Payback days
 

Several times now they did not put any pb’s on my schedule, has this been a problem for anyone else? Is there a system in place that will catch these mistakes eventually if I don’t call them? How should I report this problem?

There is no system in place to catch it and they "forget" them all the time.

yes, no, call CS.

When I’ve called CS it was very easy, they got added to the schedule right away on the next proper calendar day. It might work in your favor to call when that next proper day is convenient for you (like in the bank because there are no days left). YMMV
edit for bad autocorrect

Excellent advice. And pay attention to the PR times as well. I’ve had to call multiple times and finally speak to a supervisor to get it corrected.

That's one of those headscratchers, but the bottom line is that it is a manual process. Hard to believe I know. I actually asked a supervisor once about that, and she told me "we've asked them ("them" being Delta Lack-Of Techology) for years to automate this process, but they always say they don't have the money to spare for the programming change."

How it should work.

1. When awarded a reserve GS or IA, scheduling immediately places the PB days on your schedule based on the trip being flown exactly as scheduled.

2. When the trip is over, the software runs a post-trip scan and sees if the PB days need to be adjusted. For example, if you are running late and arrive two hours later than originally scheduled, then the PB days would automatically be adjusted to begin and end two hours later than the original placement.


How it actually works.

1. Scheduling may place the PB days on your schedule when you are awarded the GS, and they may not. My personal experience is that they place them about 2/3 of the time. While this isn't actually contractually required at this point, I certainly thing that it is a good idea. Keep an eye on that. I had one occasion where they didn't do that right away and then tried to place SC on my schedule the next day. Of course that didn't happen when I called them but that is the kind of stuff that might happen if you aren't paying attention.

2. After the trip, scheduling rarely, if ever manually updates the PB days when they need to be. I've had more than one occasion where we blocked in late and the original PB day times remained unchanged. It was quickly fixed with a phone call but it is ridiculous that the phone call had to be made in the first place.


Like others have already mentioned, you have a couple of options. Me personally, once the trip is concluded, I always call to ensure the PB days are correctly placed. Whether that means that scheduling needs to place them *at all* or just adjust the times, I want that reflected correctly. On the other hand, if they didn't place the PB days at all, and you have remaining on call days...and...don't mind perhaps flying normal reserve assignments on those remaining on call days, wait until you have no more on call days remaining. Then, call scheduling to remind them of the missing PB days. They will have no other option other than to place them in your PB day bank, and those are very valuable indeed.

I rolled thunder most of last year. Yes they forget all the time and it got so bad that I started keeping track. They started with about a 25% success rate, but as the month went on they crawled up to about 50-60% chance of actually getting my PB days applied. When they did throw them on the my schedule they often screwed it up, which warranted a call. Sometimes it works in your favor...

Is CS not giving my my PB day something I should submit and ACE for?

Just call CS, they're great when you tell them it's not right. Only occasionally have I had to tell them what they put on my line still isn't right.

An ACE report should only be used if you’ve already contacted scheduling and they still haven’t resolved the situation properly. Working directly with the company to fix the issue is always the first step.

This is a great technique on fixing PB days. You may even PD reserve days before calling thereby forcing banked PB days.