The return of airport reserve?
 

Received this today …

Hi Guys, XX XX here, hope all is well. I’m writing to you today to discuss some potential issues developing in negotiations with the APA. It’s no secret that Parker wants Ready-Reserves on Airport Standby and hard call-out times, and it’s also no secret that line-holders don’t like the current Reassignment rules of their awarded trips.

The talk from the line-holders is; Give Parker his standbys & times, and take away our involuntary reassignments.

The problem is that the APA has never really viewed Reserve as something worth improving, their focus has always been on line holders. Their thinking is that junior pilots pass through reserve briefly and once senior enough, having paid their dues, move on to line holding nirvana.

As former Envoy pilots, we know all too well, how L-O-N-G “briefly passing through reserve “ can be (for reasons outside of our control) and how ready-reserve can be abused by scheduling. We all remember that horror story and who wants to repeat it?

Whether you’re currently a line-holder or not is of little importance to the state of reserve; a good reserve system benefits ALL of us. You may live in-base, like I do now, and actually choose to bid reserve for personal reasons. And certainly, You may find yourself back on reserve to get specific days off, or during a vacation month and assuredly when you upgrade. Either way, sacrificing one group for the benefit of another should not be part of the negotiations. Improving reserve might actually result in more senior folks bidding it, opening up more line-flying to junior/commuter pilots who want it.

I encourage ALL of you to let the APA leadership know that Ready-Reserve is a non-starter and that true reserve improvement is the goal. Use the “Sound Off” function in the APA mobile app. It delivers your message to ALL the APA leadership. It can be found under MobileLinks / Sound Off

...pass it on

Who wrote that? The MIA vice chair started a thread on C&R #2 stating that rumor is not true.

About the only thing that I would agree to would be VOLUNTARY airport reserve, paid full hourly rate for every hour you sit and it pays OG. I’ll bet you’d get a lot of takers.

I agree, I heard it was someone trying to stir the pot.

The company doesn't need airport reserve. They always have the option to designate a trip as premium and they can shop the PM/PR list for someone who can be there quickly. They'll have to pay whoever puts in the claim for being bypassed, but it's an option. I've watched them cancel flights at midnight for not having an FO, and I could be there in less than 30 mins.

That is a pretty big deal, to cancel a flight because they don't have a way of staffing. Seems like there should be a win win here somewhere. I don't agree with paying anyone PM just because they are on the list. If you are located 2 hours away and they need something right now, that should go to someone who lives within an XX min radius. Seems like a simple program where they punch in the desired dept time and a list of names pops up, and whomever calls first gets it. FLICA used to have text message updates and when a trip popped into open time, the first one to call back got it.

This is mostly the APA doings, they have this hard on for calling dozens of people when the vast majority decline them or don't answer. There should be incentive to move local in nature to base, for both the pilot and company.

Maybe sign a MX contract first and see what that does to the reliability. If the company says they have nothing to do with it. Then they can drop the lawsuit against the mechanics.
I understand that the company needs to staff the airline. But they can already use reserves to 16 hours a day. 18 days a month. I’m afraid that management is too incompetent to schedule airplanes to fly no matter how many hours and days we are available. Giving them hot reserve is just another tool they will screw up. Abuse. And misuse.

As a Envoy flow hopefull, the idea of ready reserve at American makes me question my life choices.

It’s BS fear mongering. Someone trying to stir the pot/spread FUD.

AA cannot sign a contract with the mechanics. The mechanics are in two separate unions that also represent the fleet service who hold the majority membership vote. They can't even decide on which union represents their collective voice let alone decide on what type of contract they want.