Justify it however you want. As long as it’s same coverage step in pwa, it’s same thing.

 

only way I would see that getting through is if we got AA style rules. Get premium pay for the entire trip, even the parts that extend into LC days.

with that said I prefer our current rules and hope we can keep them.

Maybe a temporary change in exchange for other contract provisions.

 

The company is unable and unwilling to see its own hand in creating the manning problems and has convinced itself that the solutions must come from productivity gives by pilots. They did openly lament PB days during a town hall earlier this summer causing them problems, but overselling our actual capacity and turning WBs back to full international categories without enough FOs weren't acknowledged as factors. Add that to a few ninjas out there (I applaud you when I hear tales of your exploits) that are senior and choose to bid reserve, fly GS and stack up payback days they later cash in when they bid a line, and the company further convinces themselves that PB days are the problem, not their own clownish management.

I would have infinitely more respect for management if they would acknowledge that they've screwed up at a number of junctures and will work to get manning correct, but that it will take time. Their failure to even give a sniff of humility about their hand in the problems they've caused motivates me more than anything to want to hold a hard line for full retro (CPI multiplied against your W-2 for each year going back to amenable date - and hell yes for anyone who worked a day during that period and then left for whatever reason), CPI plus 4/4/4 going forward (or any other appropriate CPI plus), fixes to reroute pay to disincentivize its ongoing abuse, fixes for deadheading, airport sits, better healthcare options (including for retiring pilots), better vacation distribution and value, better pay for training, and other QOL changes. The rumored company position over on FB just irritates me and I hope our union deals with it appropriately to finally deliver what we deserve and expect.

 

I mean you're totally missing the point about how they impact the company. A REG GS fixes the company's problem today, while the REG pilot also has to fly his line trip tomorrow. A RES GS also fixes the company's problem today, but makes tomorrow's problems worse reducing manning on a day that is already probably under-manned. That is all the point that people are making. Yes duh they are the same step of coverage. I think the fact that the company is gunning to eliminate PB days is all the data you need to show that it is a much bigger issue for the company for reserves to be doing GS's than regular pilots.

Also, a RES that gets PB days helps the REG pilot (actually, it helps ALL pilots) because there are going to now be more GS's on those PB days available than if the RES was on LC and forced to work that trip.

 

The offer would have to be massive for me to be okay with changing the current reserve GS system. I don’t think management has it in them.

 

Fair enough. I wasn't intending to put words in your mouth, I have seen these kinds of things get out of hand before. And thanks for your take on the reserve GS. I never really looked at it like that before.

 

Negative Ghost Rider. See my earlier post a few back. No "justification" here, just fact-stating. It is CALLED the same thing, and COVERED at the same point in trip coverage. But it functions far differently, to the detriment of the company's flexibility and to the benefit of the pilot group.

Again, as far as I can tell, this is the ONLY place in the entire contract where reserve vs regular is not parsed out separately. The language is decades old, dating back to when reserve GS were extremely rare if not unheard of. The company is likely upset at the large number of PB days out there and all the aftereffects from them.

 

idk. Sure, if that was where the story ended it would definitely hurt the company. To really affect manning you would have to drop off the list completely. But, you are still available for GS2, 3, etc….Lucrative for the pilots, but It’s not bringing the company to its knees. Now, if they had to hand out a bunch of IA because no pilots were available, then I would say manning was severely impacted by a reserve GS.

And, payback days you can only use when manning is good. Now, they can certainly drive manning towards the black. However, it seems like pilots get addicted to the juice. I seem to hear more about guys picking up and dropping the same trip multiple times and then flying it for like 5x pay, then I do about them dropping a whole month.

I would love to see a breakdown on the affects.

 

Love to see the breakdown as well.

"Rolling thunder" has been around here a long time, but April-June proved it's not a cure-all for all fleets at all times. Plenty of pilots are perfectly happy with a "minimum" pay over six figures.

It's not the tool of rolling thunder per se that's a problem, it's using it as the only tool in the toolkit to fix every conceivable staffing issue.

Going to be a tough sell to the pilot group to limit it in any way.

It's been around for decades without issues; only this year did it cause ripple effect problems across all fleets.

 

Reserve is more lucrative with more time off when rollin' T than a regular line will ever be. Especially now. If you are 65% or higher and bidding a regular line, you're doing it wrong. I'm below that and it works for me because pilots are to proud too bid reserve and too dumb to think strategically about reserve. Thanks y'all. I worked 11 days this summer so far and have normal pay checks. I worked 15 days in May and made 135 hours. These aren't loopholes or ninja antics. This is literally provisions in all our PWA. Work smarter not harder. The group really needs to step up its game.