Disputed Pairing.

Union disputes pairings that are onerous or unsafe. Company cannot assign them to a line unless requested by a pilot. Most go into open time. Should not be picked up, should be left in open time to be flown by reserves.

After several months, union grieves the pairing and the Director of Flight Ops rules in the company's favor, and then the pairings are no longer disputed.

Sometimes the company will revise the pairing to remove the offensive segment, and the pairing is then no longer disputed.

Either way, the pairing is flown and the freight gets moved. Pilots argue about whether requesting a DP is supporting the union (its not) and the company sits back and enjoys watching us fight ourselves.

Make sense?

No, but that is our system, and nobody seems too interested in fixing it.