Oh sure makes sense to me. The challenge is where does the money come from? Some of that might actually benefit the company enough to make it neutral as far as negotiating capital goes, ie win-win. Things which incentive people to show up for (and even bid for) hard flying are good for staffing and operational reliability.

 

We could start with applying the same circadian swap limits and other fatigue mitigation rules to reserves that line holders get during the PBS award. Then staff enough reserves that they can actually cover the schedule while applying those rules in practice. A WOCL override would be of immense help as well.

PS....$880 million on stock buybacks this year. Any complaints about cost of this basic safety measure from the company is actually insulting.

 

Spoiler alert, that is uttered at EVERY airline. Delta literally coined the phrase "have you tried being more senior" and "do you have your apps in?" back when Delta required 2 moon landings to get an interview. This rhetoric happens from the disgruntled at every single airline on the planet.

 

Uhh I enjoy my job. I go to work and expect to enjoy it. It is a job 1000% but there is nothing wrong with having the expectation that it should be fun, WTF did you get into this career if you don't enjoy it lol...

 

I don't disagree. So with that logic of you not putting your family willingly through that again, can we not hold the same accountability to those who took the first upgrade and willfully and deliberately DID choose to do that? I took the first upgrade fully aware of the consequences. Fully aware I would be on reserve, fully aware that if the music stopped, I would be vulnerable, and I was downgraded when the Airbus drew down. That is the plight of being junior. I don't want anyone to "pay dues" but being junior just sucks, period.

I want reserves to get more time off for sure. The VX/AS merger rhetoric was that AS is still a small town super regional, so the contract reflects as such (though our current CBA was a drastic improvement over the dogcrap AS had before the merger). There is no more super regional or "we aren't the top 3, so that's not what we deserve in the CBA" BS that has been uttered in the past. It is time to be a real worldwide airline and have reserve rules that reflect that. We need reserve coverage, WB and NB LC and SC that meet or exceed the industry. Nobody who wears a pilot uniform at this airline will argue otherwise. Going from 18 to 15 days on call would be a welcome sight and I hope it happens.

 

As I've said, overrides can be win-win. But anything that's a net cost to the company is coming out of negotiating capital and some other part of the CBA.

Of course we shouldn't leave any capital on the table, ever. That includes not coming short of industry standards. The issue is more about the detailed distribution.

See above. We don't get to dictate business practices, fairness, equity, etc to the company.

That's a different career track.

 

Sure, but it makes the emails from management about single engine taxi and APU usage ring a little hollow.

I'm all for more protections for reserves (besides just calling out fatigued). Does another airline have a template to go off of? Whatever it ends up being would need to be well thought out. We've all seen unintended consequences from last contract, even if it was over all good progress.

 

I got into this job because as a bright eyed bushy tailed young single dude it was a great job to fly airplanes around for decent pay. As a grown adult with a family it's nothing more than something that provides the basic needs of life and that's it. If I want to do fun flying I'll walk out back to my hangar at the airpark I live on and fly my plane.

 

Same, I'll go fly my Extra for fun. But I like enjoying what I do for a living. Just because it's a job doesn't mean you can't have fun.

 

This right here:
- Pay AND CREDIT overrides for red-eyes and SE flying would solve these problems instantly. Make them more lucrative and efficient for days worked and people will snap up these currently "undesirable" trips. We know it works because it worked with the holiday pay. Every other shift-work industry uses PM/graveyard differentials, or for more difficult tasks/shifts. Why not us?
- Reserve lines 16 days on max. Any claim that "you won't work every day you're available" is just a straight lie from this company. They want to run reserves as close to 100% at all times, so we need to adjust our CBA rules accordingly.

Also any "woe is me" from management about costs can cry me a river because they literally just flushed 1 BILLION down a toilet to pump the stock, and had enough money to go buy a whole other airline as well. We made all that money for them, and they should never forget that.

Industry leading contract in all chapters. Accept nothing less.