How have you seen the reserve lines or any lines for that matter already..
VIPS says Bid Pack won't be out til this afternoon??

 

Log-in to VIPS. Go to Monthly Bids. Then choose from the list, i.e., Monthly Bid Pack Calendar, Reserve Lines. You can only access the a/c you are assigned, as the bid packs are not completely published. The 727 does not have the Bid Lines loaded (yet). When I logged in today it stated the Feb Bid was Open, that is why I went to see the lines.

 

Not exactly what I see, the reserve schedule looks the same with about 1/3 of the lines having carry over. At least 727 S/O lines.

 

You are right. On my PDA and it isn't the best viewing device. At least we can see the Reserve Lines.

 

Classic!!!

 

When I began this thread, I was mistaken to include ALPA or imply that ALPA had a negative impact on the timliness of the publishing of the bid packs. I have lots of frustration towards ALPA, specifically the MEC, but I have the ultimate amount of respect for the SIG and the work they do.

I am really frustrated with the company. How many months now has the company been late with the bid packs? Each month the company has a different excuse, or worse yet, no explanation. The picture becomes clearer each month that the company has no understanding and does not care to understand the negative impacts of late bid packs and deteriorating schedules.

In my opinion, the worst thing that a crewmwmber can currently do is fly disputed pairings. This is the only collective action that we can take now on an ongoing basis to protect our quality of life.

 

I flew with a first officer all of this week who was on the PSIT. In short, the PSIT guys are our union guys who design the bid packs. I must confess that I had no idea how much time, effort, stress and frustration go into this process. There are two major points in this thread that should be noted. The most important is the lack of support these guys get from us. I am casting a large net here so please dont get personnally offended by these comments. As a crew force in general, his comments were very emotional for him. His first hand knowledge of how the process works and the level of effort made for some reason never hit me until I watched him relate his two years of just wanting to make things better for us and how he constantly saw US screw it up. By being lazy in not writing ops reports, safety reports....not having the gonads to call fatigued or even write to the PSIT / SIG in reporting back on the onerous trips and mostly those that continuously fly DP's is a personal stab in the back to these guys. The second point is about getting involved. I have sat back and paid my dues, voted, but never really got involved. Maybe we all need to look inside ourselves and determine what we will each do to step up. I certainly need to. Just food for thought.

 

Amen. And it's so simple to NOT do it. And amazingly self-centered when it's done.

 

Remember that the bidpacks are scheduled to come out a week earlier than they used to in order to accommodate the new conflict windows that were added in the last contract. That means that airline schedules has to build the requirements earlier and then pass that to the company. Those of us that used the green screen TAO remember all of the notices for schedule changes know what I'm referring to.

 

I agree. I don't fly them first and foremost because it is the wrong thing to do, but also for the same reason I don't use a weed whacker to trim my nose hairs...

That being said, people (wide body captains especially) will continue to fly them. Unfortunately, its human nature. If we were all as logical as Mr. Spock and espoused the notion that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," I think that was Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan, but don't quote (ha, yeah right), then it wouldn't be an issue and no one would fly disputed pairings. But, alas, we are flawed creatures who will continue to do what is best for us in that given moment. Furthermore, we will find some way to justify it. "I didn't know it was disputed," or "I needed to fill a hole in my schedule."

How about if we compare flying disputed pairings to recycling bottles and cans. Where is it most successful? States where people recycle because it is the right thing to do, or states that charge a deposit that is recovered upon recycling? I guess my point is that a carrot and stick approach is better than just a carrot.

So, after 3 paragraphs of raving I will posit my suggestion. Instead of just listing the DPs that are flown each month, have the union post the names of the offenders with a picture. Kind of like how you can search for pedophiles in your neighborhood on the web. It won't fix the problem, but a little public humiliation can go a long way.