is that like feeding coco to the cows??

 

If a trip comes up in open time while you were flying how do you know you missed it, if its gone by the time you land????

 

I know for a fact that there are hundreds of X pairings built every time I fly that DH to a hotel stby in every major airport in the country followed by a 72 hour layover before DH'ing back to the planet.

If only there was some way I could fairly pick just one of those up a year it would be great.

And, don't even get me started on the draft opportunities

 

Kronan,

In one concept, you would review the OT posted for the day and submit a preference for a trip that is on the list if you were interested in it. The list of OT would then be processed (in some order) at some later, predetermined time.

This method wouldn't require polling all 622 Capts before awarding the trip, just processing the ones that expressed an interest in picking it up. That would only take a second! Think of it as a time delayed award that allows some review before processing in some order (that could be rotated/modified for fairness!)

What do you think?

 

New App I'm working on:

Bot ---> SMS ---> ACARS/MAIL/FLT NO

instead of sending it to the iPhone, you select your flight no. and off and on times

 

The problem is how do you know if you're interested in picking up a trip until you know what it is? And, my guess is that it's more in the neighborhood of 10s, or longer, for an individual to decide whether he wants to pickup a trip....you're looking at almost 6 minutes there just for that one trip alone as it bounces down the possible seniority tree-in the interests of fairness....since, someone may trade an inferior trip for that open trip the permutations are endless. And once that inferior trip comes open, do you keep working down the list, or start at the top again.

And, to minimize the time spent on it....do you pick a time similar to the open time release for everyone to be sitting at their computers if they want a shot at that trip? But then, what about the guys flying? vacation? sims?

The technology to monitor open time is available to every pilot on the seniority list if they choose to use it.
Guess I just don't understand how that is perceived as unfair.

 

What he said! First Come, First Served! Don't worry, have a beer when you land and be happy.

I'll put that on my list of possible program enhancements. If I succeed, there will have to be a slight price increase.

 

I like the real time option (SWA?) also. Drag it to your sched and if it sticks, it's yours. However if it doesn't benefit the senior guys exclusively, I don't think the union will flex it's muscle (I use that term very loosely).

 

Good points, but I'm not sure you understand what I'm trying to get at. Sorry for not making myself more clear.

I was thinking that the OT trips that show more than 24-48 hours later would be posted each day and you would be given all day to review them, then put in your OT preferences. At the end of each day, company would process the OT in some order. (Think of a Secondary Line process that closes at a certain time each day.) [If a pilot traded a trip, then the newly traded trip would show up on the next day's OT list.] (This is assuming we're talking about OT trips that show later in the month.)

If the OT list is viewable all day and closes, let's say at 21:00 everyday, then all pilots should be able to view the OT sometime during the day and preference what they would like to pick up. We would just have to come up with a processing order and potential limits to the number of trips/CH's picked up before that pilot goes to the end of the list for the next OT processing window. That way, you would eventually get a shot at getting at least a trip or two every once in awhile.

Now, getting a trip depends completely upon an ever increasing battle of electrons. The company could probably produce a report that identified the pilots that pick up the most OT now and it would be an eye opening list.

I understand you are more comfortable with continuing the "he who has the latest, greatest technology wins the OT game", but I am suggesting that a different process could be implemented which would allow more of the crew force the chance to change their schedules without depending upon the luck of the draw.

It's a tired phrase, but why can't we think outside the box on this OT situation?? What do you think??

 

First come, first serve is the only fair choice.