selling the farm and blasting every single pilot every single step every single time. Under this system a pilot getting an ARCOS call knows they have a reasonable chance of getting the award.

And lastly, I am only suggesting this as a solution inside of section 6 negotiations, still using our leverage of the current TC process to get a deal done and any potential cost savings rolled into other gains for our contract.