PBs begat GSs. No PBs = less GSs.

 

That is only if you’re looking for max earnings.

RES PB days are one of the few ways to claw back some QOL, particularly in when they are running us “a little hot.” This is why most guys that have figured this part out are so adamant about not giving it up.

Consider that a REG pilot is going to fly more or less 15 days a month before any premium. Call that 80 hours. Now say a RES pilot is getting an 80 hour guarantee but hasn’t yet turned a wheel.

Say the reserve pilot flies one 4 day GS over X days. He now is over 100 hours and has only flown 4 days. When you factor in strategic bidding, required 30 hour breaks, etc it’s unlikely this guy is going to fly more than 15 days, or certainly the 17-19 (GS v WS) that the REG pilot would need to do to reach 100 hours. My experience over the past rolling 12 months is about 7-8 days of flying (I just don’t get to pick exactly when/where I go). One more GS maybe near the end of the month and now with 4-5 PB days in the bank the next RES month is even more tolerable because you can selectively blow up reserve stretches, or pre-charge a likely rolling thunder month.

It’s more about QOL v money. Some version of smarter not harder. The lines on the calculation eventually cross and the REG greenslipper will eventually win if the goal is max earnings, but I’d wager that’s not why the great majority of pilots are voluntarily playing the RES/PB game.

 

This company should realize how quickly, thoroughly, and undeniably they have irritated this work group, insulted us through numerous means and avenues, and how resolved I am after over 20 years here and 27 in this industry. Now that we have leverage, we should use it.

This pilot group and most at the legacies are now sitting in the “catbird seat.”

I and many others received years of mistreatment. This trial balloon and any insulting TAs will go down like the Hindenburg. Try me.

 

You’re missing that the amount of work involved is changed. In many cases you can fly 2-3 GS trips on reserve and have that be your only work for the month. If multiple GS’s are going out to means that they are short on pilots in that category, so you would be working on your LC days as opposed to having those days taken out by PB days. So with PB days you work 8 days for ~115 hours and never once get used on your original LC days. If you take that away then you’re working 10+ days just on reserve alone before any GS trips are added (if you’re even legal). So yes you could theoretically credit much higher, but you’re working maybe double or more the number of days that month if they get rid of the PB day system.

 

Ya but he's likely going to have to buy a bunch more to get that little bit of extra money. Even domestically PB days have been extremely valuable, see below.



This right here! I was fortunate enough to be in a category in which GS were flowing but there was still decent coverage. Thanks to GS/PB days, in the last 5 months, I've spent less than 10 nights away from home. Half of them were in the month I bid a line (needed lots of specific days off) and the rest were for GS's. If we didn't have PB days, I'd have been gone a lot more than that, for a lot less money. Never mind the fact that all my PB day usage likely meant a lot more GS going out.

 

I would never do a greenslip on reserve if there weren't PB days. But I never pick up extra flying when I'm a line holder either. I like my days off and if I plan on doing greenslips, I specifically bid reserve. Days off > more money. To me, I realize everyone is different and has their own calculation.

 

Let me preface by saying I have no sorrow about the company woes towards PB days. It is a monster of their self inflicted behavior. Honestly I don’t want it changed, despite the fact I don’t bid reserve.

however…if I were to spitball here…let’s pretend this issue is the last item standing. What if green slips on reserved paid above guarantee for the entirety of the trip (ie a 4 day that spilled into 2 on call days still paid 4 days) AND it was pay PLUS credit. In that scenario, the worry of being on call 18 days plus working x amount on top is lessened by the simple nature you get credit and get closer to being full? Once again, not advocating for it, but would something like this be an a trade off we could stomach granted that everything else was a major gain? Thoughts?

 

As long as days on call were equal to ALV/ADG. So only 12-15 days on call, not 15-18 AND it is optional. When GS entered check a box for 2x or PB.

 

If it was pay plus credit, wouldn’t it effectively make you able to work less on call reserve days? Different but the same as PB days

 

no thanks. Still not a good trade off because gs will be greatly reduced if no pb days. You’re forgetting that part.