Trip quality? Ouch
08-05-2021 | 06:55 AM
#1
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Trip quality? Ouch
Just looking at the A320 bid pack for Sept., 63% of all trips are either 4 or 5 day trips! Ouch. The breakdown:
1D = 2% of trips
2D = 15%
3D = 20%
4D = 49%!!! What, why?
5D = 14%
I know this has been discussed many times over the years. The company likes to build 4-5 day trips because, they say, it's cheaper than breaking the trips up. Sure it's cheaper looking forward, when building the trips in a vacuum. However, I'll bet if the company did a "look-back" audit of how many of those trips actually had to be broken up to be covered it would turn out to be more expensive to cover the longer trips. We lose a LOT of schedule flexibility when we have a 4 or 5 day trip on our line. It's tough to drop, swap or move them around or worse actually fly them. Yuck.
1D = 2% of trips
2D = 15%
3D = 20%
4D = 49%!!! What, why?
5D = 14%
I know this has been discussed many times over the years. The company likes to build 4-5 day trips because, they say, it's cheaper than breaking the trips up. Sure it's cheaper looking forward, when building the trips in a vacuum. However, I'll bet if the company did a "look-back" audit of how many of those trips actually had to be broken up to be covered it would turn out to be more expensive to cover the longer trips. We lose a LOT of schedule flexibility when we have a 4 or 5 day trip on our line. It's tough to drop, swap or move them around or worse actually fly them. Yuck.
08-05-2021 | 07:31 AM
#3
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Well put sir, I see what you did there. It's uncanny though, say in NYC, they have a large percentage of 1 and 2 day trips (always have) and that is a "commuter base". Spreading the misery around the system I guess.
08-05-2021 | 08:09 AM
#5
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From: 320A
I haven't seen a good quality trip since 2017/early 18. The high majority of domestic trips are trash these days. We gotta bump up those fatigue call numbers a bit more to push back on the operation for them to even think of changing how they do business.
08-05-2021 | 08:30 AM
#7
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From: Wind checker
Pre-optimizer, NYC had the highest layover costs in the system IIRC. Post-optimizer, the NYC commutable trips turned into early sign-ins with late sign-outs resulting in the current dystopian sh!tshow seen in NYC NB bid packs. The easiest way to minimize layover costs was to shunt the morning go and last flights in onto in-base lines. The company layover costs were greatly reduced by making the commuter foot the bill of those "optimizations."
08-05-2021 | 08:41 AM
#8
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From: 3+ hour sit in the ATL
Pre-optimizer, NYC had the highest layover costs in the system IIRC. Post-optimizer, the NYC commutable trips turned into early sign-ins with late sign-outs resulting in the current dystopian sh!tshow seen in NYC NB bid packs. The easiest way to minimize layover costs was to shunt the morning go and last flights in onto in-base lines. The company layover costs were greatly reduced by making the commuter foot the bill of those "optimizations."
It is true that NYC based pilots absorb the majority, if not all, of the o'darkthirty reports. It is true they DH crews in from ATL to cover some of the mid day reports as well since we are always chronically under staffed in NYC. Most of us wouldn't mind if we saw a bit more of a balance between the DH crews covering our mid day starts and maybe them covering some of those o'darkthirty reports. Pipe dream of course.
When the 88's went to the can factory, we knew that flying was going to be spread around somewhere.
We'll continue to get optimized and ground into grist. I just don't see that changing anytime soon. After all, somebody needs to pay for managements one time salary adjustments.
08-05-2021 | 09:40 AM
#9
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08-06-2021 | 04:56 AM
#10
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From: ATL 330 A
This. I will make the same bet. Chasing credit works with adequate staffing levels, but anyone can see that the schedule is held together with duct tape and baling wire while we are short staffed.
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