OK - here's what you do. ALL of YOU, send your names to JMI and RH of the SIG and tell them you'd like to be pairing reviewers. In fact, include your own particular bidpack group - their email is posted in the bidpack. Whether it actually comes to fruition or not, let them know you want to participate in the process. All you'll give up is about 12 hours a month reviewing the pre-lims and the finals, and you'll have an opportunity to make an input and participate on the conference call with the Company. IT'S EASY!!! You'll be part of the process - and the solution! Hopefully the Company will take notice when 1,000 crew members step up to participate. I know the MEC and NC will.

NOW - with regards to the MEM disputes - those pairings pay 8:xx or so. The VCP, STN, CDG trips pay 20:xx. There's also the time between 8 - 10 that's NOT accounted for in the credit value of the trip, so those three really pay about . . . 24 each. So, apples and oranges.

As far as the 8/24 goes, as soon a crew member busts it, he'll get to meet the FAA, have a certificate suspension, fine, and some time off without pay. The Company doesn't care, and when a crew member tries to hook another trip to one of the disputed pairings - and VIPS lets him - oh well!

As far as FLAG Ops go, that's going to be EXCITING. The Company has NEVER been restricted with a 30/7 or 100 hours in a calendar month limit (it's a rolling 30 days in Supplemental). Internationally, we'll have 32/7, until the ANC crew does an OAK-SEA-ANC sequence, and they end up with 30/7 as well. 30 hours internationally is about 5 days on the MD-11. On the B-777F, the crews will operate MEM-CDG-CAN, then sit for 3 or 4 days. That stuff can all be programmed into the pairing generator (optimizer), and the line building program, but I expect to see a MAJOR melt-down the first time the Company runs it without SIG participation.