I don’t speak for the association, but I find these concessionary. I don’t want to cede the time I currently use to investigate the feasibility of flying a green slip (or sorting multiple rotations) since like many pilots I have friends, family and commitments that sometimes need accommodation. If I’d have to yield that just to be in the running, how about I get an hour of pay for checking the magic box?

Some things I’ll voluntarily give to the company:

- My approval to schedule flying their manning actually supports
​​​​​​- My approval to schedule ALVs that allow for adequate reserves in every category, to include on holidays, in leap years, and even in months with a chance of thunderstorms
- My approval to pay pilots extra to beef up their short-notice trip coverage options that we JUST negotiated
- My approval to let them use contractual means to add extra voluntary reserve days despite never (to my knowledge) using this win-win provision
- My approval to cover trips a day earlier than they ever have in the history of Delta Air Lines as detailed in our new contract
- Carte Blanche to modernize the white- and green slip parameter interface as they see fit
- My approval to move on instantly once I’ve declined a rotation
- No questions asked if they want to pay schedulers well enough they stay and learn their jobs and our contract
- No questions asked if they want to grow the scheduler cadre sufficiently to staff the operation during IROPs.

Forgive my ignorance, but couldn’t all this be solved ahead of time if the company simply ran coverage sooner?

Seems like what they do now is use up nearly all of the reserves, and then skip GS to go straight to IA at the last minute.

If they started pushing out GS ARCOS calls sooner, when it’s obvious they’re short staffed, they could find the extra help they need and have the reserves available to cover last minute stuff.

In other words, isn’t the primary factor here the fact that they wait so long to start covering trips?

I agree, but That would require forward thinking. Problem with crew scheduling is they are super understaffed. And they are taking care of the alligator closest to the boat, without regards if that’s going to let 4 more get even closer. Save now even if it sets later in fire.

Could be solved, though, if we flew a schedule we were staffed for and they gave crew resources all the resources they needed to do their job more timely and efficiently.

I flew a 4 day trip recently. Other person called in sick. 1st 2 legs covered by a reroute. The last leg of day 1 and the last 3 days, flew with 3 people on 2 day green slips. Seems efficient right???

You’re talking about a coverage ladder shakeup…that just happened and rolls out with this new PWA. Earlier coverage, and the option to premium-pay earlier to theoretically preserve reserves.

Personally, I’d like to see how these and other C19 provisions play out while we’re still understaffed in August before we go changing more things about trip coverage that will surely have more unintended consequences.

For sure.

As far as the coverage ladder is concerned, even if kept in the same order as it is now, could they (presently) just run it sooner? Assign reserves sooner, start the green slips sooner?

I think batch sizes are a positive. Last minute coverage is not.

I’d support a reasonable method to stop people from submitting blanket green slips hoping to catch the pay for a violation, but I can’t think of a fair mechanism to do so.

I would not support that unless the Company gave us something significant in return. Positive Space?? This is their problem to solve. I get that they are solving it with 23M outside the intent of the contract but there is a grievance in work that I hope makes them pay for that transgression.

First, a question: if a senior pilot got skipped for a GS because CS bypassed the coverage ladder and went to IA on a Monday, would the same pilot again get paid if the same thing happened on Tuesday or would that go to the next senior pilot (maybe the assumption is yesterdays pilot should be flying on Tuesday). What if the same thing happened several times on Tuesday?

Also, it’s sad/funny that half the gripes are are about batch sizes being too large, the other half is about CS covering out of order because it takes too long to run through the ladder, but no one has an issue with people putting in blanket GS which slows down the process, prevents commuters from getting it before last flight of the night, and the delay our customers encounter when CS reroutes a crew, making their day longer, sometimes without any extra pay. Don’t put in a blanket GS if you’re not willing to fly a 5:15 early report or use the do not call during these hours function you, please. Let’s help ourselves with out here.

But what if I miss free $$ for batch size violations?!?!? /s/

As usual, as pilots we are our own worst enemies. Probably half of the ones with blanket green slips in with no intention of flying double cover themselves by calling into CS and asking to be RR or for a GS.

What is wrong with putting in for a GS with little to no intention of flying one? It’s in the contract. It is legally, morally and ethically allowed. If you don’t do it you are kind of dumb as you may be missing out on money for your kids education or to allow you to retire early etc. The Company needs to fix this mess. Pilots should not be fighting amongst themselves for doing what is allowed in the contract. Now I would argue that a pilot calling in just to see if they can pick up an IA out of seniority is outside the contract and is not ethical.

It screws junior pilots that would have been able to do the GS for the same reasons you describe (college tuition, etc) but now can’t make the last flight to commute in because they haven’t been awarded it yet because ARCOS is calling every senior pilot, three at a time (if initiated after 2300 or only one pilot at a time if more than 8 hours out) every 15 minutes permitting them the full acceptance window before moving on.

Very valid point. I don’t plan on flying any on my days off this month. Too much family stuff. Don’t have a GS in. Let it get to the junior peeps faster, hopefully a commuter that wants one can actually get one soon enough to make it.
I guess to interceptor that makes me an idiot. To each their own.

And my sarcasm was specifically for the people hoping to get a batch size violation, and stating that’s the only reason they put it in. I don’t fault them, and you are right, it is legal. I’m just not going to. But like I said, to each their own.

It would also greatly speed things up if once a person declines all trips in the batch ACROS would immediately move on to the next person instead of waiting the full 15 minute window.

