Delta contract question from outside.
 

Simple question, I think.

If you have reserve coverage, can you drop all your trips back to the company unpaid, and go to zero credit?

Not drop them to another pilot, but drop them back to the company? And go to zero hours credit without using any type of bank?

If so, can you do this month after months without restriction?

Yes, we're allowed to drop our entire schedule into open time with proper coverage. I do this nearly every month I bid a line. I thought I heard you had to work a certain amount per quarter to keep benefits, but it's never been an issue for me.

Yes you can.

'Bank'..Ha! Coming from FDX? :)

and if they ever try to take this, I will be ****ed!

I always clear my whole schedule, and pick up easy trips

LOL Tell us you live in ATL without telling us you live in ATL.

Seriously though, any agreement that tries to take this option is a hard no. It’s an unbelievable perk.

As someone who is moving to base-ish (100 mile drive to JFK or so) next year after I switch to the ER, is drop all and pick up better stuff viable for multi day trips? I know a few 320 Captains that do that, but it tends to be a lot of FL turns, BDA-ATL-NYC triangles etc, mostly day trips.

Hey, not all of us that do that are ATL based. Though I do wish we had all the opportunities that ATL has for this strategy. Agreed 100% of never giving it up, it's one of the biggest QOL factors for me. Since we were left out of the 1 and 2 day contractual language, it's the only way for me to get the trips I actually want to fly. Nevermind that 0 trips are way better than any bid packet trip. I'm always looking for that GRR turn, where TAFB < Pay.

I have a different question on credit.

At my current shop, I am able to credit 130-200 hours on a regular basis. I do have to drop down to 10 days off to do that though. Bidding about 50% FO.

in comparison, how much credit could a Junior reservist or line holder look credit if trying to push it? Is block time a limitation (100 hrs)? Max credit, min days off.

Im sure this question has been asked before, but can’t find any recent info.

Thanks!

Totally fleet and base dependent. On the ER I was easily dropping my schedule and rebuilding with great trips to about 120-140hrs per month with 13-14 days off. Bid reserve for Nov and havent touched an airplane since October 16th and likely wont until my first trip mid december. The "widebody" stuff seems to dry up at certain times of year, such as now. In contrast it seems like the NB flying is consistent with multple green slips going out and lots of consistent schedules.

I see. For example, what about MSP 73 or 320 FO?

Flight attendants have this restriction, they have to fly a certain amount to maintain benefits like medical coverage, but we don't have that restriction.

Perfect. Thanks for the clarification.

It really depends but it's not as easy as it was at my previous airline. Straight pay on most NB fleets is 5.15 per day and the max pick up limit is the Average Line Value (generally between 70-85) + 15. As a junior pilot, you can get GS(2x pay) fleet depending but I would say not to expect more than one a month at most outside of summer months. You can buddy swap off the pilot to pilot swap board above the ALV+15 limit but I don't know how easy it is to make stuff fit in your days off. Most trips on there after the first few days after schedules are published are 4-5 days.

For the boo birds, yes I know some guys do it and yes I know it's possible for a junior guy to make bank. Just explaining that it's time of year, base and equipment dependent.

The following really only applies to reserve, and is FWIW.:

I bid reserve by choice, and average about 10 hours of pay per day worked, with a combination of Vacation, CQ, work rule “extras”, reroute, etc, but mostly Green Slips (premium pay). This has stayed fairly consistent for me both as a very senior FO and a middle third Captain who works the system to my advantage. However, as a reserve pilot, you are somewhat at the mercy of availability of Green Slips for the majority of the “additional” pay above guarantee. These days, you might get 1, or maybe 2, in most domestic categories. You also have very limited opportunities to pickup any extra non-premium on reserve.

I don’t think you can expect to credit 150-200 hours on reserve here. Maybe in the middle of the Covid “recovery”, when GS#6 was not uncommon, but not now - or anytime soon.

How long you may be “stuck” on reserve is anyone’s guess, and is very category dependent. Once you can hold a line, it’s much more possible to “hustle” and approach the 130-150 hour mark, or more in some cases. Good luck.

If a reg pilot drops their whole schedule and then proceeds to pick up enough green slips on a busy month to hit the greenslip pay trigger (lets say they flew 70 hours block), is that all considered premium? Would they pretty much get 140 credit for flying 70 hours? And is that a similar end result as a reserve pilot exclusively flying greenslips (rolling thunder) at the start of the month until full?

I know that's overly optimistic for this season but just curious for the sake of discussion.

No. The green slip trigger must be hit BEFORE you can get premium pay. In your hypothetical situation you would fly multiple green slips and only get single pay for them. You need to hi the green slip credit trigger using your regular trips, payback days, vacation, bank, etc. and then any green slip credit beyond the trigger is paid as premium pay.

This might change with the introduction of silver slips, which are premium trips which go out without regard to the GS trigger. They pay 200%, but they are capped, though, because they're treated as normal flying as far as the pick up limit. I think there is also some premium available via PBS, but I'm unsure how far out that is to being implemented.

Credit is the thing that counts toward the trigger. Any way you can increase credit without flying brings you closer to the trigger. And you can always borrow 5 hours from the full service bank. In fact I plan on using that 5 hours every month because it gives you roughly 1 more day of opportunity for a GS.

Until you run out of time to pull. You can only go so much in the hole, and eventually that has to be paid back.

Just to be clear, you dont have to have the credit on your line to reach the trigger before picking up the GS, but it does have to be there by the end of the month.

-30 to +60 Any credit above 80 hours in a month goes towards a negative balance up to 5 hours. You can deposit up to 20 hours into the bank each month but only values above 80. I've been negative most of the year and bounce around -10 to 60 during the year. If you bank 60 you can have a good months worth of withdrawls if you like.