trigg41

So if I am awarded a R line, and then Involuntary converted, are my days off protected associated with that line. Ex Christmas off. Sig notes and contract vert fuzzy on this.

FlyBoyd

Not the way I read it. You are only protected if voluntarily converted. The jacked up thing it says (to me atleast) is that, even if you asked to be converted, checking yes on that question doesn't play into the determination of voluntary/involuntary. So basically, if they want you to work on protected days, they will just say it was involuntary.

SNAFU

Adlerdriver

I don't read it (the SIG notes) the way you are. I just flew with a guy who was involuntarily converted recently and he spent some time talking with CE about how it worked.

Basically, if you check "no" - you do not want your reserve line converted, you can still have it converted involuntarily. However, because you checked "no", the days off on your reserve line DO NOT have to be honored.

If you check, "yes" - to the conversion question and specify days off on your worksheet (presumably the ones you had on your R-line), they MUST honor those days off if you are converted.

Regarding this statement in the SIG notes:

Regardless of your “voluntary” conversion request, the company may involuntarily assign conversion lines “if there are trips remaining in open time that operate over New Year’s Eve and Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve and Day” (CBA 25.D.4.e.i.b).

I don't believe the writer is attempting to say you can be involuntarily converted no matter how you answer the conversion question when you bid. I think he is simply attempting to emphasis that even if you say "no" to the voluntary conversion, it can still happen to you.

If you check "yes", you are a volunteer - it makes no sense to somehow say you are not and remove the protections afforded to the volunteers. As the bolded quote in the SIG notes highlights, your reserve line cannot be voluntarily converted unless the days off you specify are protected.

Personally, if I was a fairly junior reserve and felt like this was a potential issue, I'd say yes to the conversion. At least then, you can have some measure of control over what they do to you.

Viper446

I've had this happen twice, two years ago Dec. and this last Sept.. I'm an Anc Capt. What sucks is you get totally screwed as to your schedule. You have no input into what days off you might want or what type of trips you want or anything. Its a total screw job. I was senior to every VTO holder when I was converted this last Sept. and I had no input as to what schedule I got. The way I take it, is if you volunteer to convert, they have to protect your days off on the Reserve line that you were awarded. You do have to go in to Bid Period Processing and then to Reserve Line Worksheet. Here you have to say, "Yes" to conversion and then specify what days you want protected. Your days off aren't automatically protected just by saying, "Yes" to being converted. You can even fill out a Secondary Line Worksheet to put in some requests on the chance you are converted. From the way I read it, you won't be converted unless there are excess trips that can't be filled by the original VTO lines. I got converted in Sept. because Anc had a large number of trips that were disputed.

Adlerdriver

True. Simply saying "yes" doesn't protect you. You must also fill out the worksheet specifying the days off you want. If you do that and you get converted, those days off will be protected.

Kipper

If this conversion happens, when would it take place? Would it happen after you bid for training or slide your vacation - after the bid period processing window closes?

MaxKts

After the secondary lines are built.

jetstar1

What if you conflict a group of R days with training? Can they go back in and reassign those R days as trips when they convert it?

onetime

Screw job? Wait until the involuntary vacation cancellation begins. Yep, there is a paragraph that allows it.

Viper446

Both times I was converted, I found out the day prior to the VTO's coming out. I had an FO email me about a trip I was supposedly on that I didn't know about because it wasn't on my calendar. I was on the trip but it hadn't shown up yet. You can look under, "Future Trips and Flights" and it should show up in there before it shows on your schedule.