Originally Posted by
LeineLodge
Question for DL South reserves:
Is there a usual time that scheduling assigns open flying or short call for the following day? For example, up north, known open flying was assigned for
the next day by noon, and usually even earlier. This allowed more than 12 hours notice for long call guys.
Just wondering if they give a lot of min calls (ie only 12 hours) or if they tend to assign trips/short call with as much advanced warning as possible. Specifically thinking about the commuting dead zone between about 4pm-8pm every afternoon that would make getting there pretty interesting.
Normally scheds assigns all known flying for the next day by 11 am. They start at 8 am and most days are done by 9 am. The 12 hour leash becomes a problem when a pilot sicks out the night before. When I was part of a small base a while back there was a gentlemans agreement that no one called in sick in the 16 to 12 hour window. You called in before that to give a long call pilot more time or after that to send it to short call. In a domestic category however reroutes can cause a need for pilots in the morning. This happens in ATL often. If you have a 4 hour window where you can't make a 12 hour call out I would look at bidding something different that you can hold a line on.
Delta is very lenient on missed commutes and other circumstances where you might miss a trip if you have showed any effort at all to be in position. They can be very hard on issues however when they feel there was a willful decision by a pilot to ignore his reserve or other obligation. Its very difficult also for the union to defend a pilot in such a situation.