So you drop a trip, bringing you below guarantee, and then think you can pick up open time later at some point to 'make yourself whole'?

This is picking up open-time with guys on furlough, plain and simple, to me.

You either drop one trip and pick up another in one transaction (a trip trade), or you drop the trip, let it get flown by a reserve, and take the pay hit - that's why you "dropped" the trip, you decided you'd rather not fly it and take the pay hit associated with your decision.

And, the best part, why you can't do it - 'insufficient reserve coverage'? That's b/c you're not properly staffed! Why? B/c you have . . . guys on furlough!

I guess you can call me a 'strict constructionist'. When guys are on furlough, you fly your awarded line and don't deviate, keeping the onus on the company if things don't work out, rather than on you. The company will almost always build something more inefficiently that you could - and that's the point. When guys are on furlough, you fly the way the company wants you to. They made the decision to furlough, so they decided that they were overstaffed, and they don't need your help fixing their staffing model.