FDX - Heads up, you were NOT used
 

If you were part of the Monday AM launch (or non-launch, as it were) of the 17th and you did not launch, you should take a look at your Pay Summary.

I was scheduled for an AM Out & back. As you may know, a significant amount of ice on taxiways and ramps made it difficult to impossible for airplanes, crew stairs, tugs, and even people to move around. Pilots who landed were stranded on airplanes for hours on end, and departure delays began with 0+65 Delay (yes, that's how they posted it, not 1+05, you read that right) and then went to 120 minutes and then 180 minutes and then they gave up predicting.

In my case, we went to an airplane that was partially loaded, waited hours for it to be fully loaded, passed the time where we could complete the Out & Back, got everything we needed except Haz paperwork and a Final Weight & Balance, and finally reached the point where we could not even legally fly the "Out" portion of the trip.

After calling a crew bus and getting back to AOC, I discovered our pairing had been revised again to depart MEM after our drop-dead time, stay at the destination indefinitely (it showed no return to MEM), and it showed 1605 as our final duty time. :eek:

It took a while to make telephone contact with the Crew Control Scheduler, but we were finally released from duty, and invited to call back as soon as we got rested, as they would be "really needing some crews."

OK, so here's the rub. What I did not realize at the time was they had removed us from our assigned trip, placed us in Substitution, and since our availability period had passed 12 hours prior, we received credit for the 6CH of the original trip. What it fails to show is the >14+30 duty that we performed, and therefore no overage is generated for the 1.5:1 Critical Duty Rig and no credit is given for the 3CH FAR Extension pay. What should be almost 13CH is showing up as 6CH.

I first attempted to resolve the problem with a Crew Control Scheduler, who was very nice and helpful, but unable to change anything. She suggested I talk to a manager, and had one call me a short time later. That manager noted that I received the 6CH substitution credit, and couldn't understand why I wanted more. He didn't we believe we were entitled to any more than that because they "didn't use me." I took issue with that characterization (I felt very used Tuesday morning), so he made it worse be comparing us to someone who came to work but just sat in their car for 12 hours. He apparently doesn't think we ought to get paid unless we move the airplane. Lesson learned.

I talked to a Sr. Crew Data Analyst and was told I'm not the first to bring this issue up, there are actually many more, and they haven't figured out how to fix it yet. Without a pairing to extract the data from (that's what they do, they extract the data that determines how much we should get paid), they have no way of knowing what pay we're entitled to. Scheduling has access to our duty times apart from pairings (so they can keep us legal and keep us from exceeding little FARs like 16 hour duty limits :rolleyes: ), but Crew Data Analysis does not have access to the duty times.

So ... in summary ... if you were on Duty more than 9 hours, and did not operate an airplane ... if you do not have your duty time documented on a pairing ... if the pairing does not appear on your pay summary along with an additional line for OVD (generated by the trip rig) and FAR (if you exceeded operational duty limit), you need to submit a pay log to add your case to the heap. The Crew Data Analyst informed me you can leave the Trip number blank (the trip I was on no longer exists in VIPS, only in my screenshot archives) and explain your details.


I have never seen such a colossal display of incompetence and confusion as was witnessed that day. :(






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Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention, Tony. Obviously, if the outcome is not to everyone's satisfaction, maybe a grievance is in order? Good idea to screen shot ALL your pairings...I do it every time too.

At least we are going to have a chance to excel again it sounds like on Friday afternoon in MEM. I guess everyone should get ready for another go around. Fly safe, everyone!

WM

Absolutely. If they won't pay me for the duty I actually did, then I'll grieve for the 1605 they scheduled me for! :D






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Tony
Just wondering was that a fleet manager "pro" or fleet captain ? Who said he not understand you wanting the pay?

I read it that it was a scheduling manager?

You've been here awhile -- yes you have.:p

Pipe

Thank you for asking -- I appreciate the opportunity to clarify. I intended to be more clear, and since the title of the thread is based on what he said, I should have been more careful.

The Crew Control Scheduler with whom I spoke initially had her manager contact me. I guess that makes him a Crew Control Manager, but I might be off with the title. To his credit, he was prompt in calling me (I expected to wait hours for the call, or maybe never be called, but he called me within 5 minutes), he was polite and really spent more time talking to me than his busy schedule probably allowed. My only criticism is that he has a far different concept of what constitutes work for us. Because I didn't block out, his view was that they did not use me.


Now that I think about it, he may be on to something. They didn't just use me, they abused me. ;)







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I guess I've been lucky, because I really haven't. I've seen some pretty bad stuff by individuals or small groups from time to time, but never the mass confusion on such a large and universal scale. I say lucky because I usually miss the winter weather fiascos. I guess I've led a sheltered life. ;)






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You know, in the military we launched jets during exercises wearing chemical gear and with certain facilities "destroyed" for exercise purposes and unavailable. Often, when you tried to make it work it was a chocolate mess. So--we practiced, developed plans and contingency plans, and pretty soon things worked in a more orderly fashion. My impression is that at MEM each ice event is its own crisis...a brand new event nobody has ever seen before or contemplated how to solve. I am safely at home during this latest fiasco, so this is all from the peanut gallery...but it is disheartening to see some of the same mistakes made over and over. (MD11s getting whacked by de-ice trucks comes to mind). I would like to think our company--as a living, breathing entity--is in a state of learning and continual improvement. These ice events--and I have been in a few over the years--don't give me much confidence in the continuity or lessons learned being passed down. Maybe I'm just not seeing the big picture...