Record day on the ER in NY on the B side. No one called in sick or dropped a trip for Saturday. Nothing was covered except PCS white slips and swaps. We definitely need to hire.

 

Imagine if the weather had been bad?

A few months ago I noticed they lopped off reserves by 20 or so pilots or about 20% of the reserves since we tended to average around 100-110 pilots. So I decided to take a little look and what I found is the number of pilots on reserve is mostly all over the place and no discernible patterns related to say the ALV.

First, the number of lucky pilots in ATL88B has grown from around 490 in JAN12 to 530 today. The fewest pilots on reserve in terms of numbers was 72 in MAR12 and the highest was 115 in OCT12.

As a percentage of pilots on RES vs REG, we average 18.1%. The number on reserve does not seem to correlate with the ALV as a low 72 hour ALV has produced the highest percentile on reserve, JAN12 23%, and the lowest, 14.7% in MAR12. If the ALV climbed above 76 hours the percentage on reserve still seemed to be all over the place from the mid 16% range to the 20.4% range. So ALV doesn't seem to matter much.

But when you just look at the totals from JAN12 to MAY13, you do notice something. We went from 95 pilots on reserve from JAN12-JAN13 to an average of 85 for FEB13-MAY13. The % on reserve during that time went from 18.8% in JAN12-JAN13 to 16.1% in FEB13-MAY13. Four of the highest six months of total number of reserves occurred in OCT12-JAN13 and during that time we average in the 20-22% range of reserves or 104-115 pilots. Now we average 15.4-16.4% and 82-87 pilots on reserve from FEB13-MAY13.

I'm going to make an assumption here. We figured out how to get a month off: bid weekends off RES. Have fun, enjoy the spoils of seniority and the protection of the bucket system. Then we end up having senior RES pilots fly 0 hours, have 0 credit and 0 SCs. Great. But it doesn't seem to have gone unnoticed.

The company seems to have slashed reserves. Obviously, we didn't need them all if guys weren't flying ever. So now I see the guys in the 8000 range seniority numbers sitting 88B not at #40 on the long call list but #10 on long call and this is at the beginning of the month and not just the end when everyone moved to buckets 2, 3 and 4. This is their placement in Bucket 1.

Weekends have always been min staffed but now by the time the trips roll around, sick calls, weather, etc, there ain't enough. So my guess is you're going to see more on reserve in June than now, instead of 16.4% maybe 18% but probably not 20-22%.

/assuming

 

Rudder,

You need to do the back end DH in icrew>NRSA>jumpseat/deadhead. Back end deviation is on the bottom. Try that, should then allow ya to get the seat then. If not, wait till 24 hours prior to departure. Anyway, that's what the instructions say and it has worked for me.

Don't forget to cnx the other company biz listing.

Ferd

 

 

It could be something as simple as we have been overstaffed since 2009. The contract makes a furlough very difficult for the company so they carry the surplus in the lowest paid categories. That surplus is now almost gone so fewer reserves.

 

Hey now. You even had to edit it to rag on me. What a nice guy.

 

Could be. I still think on a smell test level once the company sees in a stable domestic category that a certain number of pilots are not flying on reserve then they obviously know they have too many reserves.

But let me throw this in the hopper from some random sampling. JAN12 vs APR12 we had an 8% increase in MD88 pilots and a 9% increase in MD88 Bs. Makes sense we added more jets. Also keep in mind this was 2012 to 2013, the merger has been done long enough imo. So an 8% We increased the number of jets by 13% system wide resulting in a pilots:jets ratio system wide to go down -4%.

Over the same time comparison JAN12 vs APR12 we had a 17% increase in lines and a -24% decrease in reserves as total pilots in ATLM88B decreased 8%.

If I made a "maybe" BH of REG lines x ALV, that's a 17% increase from APR 13 to JAN 12. The thing there is right now that number would be 34,265 hours of the past 17 months that's the 2nd highest and are estimating 16.4% RES. Go back to say JUL12 we had 34,160 and that was the 3rd highest and 15.8% RES, so those numbers could show a relationship but then the next month in AUG12 we ran the 5th highest "BH" and that had 20.4%/104 pilots on RES.

I don't know, I just don't see the relationship tied to the ALV. In JAN12 we ran 22% on RES followed by 15.5% the next month, so I don't think it's over staffing driving that number either. It fluctuates.

But what I see for sure is 104-115 reserves or the highest number of reserves we've had from OCT12-JAN13 and 20-22% on RES with an ALV over the time of 72.5 hrs then a major drop off with little fluctuation from FEB13-MAY13 to 15-16% on RES with ALV 75.5.

That's why IMHO I think it's bucket "take a month off" related. I just don't think they were going to let that go like they could say the ER in the winter or ATLDC9 has been.

/over thinking

 

Why the hiring in 2010 if this were the case? Did something change from forecast? Are we more productive/efficient than expected? Not complaining, just trying to comprehend.

 

I slip the B10 plastic handle over the handle of my roller board (Kirkland Brand). There are 2 rubber O rings that go over the plastic handle to keep in replace with a J hook (PNT bag).

The new version of the B10 has thick plastic zippers that seems to be quite strong.

I bought the additional back pouch and will remove the back second portion for short trips.

So far - a great bag.

 

Surprisingly, yes. I went through TSA Pre Check this morning in regular clothes on non rev. I didn't have to take off any item of clothing including shoes, did not have to take my 14 inch laptop out of my backpack, and did not have to take out my liquids. I put my cellphone and change into a pocket in my backpack, plunked them down on the xray belt and then walked right through the metal detector. Pick up bag and backpack, reassemble and I'm on my way. It was just as fast as KCM.

I have never had a long line or waited more than a minute to get through security. My wife was so jealous, she just got it also. Best $100 I ever spent even if I don't get international trips. It brightened my outlook on commuting because I always know exactly how long it will take to get through security.