The Horror of 9 hour Shortcalls
 

OK, we have had the 9 hour Short-calls for all of this month and I have yet to hear any of the horror stories. Many were sure this travesty would result in every Pilot maxing out on 6-7 short-calls per month.



Well since its almost the end of November and I have yet to see anyone post about this I got curious and checked tomorrows reserve list, LAX 737 A.


Here are the number of short-calls assigned so far: 2,3,2,5,2,4,2,6,2,4,0,2.


I know its only anecdotal and 1 month is not much to go on but remember the Nov 6 memo that detailed how many fewer SC's we sat this year vs last year? Could it be that this was not an nefarious plan developed by Mr, excuse me, Dr. Evil after all? :D



Maybe in some category guys are getting hosed - I hope not. The point here is that there are plenty of legitimate things to gripe about but by painting everything as the "World is ending," Oh woe is us, we lose credibility. Lets continue to call out the real turds but lets not pretend everything is a turd.


Scoop

How many SC’s people have had on the availability list doesn’t tell the story. Were they working on the other days? Did they have vacation? How many SC’s did folks have vs days on LC compared to previous months is the comparator.

It appears there are more folks on SC each day in my category compared to previous months.

Reserve in September had 1 2day trip YS and 1 SC

Reserve in November 1 1 day trip GS and 0 SC.

Very few are getting more than 2SC assignments unless they are YS for them.

Heavily category dependent

I hit 5 SCs, involuntarily. Never had 4 in a row before, until this month. I'm seeing a wider array of start times to cover the same number of hours in a day. This probably results in at least 1+ SC daily coverage in my base.

Scoop, claiming victory or defeat needs to be based on composite data analysis, not subjective perception. Until then, let's be happy it's 9hrs while maintaining a skeptical eye on how we are staffed.

I bid reserve in September and was used every day except one for either SC or flying.

During my 7 day's of reserve this month (CQ/Vacay). I was used for 3 SC's in a row. A 10am Start, and two 1700 starts. It looks like they updated the short call times list and was sticking to it. Granted NYC ER -B actually had staffing for a change.



Having to drive an hour and a half or so to short call...I'll take it. Oh and I was released early all 3 SC's.

Invalid metric. If there are trips in open time with minimal coverage then everybody gets a trip and there's no short call. If there's an excess of RES pilots then they're only going to put the pilots they need on SC, so they can share the pain.

That said from my perspective the 9 hour window has been positive, I've been able to have a beer with dinner when I couldn't have otherwise and there was 1 time where if I'd had a 12 hour window they might have been able to save a GS and give me the trip instead. Just 1 data point.

I was used on SC every day available this month. Released early once. Definitely more pilots on SC per day compared to previous months.

I'll agree. It hasn't happened. Yet. Just curious what the reroute situation has been? With less immediately available reserves has there been any noticeable change? This productivity will reduce hiring, or has already. This time of year is hardly a good gauge though. I have my suspicion that during the upcoming sect. 6 we will be critically short and there will be a NEED for a productivity give. My 2 cents.

Before I am dismissed as always forecasting dark clouds, I think this cost saving One Delta initiative and lower fuel will pay dividends...or better said, profit sharing.