Originally Posted by
KC10 FATboy
I think we need to fix reserve (make it predictable and fair) and create a company policy that gets commuters to work -- even though I'm not one. Doing so would mean that our "sickcall" rates would improve and we wouldn't need as many reserve pilots. But at the same time, I don't want money that could go into my pocket book to be used to pay for commuters. Unfortunately, I really think the feds are going to "fix" that area for us soon.
Not sure about how to improve commuting either, but one "quick fix" would be to give commuters unlimited priority passes for commuting between their official domicile and home for work only. And/or a listing window (24-48 hours maybe?) in advance that would guarantee priority.
Not sure what the feds could do. They could never in their wildest dreams force you to live somewhere (or even define what that means) but they could force tracking of all flights as duty time. But what about the pretend "locals" who drive 2-3 or more hours? How is that "rest"? Shouldn't we have cameras in our homes 24/7 live streaming to the FAA to make sure we're well rested and not stressed? Worst case we take a hit and have to commute up a day earlier a lot of the time. Best case we get a "netjets" style "pick a city and we PS you where we need you" system. Or somewhere in between.
I agree with your statements on reserves. The fantasy days of never doing anything ever are over. Not because the company won't give us that anymore, but because most of us are no longer willing to subsidize micro-niche kingdoms like that anymore because they are insanely expensive and the over all group gets little to nothing out of it.