I'll respectfully disagree with your last statement

It depends on their reserve manning and their target reserve utilization

They are looking to cut costs

If they have plenty of guys sitting on Reserve (getting paid), they'd rather use them then pay another pilot to pick up the trip

OK, so you've got "about" 20 years at FedEx and a little over 4 months at APC, and in that short time you've made more posts than Turps since he joined APC a little more than 4 years earlier, but here's an SA tip.

He's the real deal. And unlike most people, he doesn't hide behind an anonymous handle. With a few seconds of research and some elementary deductive reasoning, you can figure out exactly who he is.

Enlightening.






.

His real name is Tuck Churpin?

I never understand why people get so vehemently cranky to others in these threads, when you may not know who they are, and perhaps it is someone you flew with last week. Chuck said, "enlighten me," so I did. I don't feel the need to look up someone's name on the seniority list, especially since people can put any name they like on here. The questions he asks do sound like someone who is new, or doesn't work for the company.

That said, I've talked to some guys who are fairly senior and know almost nothing about trip trading. They manage to get great schedules without the same misery and constant effort that most of us do. It does surprise me when people have little clue of how trip trades work, but if I was able to hold one of my top 100 bid line choices, maybe I wouldn't be familiar with it either.

There have been some times I've wondered about that. A few days in a row, I saw the trips come out at sick time drop, and three hours later, they were still there (that never happens, except for the crappy trips). Then they all disappeared, assuming they were all going to reserves. I'd be angry if I put in for a sick trip pickup, they didn't process them until they assigned them to reserves, and then I got the message, "earlier time stamped," or "within assignment window." But that hasn't happened yet.

One thing you might try if you put in for a makeup for a trip that leaves pretty quickly, is to put it in and call crew scheduling. I hate calling them for anything, but this is the one time I'll call and ask them if nobody else is ahead of me, if they could give me that trip before they assign it to a reserve. The few times I've done that, they've processed it right then. If you don't do that, they could assign it to a reserve before even viewing your makeup request, not intentionally, but just because they're in the middle of assigning reserves.

Thanks Pakage,
With your's and busdriver's posts I think that the section of the contract I quoted only applies during the view/add window when there are no trades with open time on the table. The rest of the time although not spelled out in the contract it is as the two of you describe.

Call me turpentine for short.:D

I like that, turpentine. I believe that you are correct about that section of the contract only applying during the time they are assigning open time. However, sometimes the schedulers do not completely adhere to that, they do what is easy. If you put too many restrictions in, they might ignore your general makeup request. Sometimes they just forget to look. I have very little trust in a general makeup request getting the trip I ought to onto my schedule, because it requires the schedulers to make an effort. Some of them do, some don't bother. The contract seems to be ignored upon convenience. But I believe you are right about the way it should work.

It has been my experience that the schedulers don't typically just "ignore" the contract.

If you feel that they HAVE ignored the contract, call ALPA Contract Enforcement with the details (proof) & they will gladly call over to the company & attempt to correct the situation (in cases where the contract has actually been "ignored"/violated/"accidentally" not followed) - again, that has been my personal experience - ymmv

contract language loopholes/interpretation differences that have already been vetted (& we/the union have typically lost ground over) are a completely DIFFERENT situation than schedulers just "ignoring the contract out of convenience"

I can see your point. However, if the trip was open when you submitted it and they then filled it with a reserve, the scheduler is not adhering to the matrix for assignments. I have specifically called them on this and it has worked out. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I think the bosses might want a specific manning usage but the daily scheduler just wants meat in the seat and a bunch on reserve because it makes their job easier.