Originally Posted by
koz2000
A couple things that I'm aware of.
1. The days they work (especially off site) will only count as a R-day value. As well there is something about the front and back end travel day not counting as much as well. This means they'll have to work a full R-line month.
2. Something about the fly days has changed for the worse as well. I think these will be PDO.
3. The dual qual for backseaters is going away. (Can be an F/O but flex to the back.)
I know there had been a lot of double dipping where a flex would work his sim in the morning, get called for draft to do a support sim and still be home for dinner. 6 hrs reg time + 6 hrs DFT and still be home for dinner?... I think this was a common occurence. There had also been a flex that would "fail" his Sim-6 students in MIA, MCO, or MSP; they would have to retrain, and guess who could stay an extra day at DFT to do the retrain, and the company wouldn't even have to buy another plane ticket....
Positives of these changes is thoes who have sat in training dept, racked up the big W-2's, and rarely flown the line will probably be headed back to the line. There's less chances that they'll stay long at all.
Rather than propogate rumor, we could actually look at Section 11.
Flex Instructors have always worked the same number of days as Reserve Line Holders, and days are credited at the Reserve Day credit. An extra day of work is NOT 6 hours at 150%, it's Reserve Day credit @ 150%. No change.
What seems to torque some of these guys is the Line Check Airmen, the guys that put their tickets on the line day in and day out, got a bigger raise in terms of override. Apparently they don't want to fly the airplane much, because they don't see the advantage in the improved fly day arrangement, the GOAL of actually flying 100 hours - - that's right - - ONE HUNDRED - - per year. And they seem to overlook the possibility of being a Flex AND a LCA at the same time (there's the increased override if you're willing to put your ticket on the line) so they can actually fly the airplane and have some credibility in the Sim.
They also seem to miss the fact that there is now a provision to be domiciled at one base and Flex in another. That means they can hold ANC MD-11 Capt, use the Company provided tickets to commute there once a month to fly a 2-day trip, and spend the rest of the time in the schoolhouse.
ORRR... they can live in MIA, be domiciled in MEM, and train "offsite" in MIA, again using the Company-provided ticket... well... you get the idea.
Listen, I don't mean to sound like I'm doggin' on the Flex Instructors - - I was one. It's a good deal, and it will still be a good deal. If you want to evaluate Section 11 as a whole, take a look at the "changes" version and read all that stuff in RED about firing guys for training failures that is GONE. Then read the stuff in BLUE that shows how we'll actually train guys to succeed.
Yeah, you can find one particular set of circumstances where it will be less advantageous for a particular guy, but I think even THAT guy will have to admit that Section 11 is a net gain for us all. It's been TA'd for a while, and the Flex's are just now getting around to whining about it.
Relax Flexes - - I'm just kiddin'.
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