PDX Base?
 

Hey everyone. Portland guy here looking for details on the Alaska PDX base.

I am putting out my apps to Alaska and several others. I am coming back to the industry after several years off and would love to base where I live.

Size? Seniority? etc....

Thanks in advance!

2nd smallest domicile. All 737.

1-2 years to hold plug FO. That assumes historical averages hold, but the next bid will allow cross-bidding (if alpa doesn’t **** it away again). You will likely find VRD locals bidding into pdx openings, until that flattens out, it could be a long time before you can hold PDX. Or you could get it in class. Because our vacancies for new hires seem to be awarded out of seniority at times.

PDX RSV are often used to augment SEA, even though this isn’t allowed by the contract, pairings are constructed/amended to subvert scheduling rules intentionally.

ALK has been hiring a lot of Horizon pilots lately who live in PDX so as Dangle says it takes a while to get into the base. On the latest bid it's about 1 1/2 years. Can get into SEA right away and the commute is pretty doable since you can drive. No one knows what it will look like on next bid due to merger.

Dangle is incorrect about the company not being able to use out of base reserves. It's specifically allowed in Section 25 R 1.g. They do have to amend the pairing to add the deadhead etc. from out of base to do that.

You said you have been out of flying for a while. Don't know your background but you will need to convince someone that interviews you that you can make it through training even though you've been out of flying for a while. Good luck!

How about those layovers out of base with a DH the next day? The one where you’re reassigned our of base for a Seattle pairing? Stay away from Seattle on RSV.

If you are out of base you can be reassigned even as a Bid Block Holder. Doesn't really matter if you were supposed to DH or fly. There are some protections for Bid Block Holder reassignments away from base that don't apply to reserves. See Section 25 V. "A Pilot may be reassigned while away from his Base to alternate flights or portions thereof in order to preserve the Continuity of the Company's General Schedule"

I LOVE THOSE!

If your deadhead is the last thing on your pairing you can call to be released as soon as you are in the city of your DH origination. You do not lose the hotel room if you want it. Your 12 hours rest starts at the completion of your originally scheduled deadhead.

Say you get to PDX at 8pm and they put you into rest to deadhead at 6am. As soon as you hit the blocks you call schedueling to get released. They have a binary choice at that point to either give you an assignment for a specific flight or to release you; the schedueler has no other options. You then Jumpseat out on the last flight back to SEA. Your 12 hours of rest doesn’t start until your DH gets into SEA, possibly killing another day of reserve depending on your RAP.

The downside is that you no longer have a guaranteed seat. The upside is that you are not-contactable and not reassignable at their whim. Sometimes it’s better to keep the deadhead (flights are crazy full with 2 days left on reserve.)

I almost always get off of reserve ASAP. I have been released and non-revved on the exact same flight, on the exact same seat I was to deadhead on. I could have even drank a beer on the flight if I wanted to.

Thanks for the response everyone. Keep 'em coming if you have more thoughts.

I see the contractual provision in the DH section. However you are saying as soon as you block in/released today at 8pm, you can call to be released from DH tomorrow at 6am if they have no flights to assign.

Problem I had is they said it’s only for same day. And the contract doesn’t deleaneate if same day or not. I was told call tomorrow to be released, we can’t right now. One DH leg only, just like your case. I know VX had a rule of sane-day only release for reserve DH.

I’d like to know if there’s any clarification in the contract for same day versus day before for a DH release.

2. Last Segment of a Trip: Pilots Deadheading to their Base on the final segment of a trip may request to be released from duty with the Company in the city from which the Deadhead originates.
a. Requirement and Approval: The request will be approved by Pilot Scheduling if no other flying duty is assigned when the request is made.
b. Pay, Credit and Rest: The Pilot will receive pay, credit and rest as if they Deadheaded on the originally scheduled flight.

Makes no mention of what day it has to be, only that the request will be approved if no other duty is assigned. So if it’s the night before and they don’t have anything else for you at that time, they don’t have a leg to stand on. If they say otherwise, grieve it. And go home.

We gotta stop letting schedulers get away with this bull****!

(Sorry for the thread hijack. This crap just ****es me off.)

Ahh, I see the potential leg to stand on, Pilot will receive pay, credit, and rest. Key word rest. Why would he rest if requesting only same day release? That makes the case for the day before release, you are still given your rest and pay. Now hopefully my next scheduler sees it. Otherwise, grievance.

Sorry, I'm confused. Do these rules apply to Airbus pilots too? I thought we were on PRB instead of Section 25 until JCTE. Please correct me if I'm wrong (and I think I might be WRT deadheading but I can't remember)

This particular snippet is in the DH section which is in effect.

Wait, you guys have to non Rev/JS if you deviate from a deadhead? Yikes, you need to fix that and get positive space! But at least you have a Seattle base!

Yes there was a clarification. I don’t remember if it was the MEC saying the company agreed, or if it was the chief pilot in his e-mail. I’ll try to poke around later.

Actually, there was never any real dispute that I recall with getting released the day before, it clearly says “when in the departure city.” What the dispute was about was if you got to keep the hotel or not. What Schedueling was doing was cancelling guys hotel reservations. So it was clarified that you get released AND you get the hotel. If a schedueler does not release you I would absolutely push it to Wellman if you have to - and if they still balk I would file a grievance.


Like I said earlier, getting released is my default strategy and I have done it numerous times in the last 12 years both on reserve and as a line holder.

Do you have this clarification? Can you PM me? I have the same situation coming up over the holidays.

I think the "as if they Deadheaded on the originally scheduled flight." means they'll be credited as such (including rest), even if they go home the same day..

Yes, if we deviate we are completely on our own. The last time we actually negotiated a contract(pre-2000) it didnt matter. Flights were never more than 70% full and we always got FC anyway. Our contract is littered with little fragments of this type. So many sections need to be scrubbed and modernized. We do still have mandatory FC DHD over 5 hrs....

Excellent point...

I have had mixed results using this provision on reserve. In one case when I called for release they tried to tell me it didn't apply to reserves (it does). I ran it up to a supervisor and pled my case. She kept me on hold for a full 15 minutes before coming back with serious attitude, a release, and an early morning assignment the next day....elimimating the benefit of the deadhead drop.
Another time they did release me the night before. When I got home the next day i wasn't supposed to be back on long call until the following morning, but I had several notifications for trips they had put on my line and then replaced during my supposedly non contactable time. I ignored them and the phone call and the trips disappeared later. They were just fishing.
In short, scheduling hates that provision and will use every trick in the book to avoid letting you use it. You had better be ready to quote the cba and hold them accountable. Scheduling absolutely won't do it by the book on their own.

Its in the scheduling Stan Notes, for keeping the hotel if you want to be realeased from duty, just read it 2 days ago. Hope that helps, sorry so late.

Where does one find scheduling stan notes?

Check goodreader and go into the MEC site, I believe they are in there.

Got it, thanks! :)

Here’s what I know from my non-scientific research when I was persuing Alaska. The current jr man in PDX is 1.5-2 yrs seniority. There are dozens of pilots who live in PDX who are still serving in other bases. There even more former VA guys who live in PDX who will like to get home based too. I ultimately concluded it’s going to be over two years for a current new hire to get FO PDX. Probably closer to three or more to hold a jr. line. It didn’t seem like a QOL highlight to me.

I’m not a AS employee. I do not have solid numbers. I only have antidotal evidence through calling my AS pilot friends to ask about this same question.

Hope this helps in your endeavors

Seems like pretty legit numbers to me. Maybe a few getting into PDX at one year in May. Can’t really go wrong with plan for the worst hope for the best.


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