I think this whole discussion about the South versus North way of doing breaks is ridiculous and is probably being brought on by LCA's briefing their "techniques" as procedure. I have pegged them on this many times in the past and everyone needs to take a breather and separate written procedures from someone's techniques.

When I was on the ER out of NYC, the pilot flying got his choice of breaks, usually took the middle one but not always. Some of the longer flights we adjusted rest times as the situation dictated to reflect the needs of the crew, I would expect everyone here to do the same. The last time I checked the Captain runs the airplane, not some LCA back in Atlanta.

Some food for thought for the north guys. Some of the FO patterns we used to fly out of NYC had you flying with Atlanta guys half of the trip. While the subject of currency always came up when I was flying with NYC crews, the subject was NEVER spoken of with the Atlanta crews, as I was ALWAYS assigned the relief position without any interest in my currency needs. When I asked the crews about this, I got so many blank stares I quit asking and just went for beers by myself. Do not know if that has changed lately as I have not been there for awhile, hope it has.

Getting back to the rest breaks, I believe any Captain should utilize his crew the safest way he knows of given the needs of his crew, PERIOD!