Just looking for some averages on days off on reserve and the line? Specially at EWR?

 

Reserve gets 11 days off...no more than that. Most FO lines are getting 14 to 17 off

 

EWR FO here. Just a sample of the last few months:

July: 71 hours, 18 days off
Aug: 76 hours with 14 days off
Sep: 78 hours with 14 days off
Oct: 74 hours and 16 days off
Nov: 71 hours and 16 days off

Note that I bid min credit for a variety of reasons and for all months other than November the lower bound of the credit window was 70 hours (5 hours lower than guarantee). As of November the lower bound is 65 as crew planning is trying to get lines for as many of the FOs as possible.

 

EWR Captain here...

Just a sampling of the last few months...

11-13days off (some are one day at a time between trips).

19-17 days on

1-3 commuter rooms I had to buy each month because scheduling couldn't/wouldn't give me a commuter room (b/c "they were sold out") or bc I had used all 4 per month.

Extended 1-2 times per month
3 fatigue calls since Feb
IOE in Feb...held a line since June
2 X standups so far despite bidding against them each month...

Only 2 sick calls per year (rolling) before the discpline starts...read the appendix to the Employee Handbook. Wonder what the FAA would think.....

 

Just ask someone at the FAA. Much easier to trash talk online than actually talk to a FAA inspector that oversees the company.

If they don't give you a commuter room, you can submit for reimbursement up to the amount for an in base hotel room (I think it's ~$70). I agree that the company welshing on the commuter rooms are BS, but they at least try to make it up. As to using your commuter rooms, that's on you.

Reservists get 11 days off and work the rest of the month. I tell reservists to pick their 11 days off and just expect to work the rest of the month, usually works well as long as there's no holidays or scheduling strangeness.

As a line holder, expect to get 13-16 days off. More if you are an FO that isn't needed right now. Less if you're a low seniority CA.

As a mid level CA, it's easy for me to get ~14 days off a month. I sometimes get extended, but that's usually for an extra turn/overnight and then i'm done after that. No full 3-5 leg days during an extension. Plus there's a ton of 300% going around for the asking if you want to make great pay and build some of that 121 TPIC.

 

How easy is it for EWR line holding FO's to fly on days off simply for straight pay?

While not nearly as good a deal as CA's getting 200-300%, its still extra $$ and hours towards upgrading.

 

Right now we are so heavy on FOs there is very little open time and they are holding it for IOE or consolidating new FOs

 

I mean this as an honest question. I am not busting your chops.
Do you put as a top tier preference a minimum of days off in a row?
Example: max six days on and min 2 days off?
Or do you not bid for days in a row off?

(I know as a commuter, days off in blocks is important, not so much if one lives in base....ala Allegiant)

 

As an FO I specifically add a condition in the bid for a minimum of two days off between trips and also explicitly avoid split duty (stand ups) as well as one particular airport in our route structure that has a reputation for being a career-ender, at least in the winter. I've never received a bid counter to this so PBS works as intended.

That said, we are seriously short captains at the moment so captains are definitely being ridden hard and put away wet here. So anything is possible I suppose. The upside? 300% nearly daily for captains, or so it seems. Some captains are really cleaning up at the moment. Wish I was one of them.

 

PQI by any chance? Or somewhere else?