CS eventually gives up on the GS list and I get nothing because they called you and waited 15 minutes for you to never respond. I could have received 10:30 for a one day trip you’d never accept but now I get nothing, every single time. Maybe you’ll get 5:15 pay for being skipped, maybe not. But I’ll either not get the call at all or after it’s too late to make it. I’d prefer you not play that game or at least not feign ignorance you’re actually affecting junior pilots that would actually fly that lame GS you never would accept. I know you’re being a devils advocate but enough people to make this a problem think and do this, but this isn’t a victimless game.

I agree there are victims but the perpetrator of the crime is the Company. There are LOTS of things they could do to remedy this. BTW I am a junior pilot in my category that commutes. I cannot make any of the green slips or IAs that make it to my seniority number. There is NEVER enough time to get there. The Company could run the list earlier (I see trips not covered in open time for weeks). The Company could come to the Union with a request to increase batch size (with a quid pro quo). The Company could follow the contract and not invoke 23M outside its intent. The Company could man the air line properly. Lots of things but don’t blame other pilots.

This is the question I'd love answered: If Bob (senior papa in base) has the first two weeks of the month off and a blanket GS in, and CS just goes to IA 4 times over that period, does Bob get all 4 'senior eligible pilot paid' or does it work like a GS1 and they can't get another until others below get some free money?

I especially love how they have trips open all day long and yet don’t run the greenslip coverage until the middle of the night, thus making the timing even worse due to Quiet Hours batch sizing. Talk about a self-induced emergency.

Email the union and report back. Inquiring minds want to know.

How it should work is:

CS initiates coverage, that process runs through all the steps on the ladder…. If at any time they (CS) abandon the coverage ladder and use reroute or IA to cover the flight, so be it. But, the ARCOS coverage should continue, and the first pilot to accept the trip (that was already covered) gets pay protection. Not just the senior pilot, but the senior pilot who actually accepted/acknowledges the trip via ARCOS. I think that would generate some much needed transparency in the trip coverage.

Maybe it’s time for some union representatives to sit in crew scheduling and observe, perhaps abandoning the coverage ladder should require union notification and concurrence…in real time. There’s no telling how much $ we could capture, that currently takes months to recover.

100%.

Complain about "blanket greenslips" all you want, but that GS trip with a 5 am sign in that I would have happily taken at 8pm the night before is a giant p*** off when the phone rings at 345am.

We currently have a Scheduling Rep who sits over with CS and puts out fires left and right. Typically there during normal business hours during the work week.



Also, determining an M.7 isn’t as simple as paying the most senior guy on the trip coverage report. It’s as standardized as possible and dependent on timeline and sequence of events.

That's cool but we need that same level of QC outside of banker's hours way more as that's when things tend to hit the fan.

Some really great points here: running it earlier & allowing ARCOS to continue calling no matter what, and paying senior acknowledgee, but there’s another opportunity to play games (if it’s past report just say Accept). Also batch size increase quid pro quo. Good discourse.

What is the phone number that IA calls are coming from? I want to preemptively block this for the summer. PM if necessary.

It’s the normal crew scheduling number.

Why? Just say, "Hello"...."May I ask who's calling?"...."Sorry he's not here, can I take a message?"

Easy peasy!

They're usually from the automated VRU. Nobody to talk to.

Of course it is. @#$%

So...then what's the problem? You are not gonna have to go fly if you don't want to . How do you handle a call that says, "spam risk"? Seems analogous to me.

I think OPs idea was for the phone to not ring at all. If you have no intention of flying an IA, why even get bothered by the phone ringing at all hours of the day/night?

Gotcha. But the schedulers job is not to run hiring, nor training, nor revenue management/marketing. Their job is to get pilots' butts in seats for revenue flights. Consequently, they are going to make an effort to man the flight and with the PWA and IA as a schedulers step in trip coverage, I don't really see any way to circumvent the process.....Kinda like the spam calls I get even though I'm on the "No Call List" and have spam blockers. Nuisance ?...absolutely!. Not sure of the/any remedy.

If one has an answer, I'm all ears....otherwise it's just "Yelling at the clouds", which I've been lead to believe, is something that only old farts do.:)

you can block notifications from certain numbers and even schedule times for those blocks in settings>focus.

No one was asking the schedulers to hire pilots, just looking for a way to eliminate those nuisance calls when they have no intention of flying extra.

I’ll have to look into that, I’m just nervous about blocking the number since I fly reserve almost every month. Don’t want to mess it up and miss calls when I’m required to answer.

just make a custom notification setting and turn it on or off through the drop down dock

you’re never required to answer the phone ….

Hoss beat me to it. You're NEVER required to answer the phone. Send the VRU to voicemail, check MiCrew, then accept the trip through notifications if its FAR and PWA legal. The less you talk to a scheduler, the better.

Thanks Oofff

I get that I’m never required to answer, but thank you.

My goal:
Day off- phone doesn’t ring, IAs going out or not.
Day on- phone does ring, because whether I answer it or not, it serves as a nice notification that my schedule has been adjusted and I can get myself/wife/kids ready for whatever that adjustment may be.

when is ALPA going to do something about this BS? We never had inverse calls like this before these stupidly low batch sizes came into play. If ALPA would fix the problem and raise the batches then we wouldn't even be talking about IA's going out all the time or pilots calling scheduling to get IA calls out of order. The whole breakdown in the process is a problem yet to be addressed. We have huge categories now like the 7ER and 320 fleets with 600 pilots or so. There's no way to get through the list with a batch size of 1 or even 5.